I read once that the 3 key elements to success are drive, passion and determination. For as long as I can remember I wanted to have my own business, work for myself. That was such a big dream for me, one that at many points I thought would never become a reality. If I didn’t set myself a series of goals to wrk through, I genuinely don’t think I would be here, sitting at my desk, working from home, doing something I absolutely love, creating my own income and my own lifestyle.
My Dad always used to say to me – and you hear it a lot – but you can achieve anything you set your mind to. It’s all about getting clear on what it is you want, or want to achieve and breaking it down into smaller chunks which make it achievable, or at least taking great steps towards it.
Setting goals can always sound like such an easy thing to do – it’s a bit like setting yourself New Year’s resolutions…the hard bit is actually doing the work to make it happen.
I believe everyone inside themselves wants to be successful at whatever it is they are doing – whether that be in personal achievements/goals, in life or in business. And success is different for everyone. It comes in different forms, levels, it doesn’t need to be in a financial form – for some it can be that they wake up happy every morning!
Don’t get me wrong I don’t set a ridiculously long list at the start of the year. But I do like the challenge myself, either by setting myself goals that push my comfort zone, mean I have to work hard and really push myself – and I have a really good idea of the things I want to achieve in the year, or in each month.
As a side note – sometimes this change, life hands you a different direction or things might not happen as quickly as you want them to even if you are working towards them – but don’t give up. I didn’t achieve all my goals I set myself for January, and whilst I was disappointed, I looked at what I could do differently, change, up my game on – rather than dwelling too much, getting down about it, or worse not doing anything at all and just binging TV and avoiding work altogether!
‘She was unstoppable, not because she didn’t have failures or doubts, but she continued on despite them’ ~ Beau Taplin
Here are a couple of tips I have when it comes to setting and achieving your goals:
- Get them written down. Whether that is in your journal, on your phone, in your project management system get it down. I love handwriting my goals, so I have them in my planner but I don’t also have an open planner with me, so I also write it in my project management system, Asana so I can easily access it from my computer or phone.
- Set yourself a deadline. This is one I do with my big goals…like leaving my corporate job, I set myself a deadline of 6 months. It was a scarily short amount of time to get to a point I need to be at, have a certain amount of money saved and clients booked in the diary. But I did it! The result, I was able to leave my job absolutely buzzing that I was in a good place, I had hit my goal and was ready for the next goal! It gave me a fire in my belly that I could achieve what I set out to do. If you don’t set a deadline, it is easy to put it on the back burner – work on something else – or worse, forget about it.
- Share your goals with people. Everyone has their tribe – whether that be your best friend, your partner, your parents, colleagues, but sharing your goals with a few select people can really help you be more accountable to those goals and achieving them. For some people writing goals down isn’t enough – they need some one to check in with them, how they are getting on, challenge them on ideas.
- Get excited, moodboard, plan! The more excited you are about reaching your goals and can visualise them the better. The more fire it gives you to achieving them. Mindset is such a huge aspect of reaching goals, so think about your goals everyday, share your dreams – you will get there!
They say great things happen outside of your comfort zone! Write down your goals, get excited about them, be decisive and reach them!
Much love, Charlotte
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Looking After Yourself As An Entrepreneur