Let's Talk About Goals

I love the Blue Shoe Marketing Calendar. I love that you write in it. With a pen or pencil. I really have come to love setting goals each month and evaluating them.

Let's talk about goals. Too often we think that we have failed when we set them and don't accomplish them.

A Harvard study on goals with students showed found that...

• 84% of the class had set no goals

• 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans to accomplish them

• 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans

The results?

Ten years later, the 13% of the class that had set written goals but had not created plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class that had set no goals at all. The 3%? 10 times more.

The important thing this tells us….in order to achieve your goals, they need to be written out. So, on the first of each month, I set my goals. I actually like to make some very easy to attain and others…well, they carry forward.

Here’s some of my goals for this month – paint my front door, buy a ticket to visit my son in California, all the way to, make 3 cold calls. The marketing calendar helps me to set goals for my social media. This week, write a thank you note. And, of course, my financial goals which I won’t share here.

Right next to that – my most successful things from last month. This can seem intimidating, but because I work with my calendar I have notes almost on every day. You would be amazed at what you actually accomplished the previous month. Not only will you have a achieved goals that you set for the previous month, but you will be prompted to set new goals for yourself. By the way, I DID paint my door and I DID book my ticket. NO, I didn’t exercise every day…it’s still my goal for next month.

I look at the calendar several times during the month to see all the holidays. It gets “my juices” going for something fun or serious that I might want to post on social media…or blog about, or just maybe raise my own consciousness about. Planning ahead here can help see where I might need help or a new strategy and approach to my own marketing. Never post just to post. Poor quality is just not acceptable.

--Sue Baxter, Blue Shoe Strategy