Set goals, learn to execute

Setting goals. Generating ideas. Making plans. Gathering information. These things are all important to a business owner or entrepreneur with aspirations. But they won’t get you where you want to go without one more vital ingredient: Execution.
Contrary to popular opinion, knowledge is not power. Execution is power. The diet and fitness field offers a good example. Most people know how to get in better shape – eat better and exercise more. But they don’t execute on that information.
Most small businesses could increase revenue dramatically just by putting information they already know to work.
Here are ways to stop “thinking about it” and start executing.
• Write down your plan. A plan in your head isn’t a real plan. Writing it down lets you make at least some of your mistakes on paper, says Brian Moran, founder and CEO of The Execution Co. and author of the New York Times bestseller “The 12 Week Year.” Other things will get in the way. That’s a given. A written plan makes it real and forces you to think through potential pitfalls upfront.
• Focus on gain over pain. The critical first step to executing well is creating a vision of your desired future that’s more desirable than your own short-term comfort. To execute on big goals you may need to work through some fear, uncertainty and discomfort. Review your goals – the “gain” you seek – regularly and share them with others. This will increase your commitment.
• Show commitment, not just interest. If you are only “interested” in doing something, you tend to do it only when time allows or circumstances permit. But when you’re committed to something, there are no excuses and all you want is results.
• Set deadlines to instill urgency. A sense of urgency only happens as the deadline gets close. What you need is a series of both short- and long-term deadlines to keep the urgency going. If you set deadlines for every 12 weeks rather than every 12 months, you keep the excitement, energy and focus happening all year long. • Set tactics for each goal. Tactics are the things that you do, day-to-day, to drive attainment of your goals. Your plan should start by identifying your overall goals for a 12-week period. Then you need to determine the tactics you’ll need to meet each of those goals. Break each goal down into its individual parts. Each tactic should be specific, actionable and include due dates and assignment responsibilities. •


Daniel Kehrer can be reached editor@bizbest.com.

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