It’s Time To Assess Goals

Where are you in regard to your goals? This is a question you should stop and ask yourself throughout the year.

The year has flown by and we’re in December already, so this question is even more important right now. You need to know where you are before you can make New Year’s resolutions for next year.

So, I ask…

1. Where are you in relation to the goals you set out to achieve this year?
   
2. Where are you in getting new projects completed?
   
3. Where are you in implementing new strategies i.e. Social Media? Webinars? Advertising? Productivity?
   
4. Where are you financially in relation to where you planned to be by this time? Another question you should ask yourself is, are you organized enough to accomplish these goals?

These are the questions that run through my mind as I assess my goals.

I look at everything as a ticking clock. Every time a year passes, I wonder where the time went. It seems like just yesterday that I was talking about New Year’s resolutions, and now, we are already in December!

I’m 50 years old. I look back and say, “What have I achieved in life?” “Where am I, in relation to my plans, goals and dreams?” Then I need to think about all the things I want to do with the remaining 50 years (I’m an optimist). Am I in a position to move forward to achieve my future aspirations?

What plans and habits do I need to implement to keep myself on track?

In December, there are only days left to bring the year to the point you want it to be at. The earlier and more often you stop and make these assessments, the more time you have to work to achieve them.

The point I’m trying to make is, you need to have assessments to keep you on track. I don’t care what time of year you read this… NOW is the best time to stop and make an assessment.

Don’t fall in the trap of getting to detailed with this. Then spend time thinking about where you are, why you are there etc. The answer is really simple. The answer is you are either at your goal (congratulations!), close to it (you’re almost finished), or you far away from achieving it. I’m not talking specifics here…these are just general positions.

There is one intermediate position and that is making progress. This means you are making steady progress but can’t quite be considered close. So, it’s not almost finished, but you are getting there. Once you know which position you are at, you know what you need to do as you go forward.

In my case, this year, I range from making progress to close to finish on all my projects. How do you feel about where you’re at? In my case, I feel pretty darn good about it.

I know you may be thinking, “Armand, you don’t understand— this year really gutted me.” I can understand that. Everyone has a different situation. A year that’s good for one person may be terrible for another, and 2020 has definitely been a doozy for many! It’s okay. Whatever happened, happened…don’t waste time crying about it. Crying won’t change the facts.

Just Start Over!

I think those are the three best words in the English language in a situation like this—clean the slate and move on. Learn from what happened but don’t dwell on it. Starting today, just start over with a new plan and new goals.

There’s one important thing that the success books, courses, programs, gurus leave out, and that is you have to forgive yourself. The only one beating you up over it is YOU. You’re the one putting pressure on yourself. It’s all right! It is what it is. That’s the attitude you need to have.

Then…Move on, and ask yourself, “What do I need to do to right now, today, to move forward?” The answer to that question is to start creating a new plan with new goals. Decide what needs to be done first, second, third etc. in order to move forward.

Read my book, Success Leaves Traces. You can find it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters and just about any brick and mortar store (and if they don’t have it, have them order it in for you!) Follow the pattern I lay out in it. It’s not an ordinary book. It will help you break down things into doable chunks. It’s what I do in order to move forward.

Just like everyone else, I get overwhelmed. I have too many things to do in too short a period of time. I get frustrated and move on because things are closing in around me. The only way I can move forward is to break the tasks down into small pieces. The plan laid out in the book explains how I break things down so I can break through my immobilization and, once again, move forward.

Now, let’s go on to the second assessment item…Getting New Projects Done. I’m talking about relatively major projects, new products, new services, redesigns and things of that nature.

The first thing you need to do is make a list of your projects. Once the list is completed, you’ll have one of two reactions. 1. “That’s a lot of stuff, no wonder I didn’t get it completed.” or 2. “Oh, I thought it would be a lot worse.”

Next, you need to break the list down to which project needs to be 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc… The best way to do this is to order them by release date and list what needs to be done to finish it. Do this with all your projects. Many times, the release date is decided by how much is needed to finish the project. The one with fewest remaining tasks is worked on first because it is closest to being complete and ready for release.

We could have 10, 12, 15 different projects but none will be completed unless we order them by which can be released first, second etc. This lets us laser focus on them, one at a time, in order of release. When I do this, I ignore everything else and just focus on the project I am working on in order to get it out there so I can move on to the next one.