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How Setting Effective Business Goals Can Prevent Fried Business Brain

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How To Set Effective Business Goals And Prevent Fried Business Brain

Note: Today’s guest post was written by the lovely Leanne Chesser.

Have you ever felt like you’re just completely overwhelmed with all that you have to do in your business?

Do you feel distracted by 47 different things at once?

Are you sometimes (or maybe all the time) just doing random stuff, hoping that you’ll create the result you want?

Those are elements of fried business brain.

You know what I mean . . .

It’s those feelings of:

  • frenzy
  • scrambling
  • grasping
  • exhaustion
  • overwhelm
  • frustration
  • lack of focus
  • having WAY too much to do
  • and chaos in your head and possibly in the space around you

So, what can you do?

Well . . .

Setting effective business goals can eliminate fried business brain!

The key word here is effective.

Here’s how to set effective business goals:

1. Create your vision for your business.

Wait a second!

What does vision have to do with goals?

Everything . . .

What’s a vision?

It’s a mental picture of everything that you want to be, do and have in your business (and, actually all your life areas). It’s what your ideal business looks, sounds, feels, smells and tastes like.

And it’s a written description of that mental picture.

When you don’t know your business vision, you can wander aimlessly. You never really get anywhere because you don’t have a clear direction for where you’re headed. You might choose things to do each day that really don’t move you forward. Many things can grab your attention and take you down a different path.

You know that feeling of being pulled in 47 directions at once?

But, if you have a vision, you won’t wander aimlessly. You’ll know where you’re going and you’ll be able to focus more easily on getting there. It’s easier to stay on track and say no to things that don’t fit with your vision.

Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.”

That “end” is your vision. And it’s important to begin with that end in mind because it sets the destination and the direction for your business.

And . . . your goals get you to your vision.

2. Set goals that get you to your vision.

That’s the purpose of your goals – to get you to your vision.

They help you focus and stay on track.

They give you direction so you know exactly what you need to do.

They make it easier to say no to the stuff that comes up that might take you off track and steer you away from where you want to go.

And they chunk things down into smaller, easier-to-handle bits so there’s less overwhelm.

If you want to increase your chances of achieving your goals, smarter goal setting is the way to go.

SMARTER goals are goals that are:

  • specific
  • measurable
  • achievable
  • realistic
  • with a time frame
  • with emotion (important)
  • and with some risk

If you write your goals down, and write them in this way, you’re much more likely to achieve them.

Start by writing broad goals based on your vision and then . . .

3. Break your goals down into chunks.

First, break your broad goals into monthly goals and write them down (if you like to focus on quarters in your business, you can group your months into quarterly goals).

Next, break your monthly goals down into weekly goals or tasks and write them down.

You can then create your daily action steps to accomplish your weekly tasks.

By doing this, everything that you accomplish each day intentionally moves you toward your vision.

And you can make sure you don’t get caught in overwhelm with the next step . . .

4. Schedule your daily tasks.

Marie Forleo said, “If it’s not scheduled, it doesn’t exist.”

Very true.

If you don’t schedule the things that move you toward your vision, it’s easy to forget your goals. It’s easy to get distracted and go down those 47 bunny trails of distraction. It’s easy to take on more than you need to . . . and get overwhelmed.

So, schedule your daily tasks:

  • write them in your planner for each day of the week (I colour code my different life areas and write my tasks for each area in that particular color so it’s easy to see)
  • only schedule 3-5 tasks for the day
  • put strategies in place to help you get them done

Your overwhelm is gone.

You’re not as easily distracted.

And you’re purposefully moving in the direction you want to go.

Let me know in the comments how you’re doing with setting business goals and how you see this process helping you eliminate “fried business brain.”

 

Pic Source: Herlitz_pbs

About Leanne Chesser

Leanne Chesser works with women online entrepreneurs to discover and eliminate the real reasons for their time, balance and productivity challenges. She then helps them create a plan and a system that actually works for them because it's based on their own personal style. And she provides lots of tips and strategies for creating more time, achieving more balance and getting more done. She is the creator of Juggle It All and the author of, "How to Improve Your Self Esteem" and "How Your Self Talk Can Change Your Life."

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24 Responses to How Setting Effective Business Goals Can Prevent Fried Business Brain

  2. I needed to see this today. I have been trying to do way too many things today with no focus or vision whatsoever!

    Reply

  4. Thanks for the reminders, Leanne, about vision, SMARTER goals, and chunking. I’ve been overwhelmed and scrambling for the past two weeks, and I realize that it’s because I’m not staying true to my to-do/task list which keeps me aligned with my vision.

    Reply

    • Hi, Jay. Thanks so much for visiting and commenting :). Great realization! It does go both ways, too, doesn’t it? The daily task list has to be created from the vision, but we also have to DO the daily tasks in order to stay aligned. That’s a whole other post :).

      Reply

  6. Great post. I agree writing it down makes a huge difference. For me chunking it down really helps with overwhelm. Once I get the feeling of accomplishment from checking things off my list, there’s no stopping me.

    Reply

  7. The importance of breaking goals down into smaller pieces from quarterly to monthly to weekly to daily tasks resonated with me. I have been overwhelmed because I’m trying to eat the whole elephant at once instead of taking one bite at a time.

    Reply

    • Michele, thanks for checking out my post. I appreciate it! I’m glad that it resonated and helped give you some insight. It sometimes feels frustrating taking one step at a time, but ironically, the little steps get us to where we want to go much more effectively. When we get stuck in overwhelm from trying to eat the whole elephant, we end up getting nothing done.

      Reply

  8. Leanne, thank you so much for guest posting on BBBL.

    I love that you’ve added the ‘er’ to smart! From my own experience I know that if I set goals I feel “icky” about (i.e. is my work good enough?!?!?) I won’t follow through even with them scheduled in my diary.

    It takes a lot to get past not valuing ourselves but it is completely worth it.

    Let’s crush those goals everyone!

    Reply

  10. Great info, Leanne. I have a written business vision, but it’s been a while since I’ve taken it out and looked at it: might be time to take it out again!

    Reply

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