How to Set Goals for the Back Half of the Year
Welcome to another episode of “Dream Job with Danielle Cobo”!
Can you believe we are halfway through 2021? In today's episode, I go through the value of setting goals, how to set, measure, and achieve your goals for the back half of the year. This episode will support you to stretch yourself in all areas of your life.
“It's never too late to step into your dream job” –Danielle Cobo.
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If you created goals at the beginning of the year, it is a great time to check in on how your progress is toward those goals. And if you didn't create goals at the beginning of the year, it's okay. It's never too late, right now is the perfect time to set goals for the remainder of the year.
There was actually a study done by Harvard and it was on goal study and the graduating class was asked a single question about their goals. The question was this, have you set written goals and created a plan for your attainment? Can you believe that 84% of the entire class had set no goals at all? 13% of the class had set written goals but had no concrete plans. And 3% of the class had both written goals and concrete plans. Why is this important? It's because 10 years later after Harvard had done a study, they re-did that study and they found that 13% of the class had set written goals, but had not created the plans and were making twice as much money as 84% of the class that did not set goals at all.
Create Your SMART Goal
The value in creating goals can really set the intention for what you want to create in your life. And so when you're creating these goals, there's value in actually creating SMART goals. So a SMART goal is a very specific goal. This is how you're going to measure it - Is it achievable? Attainable? Is it realistic? And is it timebound? So a specific goal might be, you wanna exercise three days a week, right? And so how are you going to measure that? An option to measure that is you're gonna market on your calendar that you've exercised three days a week. Is it attainable? Absolutely. That's attainable. You carve out time to wake up a little earlier or you carve out time in the afternoon to attain your goal. Is it realistic? Yes. That's a very realistic goal. And how are you gonna measure that when it comes to being time-bound? So let's say by the end of the year, your goal is that you wanna work out three days a week, and that is time bound by the end year. That is an example of a smart goal. It's a very tenable goal.
Smaller But More Achievable Milestones
When you're creating goals think about all aspects of your life, all areas of your life. So for example, when I'm creating goals, I look at my health, finances, career, and relationships. And so for example, a health goal might be, I wanna ride my Peloton three days a week. A finance goal may be, you know, a set amount that I wanna save for my boy's college fund. A relationship goal might be, I wanna go on a date night, once a month with my husband. I wanna do a girls' night once a month. And a career goal might be, wanna create three new workshops by the end of the year. So these are all goals that I can create a SMART action plan to support these goals. They're very specific. They're measurable. They're attainable and achievable. They're realistic. And I have very time-bound on when I wanna do that. And I can have time-bound depending on how long it's gonna take for me to create that goal. Maybe I wanna create these workshops by the end of October versus the end of the year. And why it's valuable to create time bound is it keeps you accountable. It also gives you an opportunity to track and measure your goals. So if your goal is to pay off a certain amount of debt by the end of the year, how are you gonna break that down by each month?
Aligning Your Strategy With Your Customer's Goal
Now, if you're in sales and let's say your goal is, I wanna achieve 120% of a quota this quarter. That's a very specific goal. And so what are your intentions in creating that goal? How are you going to achieve that goal? Are you gonna look at your overall region or your territory and say, Okay, 80% of my revenue is driven by the top 20% of the accounts? That's the 80-20 rule. And among those accounts, who's growing? And what is working really well with those accounts that are growing and why are they growing? And so what can you do to support them in their growth? And who's declining, why are they declining? Where are the opportunities? Where can you support them in getting them back on that growth trajectory?
And I invite you to also ask your customers, what are theirs. Because if you go in with, these are my goals and this is what I need to do to achieve 120%, then it's about you and it's not about your customers. And so identify and sit down with your customers. This is a great opportunity to do a mid-year review. What are their goals? How can you support them with their growth? And then you can see if there are areas where you can align your goals with theirs. And then create very specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound goals associated with that. So it's a great opportunity to look at your overall territory, who's growing and who's declining. Are there any opportunities to add new accounts to your territory? Are there any new accounts that you can add to your business and what would that look like? And also breaking it down a step further. You wanna attain 120% of the quota? How are you going to break that down by each of your customers? What is it going to take for you? The exact amount to go from a hundred and percent to 120%. And where are you going to get that business from? Which accounts are you gonna be able to grow? So that's one way that you can look at a smart goal. When you're in sales and you're looking at specifically how you're gonna grow your territory, how you're gonna support your customers in growing their business.
And I invite you to also ask your customers to put SMART goals as well for their business and what they wanna grow. Because when you understand what their goals are, you understand what keeps them up at night. You understand their vision. Then you really get to add value because you are leading with what they want and what's gonna support them. And then if you support them, they're gonna see as a valuable resource. And then it's gonna also gonna support the growth of your business.
Why Setting Goals Is Important
Why does this matter to you ask yourself when you're creating these goals. How is this connected and aligned with your vision - your vision in life, your vision for this year, and who do you get to be when this happens? What does it mean to you? For example, if your goal is you wanna do one lady's night a month, what does that mean to you? Who do you get to be connected with? Caring, loving a great friend. Joyful. Having fun. Laughter. That's who you get to be. That's one of my goals that's why I share it with you.
And if your goal is you wanna achieve 120%, why is that goal important to you? Is it because you wanna grow your territory? You wanna grow your business? Is it because it may support you in achieving president's club? Is it gonna support you in achieving that promotion to that next level? If you wanna step into a leadership role and that's what your goal is, what specific steps are you going to take to step into that leadership goal? Who are your internal mentors gonna be within that organization? Who are your mentors gonna be outside the organization? Have you sat down with your manager and said, What are your opportunities? And if you sat down with your manager and say, what steps can I take to get to this next level, really identify what it is and ask your manager. They have a great perspective, cuz they have the perspective on the outside and saying, Okay, here's based on the observations I see as the strengths and opportunities and you can work alongside your manager to really identify what it's going to take to get to that next level.
Look For Mentors Who Can Guide You in Your Career
When you're thinking about the mentors that you're looking for in your career mentors, that may be two levels up because then they have a good perspective of leading first-level leaders, as well as above and looking at what the overall organization is doing for their key strategic initiatives. When it comes to where the vision of the organization is. You also may wanna align a mentor that's in that specific role because I have a very good understanding of what the day-to-day is with that job, asking them. What's one thing I don't know about this job, what was the one thing that surprised you about this job, this position? What was the one thing you didn't anticipate about it? What are the biggest challenges? What is the most rewarding thing about this?
When you're looking at developing your career also look for mentors outside the organization. Every company runs its business a little bit differently, and there's a lot of value in the kind of taking what's working well from different organizations. And so it can be really an, an outsider perspective. And it's also a safe space to really be vulnerable about your position and the challenges, and also the successes within the organization that you're in. You get to really have candid feedback and not necessarily worry about what other people may think within the organization that you're currently in.
Create Your Vision Board
Once you identify what your SMART goals are, create a vision board, and have some fun with this. And when you're creating this vision board, cut out magazine clippings, cut out inspirational words or phrases, put your SMART goals specific on your vision board, and you can kind of break it down as to what are your health goals? What are your finance goals? What are your spiritual goals, your relationship goals, and what are your career goals? Put that in an area that you are going to see every single day. So for example, my vision board sits above my desk. I see it every single day. It is a constant reminder of what I'm trying to achieve, and what my goals are.
Share Your Vision
In addition to really set you to that next step and really stretch you, share your vision, your declarations, and your goals with others. Share them with your manager, share them with your spouse, or your significant other, and share them with your friends because when you share them with others, it supports you in being accountable. It also gives other people the opportunity to support you by saying, Hey, I may have this great mentor for you. Or, You know what? I know somebody that might be able to support you in achieving this specific goal.
For example, if your goal is to ride your Peloton three days a week, that's my goal. Then maybe the opportunity is you get to connect with other Peloton riders and you get to inspire people. When they're on the bike, you're on the bike. You get to coach people and, and link arms with them for that same goal. Maybe your goal is to go on a walk three days a week. Maybe that is you're meeting up with somebody three days a week. Maybe it's your calling somebody and you're going on, walks together. If you really wanna take it a step further beyond that, you can share it on social media.
Can you believe we are halfway through 2021? In today's episode, I go through the value of setting goals, how to set, measure, and achieve your goals for the back half of the year. This episode will support you to stretch yourself in all areas of your life.
“It's never too late to step into your dream job” –Danielle Cobo.
