The real purpose of Annual Goals
If there’s one thing I know about plans… is that you never really hit them.
Seems counterintuitive coming from a business strategist, right?
But I don’t actually care about your specific targets. They’ll probably go out the window in January when the actions start to happen and results begin to appear.
Getting uber-specific with your goals isn’t going to change what happens next.
What does matter? Setting your goals to serve as a lighthouse or a beacon - not as a target to hit dead center.
What matters is what the outcome guides us to do - from actions, beliefs, and identity shifts.
What matters is moving towards an intentional purpose, setting course on a clear direction so you can adjust as necessary.
What matters is being open to the possibility of even more than you could have imagined.
Three real purposes of your annual goals.
Determines the magnitude of change.
This may be a year of incremental change. Of tending to the seeds you have planted, tending to your saplings as they grow into a stronger tree.
Or this may be year of exponential and transformational change. Overhauling your business model or brand positioning, changing your team structure, rebuilding your systems, or saving up that freedom fund to fuel what’s next.
How we maintain our bearings through incremental change is different than transformational change, and it’s important to know that at the start.
Sets the priorities for change.
We need to know what to prioritize and where to focus so that your work translates into real, felt change. What roots and seeds are you planting next year?
If this year you want to grow revenue, we start with growing your audience and visibility.
If this is the year you want to reclaim your time and expand your team, we start with defining roles and responsibilities and setting systems in place.
If you want more profit, we start with looking at your books.
Informs the projects and shifts that create those outcomes.
Bringing on 1-2 more clients requires different projects and actions than filling 200 seats for your first conference.
One requires deep nurturing of connections… and the other is likely going to require getting real cozy with marketing, video, and getting in front of audiences.
And when we have the clear intention, we can learn and adjust when what we think might work doesn’t lead to the outcomes we expect.
Different actions, different habits. Different identity shifts and growth edges to overcome.
The additional rhythms that build to your annual goals.
But we need to stay in close alignment with our vision and our priorities in order to make those changes.
Seasonally, we focus on strategic planning to create our priorities, themes and growth edges for the season. We celebrate the journey of the prior season. You’ll create your intentions/priorities for the season, review your capacity and commitments, and refine your monthly milestones. This is a time to get radically focused on 1-2 major focus areas/priorities for the season, based on the season you are in. We anchor this into either the seasons of the year, seasons of conception, or elements, these cycles have demarcated boundaries at about 3 months each.
Monthly, we focus on grounded planning to create tangible steps for the month or two ahead. We reflect on our growth over the prior month, including our metrics that matter. You’ll define your specific goals/milestones for the month and ensure your calendar and your capacity matches those goals. You’ll plan out your content, sales, and messaging. You’ll tend to your operational, financial, and sales systems.
Weekly, we focus on flow planning to move forward with clarity on our most important tasks and ensure our days are set up for success. You’ll define your most important business-building task for the week, review your calendar for time blocks/red flags, block out buffer time for unplanned issues, and ensure your commitments show up on your calendar.
Daily, we focus on executional planning. Did we accomplish our biggest priority? How much are we taking on in a day?
