The formulation of business goals is absolutely critical to success. Without them, you may well find yourself floundering around, dealing with only the problems and opportunities that fall into your lap. Optimistic, but achievable, goals are a proven way to put yourself on the right track and to get your business moving in a positive direction.

However, there are some guidelines that you should follow to give your goals the highest chance of being realized.

Appraise your present situation

Excellence doesn’t happen by accident. Before you can be in a position to set appropriate goals for your near- and long-term future, you must examine where you are right now… and what you did to get there. Understanding what action or inaction put you into either a dire or good situation will hold you in good stead to apply the lessons learned for betterment of your business. Things to consider include: how your business performed over the past year; whether any existing goals were met-and why or why not; which aspects you enjoyed and which caused you headaches, etc.

Evaluate the methods you used when working through difficult periods to determine what worked and what didn’t. Once you have assessed where you are, and how you got there, you’ll be in the right position to set goals for the future.

Get excited about your goals

There will certainly be tedious and difficult periods during your quest for success, but remember at all times the goals you are aiming for. If you are eager to succeed, those more challenging times will be much easier to tolerate and move on from. Plus, excitement is contagious and if you’re motivated, those around you will be motivated too.

Be precise

We all want to be rich, healthy, work less, enjoy more time to explore our own interests, but setting such ambiguous objectives is pointless. Get specific. Details are what increase the chance of achievement. To set a precise goal, you’ll need to consider the six \”W\” questions:

*Who: Who is involved?

*What: What do I want to accomplish?

*Where: Identify a location.

*When: Establish a time frame.

*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why: Specific reasons, purpose, or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Set optimistic goals, while acknowledging your limitations

Wishful thinking on its own does not create success. And, ignoring the challenging realities of your situation is unlikely to make them magically improve. While it’s good to have dreams about where you and your business will end up, you’ve got to be able to take action to get there. So, when setting your goals it’s important to recognize the obstacles that you’re facing. Once you’ve acknowledged these barriers to success, you can decide whether they can be broken down through hard work and perseverance, or whether, instead of banging your head against a brick wall, you need to come up with an alternative solution to arrive at your destination.

Measure progress

It’s easy to lose hope and direction if it feels like you’re not getting anywhere. This is why milestones are so effective. By having checkpoints along the road to success, you can take stock and realize just how far you’ve come; a great way to re-energize or boost motivation when it feels like progress has stagnated. Celebrating these mini-successes along the way helps to keep you focused on the end-goal and drives you to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Set a deadline

For a goal to have any chance of success, it must come with a schedule or a timeframe. Without it, it’s too easy to put off the activities that you really need to do today. For example, if you want to attract five new clients, by setting a specific deadline (i.e., set a date or require that you attract at least one client per week, or per month, etc.), you’ll be much more likely to actually up your networking and marketing efforts than if you just aimed for those new clients “someday”.

Make a plan

Once you’ve decided where you want to be, you need to chart exactly how you’re going to get there. What do you need to start doing? What do you need to stop doing? What kind of clients and employees do you need to recruit to assist, rather than hinder, you? How will you fund your goals? For every aspect of your ambitions, a detailed plan describing the particulars of each step from here to achievement is essential.

Finally, adaptability and resilience are also crucial. Things may not always go according to plan, and in those cases you’ll need to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back to it. Being open to compromise and change in the pursuit of your goals will mean that no matter what challenges you are faced with, success and greatness remain within grasp.

Asif Vadaria, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in Chicago, IL. For more information, go here: http://www.taxcutters.com

Asif Vadaria, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in Chicago, IL. For more information, go here: http://www.taxcutters.com

Author Bio: Asif Vadaria, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in Chicago, IL. For more information, go here: http://www.taxcutters.com

Category: Advice
Keywords: CPA advice, accounting and tax advice, CPA business services