You'll Get Results Faster If You Set Better Goals
You'll Get Results Faster If You Set Better Goals
"Have you ever “looked forward” to going on vacation and gotten excited in that present moment?"
90% of solopreneurs do business as if they were blindfolded and thrown in a dark forest without a map.
Feeling their way with the speed of a snail.
Afraid.
Something shines and sparkles in your peripheral vision and off you go.
It’s not you. It’s just that you haven’t taken the time to figure out where you’re going.
Really, how far do you think you can go like that?
The problem with visions and goals is that it’s an overused concept. It’s not shiny enough for us to pay attention. At the same time, most of us are doing it wrong (or not doing it at all).
Why you should create a vision and set goals.
“Have you ever “looked forward” to going on vacation and gotten excited in that present moment? That’s what I mean.
By getting specific on how you want your future to look, you can start to tap into that energy.
The purpose of creating vision and goals isn’t to focus on them, but to provide more clarity and prove that it can be accomplished. They are simply here to provide additional energy sources to tap into and be able to create a process to execute.” — Dan Koe, 7-figure solopreneur.
I couldn’t put it better than Dan, so I’ll just summarize what he said. Visions and goals create:
Energy
Clarity
A process to follow
Why did I achieve some of my brave goals, but not all?
I’ve been setting brave goals for a decade, and only about 20% came through. Here’s what came through for me:
I went from $2-$4K months to $10K months on Fiverr in just 6 months. Achieved!
I got featured in Business Insider (and it happened the same year I set the goal). Achieved!
I sold my premium copywriting services for 5 figures to multiple clients. I still can’t believe I pulled this off the exact year I set the goal. Achieved!
I lost a lot of weight and kept it off. Achieved! (It’s not all about money; the goal-setting method I’m about to show you works for anything.)
Of course, I didn’t build a million-dollar copywriting agency. I haven’t finished my book yet. I haven’t bought a house in Spain.
So recently I asked myself why. What’s the difference between the goals that came through and the goals that didn’t?
I broke things down and I found my answer.
Today, I present to you my method to achieve incredible wins.
Understand what a (stretch) goal is.
Imagination is stronger than knowledge.
The greatest people in the world have brought us things no one else could imagine because everyone else relied on knowledge.
That being said, a goal isn’t about imagination. That’s a vision.
Visions are grand and all-inclusive. They are the big picture of your dream life. The main purpose of a vision is to be inspirational; to open your mind.
Goals are specific. A goal is a single step towards your vision. “Normal” goals are goals you know you can achieve because you’ve achieved them before; or because they’re the logical next step.
Find new clients at the same rate for the same service — that’s a “normal” goal.
Keep growing at the same rate on Substack — that’s a “normal” goal.
Or maybe, “get back to a growth rate that I used to have but I lost”. That’s a goal you know you can achieve. You’ve been there.
A stretch goal is a bigger step so you can get there faster.
Stretch goals step a little bit outside your knowledge. You see 70% of the road ahead and commit to figuring out the other 30% as you go. Some see 50% and still go.
Find new clients for my premium service at a much higher price — stretch goal.
Double my growth rate on Substack — stretch goal.
You know how to start working towards these, but you have no idea how to actually get there.
That’s fine. You’ll learn how to get there if you just give it enough time. Speaking of time, let’s talk about…
Time frame.
Getting this right is more important than you think.
Give yourself too much time and you’re wasting your potential.
Give yourself too little time and you start to feel anxious, a little depressed from the lack of instant results, and are more likely to give up entirely.
Here’s what I’d like you to do: forget about a month as a time frame relevant to your business.
We’re used to thinking in months because of rents, bills and salaries.
But in terms of goals, a month is the stupidest time frame. It’s not short enough to keep you focused and accountable; and it’s not long enough for you to see real, meaningful progress.
Monthly goals are usually “normal” goals, too, because how far can you really stretch yourself within a month?? Especially with most of you juggling day jobs, family responsibilities and who knows what else.
Your stretch goals should be yearly goals. Always, always, always.
You’ll achieve some of them faster, but still, make them yearly.
And if you’ve never achieved a stretch goal before, set one stretch goal for the next 12 months. Yes, one.
Stretch goals will become easier as you become smarter, and you’ll start setting 2 or 3 per year. But for now, set one stretch goal for the year.
Then, plan weekly tasks to get there.
That’s what you need to make this work: think in terms of a week and a year.
Paid subs will get my Big Goal Getter planner below to break things down in an even more effective way.
How goals get clearer when you take action.
Let me tell you how the Business Insider feature happened.
First, I wanted to be featured in “big media.” I researched what big websites in my industry accept contributor submissions.
I noticed Business Insider had the most articles in my space. Also, their editors were super open about accepting submissions. One of them had it in her Twitter bio that she’s open to submissions.
But to up my chances, I kept submitting to Fast Company and Forbes, too.
Then something interesting happened. I noticed the Forbes editor to whom I had submitted a piece had checked out my LinkedIn profile.
I never heard back from her, but that gave me a clue why: it’s not that the writing was bad or irrelevant, it’s that I was an online nobody. Big media won’t feature online nobodies.
So I reworked my LinkedIn profile and became more active on the platform. Armed with a better LinkedIn profile, I decided to go all-in on Business Insider.
Eventually, Ella Hopkins, a reporter for BI, reached out to me on LinkedIn saying she wanted to interview me for Business Insider.
See how things worked out even though I didn’t know exactly how they would when I started?
So we talked about how to set a goal. How to achieve it though?
There’s a very simple way to achieve any goal you set out to achieve AND measure how you’re doing in the process.
Just give your goals more focused time.
Time where you sit with your goal and you do whatever needs to be done to either clarify it or achieve it.
Don’t know what’s the goal? Find more role models and research what they do.
Don’t know how to achieve it? Identify and learn the skills you need to learn.
Don’t have the motivation? Find a community that will keep you accountable.
Don’t believe it will work? Read more success stories and work on improving your inner monologue.
Then, of course, work towards achieving that goals. Improve your profiles, write, publish, contact clients, build products. Whatever it is, give it time and do it.
The more focused time you spend with a goal, the more likely you are to achieve it and the more likely you are to achieve it fast(er).
My personal experience is that any stretch goal that I’ve given at least 10 hours per week has been achieved in a year or less.
Assess & Change.
After you’ve worked on your goal for a couple of months and/or you’ve completed the first few tasks on your to-do list, it’s time to step back and assess the results.
What did you learn that you didn’t know when you started?
What can you do differently to achieve your goals faster?
Did you dedicate the hours you said you would? If not, why? Do you need to change your expectations about your time?
Now, let’s go through the process with the Big Goal Getter.
Start setting bigger & better goals and achieve more in 1 year than you ever thought possible with my simple 4-step planner.
It’s perfect for:
New solopreneurs
Solopreneurs who lack clarity and direction
Solopreneurs who are easily distracted by shiny things
Stretch goals are scientifically proven to be more effective + this is the method I’ve used to achieve things I never thought I could, including:
Make more money,
Grow my audience
Land amazing clients as a non-native copywriter based in Bulgaria
Paid subs can get the Big Goal Getter below and participate in this week’s Big Goals challenge. (+ are welcome to join the Irresistible Substack webinar on Thursday). ↘
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