Where will you go?
My daughter received her first copy of Alice in Wonderland for Christmas. A childhood favorite of mine, I read to her about the ridiculous and whimsical and stressful adventures Alice encounters. Flamingos as croquet mallets? What? It all struck a funny parody with our lives today. We begin by following a white rabbit, are distracted by a variety of food and drink and characters with other priorities and inevitably wind up arguing with the king and queen about something non-sensical (my toddlers at dinnertime are represented by the king and queen in this analogy) and wake up exhausted, not quite sure where to go next. In her wandering, Alice encounters the Cheshire cat, and asks for directions. When he asks her where she’s going, she replies that she doesn’t know. And his apt response is that it really doesn’t matter which way you go, then.
Damn. He’s right.
It’s a new year. And after seeing about a million posts about goal-setting and resolutions, I’ve been eager to give myself some direction as well. Without some sort of plan, or direction, I often find myself picking up the most urgent thing in the moment, or wandering aimlessly around my to-do list, just marking off the easy to tackle things. And when I look back at my well crossed off list and my busy life, I scratch my head at all that I didn’t accomplish. The big stuff, that moves me forward stays on the backburner…waiting for its turn.
New year or not, it’s as good a time as any to give some thought to the coming months. Whether you call it a resolution, or your intentions, or you assign yourself a “word of the year” or determine how you want to feel, or any other lovely term you want to give it, we’re talking about setting some goals. And goals are good. They give us a direction. We can assign milestones to a goal and then we have a path to follow. If we share our goals with our team, then they can, in turn, form goals that support ours. Goals give us momentum, and can keep us accountable. When we set intentional, and well-defined goals, then we can truly move an idea forward.
So how do we set intentional and well-defined goals? I like using the SMART model to construct goals. It’s easy to remember, and also happens to work really well with my business name. In researching for this piece, I found some robust resources on the topic, like this one from the University of California, but a quick google search of SMART goals will yield a hearty list of articles you can deep dive into to use this model to its fullest.
This is not a how to guide on creating smart goals. This is a pep talk to just make a goal in the first place. A real goal. A goal with some backbone. A goal that will feel really good to accomplish. A goal that is clearly done, when it’s done.
I’ve been working on my goals for Good Smart Funny, and thought I’d share my process using one of my goals, to increase visibility and credibility by consistently blogging for my business, as a model. Conveniently, I get one of 52 blog posts out of it as well! (See, we’re already winning.)
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based. SMART.
Starting point: “Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny.”
Specific: This is the who, what, where, and why of the goal. Who is involved, who will be relied on? Why is the goal important? What resources will be required?
I like to write. I would like to write for the blog on my website. Writing is a way that I can establish credibility and tell stories about my experiences that small business owners and potential clients might relate to or find useful. But, if no one reads what I write, I’m just basically journaling. So, I have to post it, share it, put it out there into the world and help people find me. This will be me, a laptop and my website, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny by publishing a blog and sharing it strategically on chosen social media channels of Instagram and LinkedIn.
Measurable: This is strictly quantity-based. Increase sales by how much? Decrease debt by how much? Grow visibility by how many people? How will you know when you’ve achieved this goal?”
I’ve gotten guidance from a small business advisor that one blog a week would be a strong enough cadence for what I am trying to accomplish. I’m starting from zero on LinkedIn and am really curious to learn more about how posting regularly on the platform will grow my visibility. I am using IG as a “fun” platform that helps illustrate my personality and ‘brand’ which currently has 200 followers.
Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny by publishing a blog once per week and sharing it strategically on chosen social media channels of Instagram and LinkedIn with linked posts each week, tracking marketing metrics that result.
Achievable: This is the ‘How’ part of your goal. Is this goal realistic? How will you do it? What are the steps, financial requirements, education requirements, etc. to accomplishing this?
I think the writing a blog once per week is going to be a challenging stretch. It will require careful planning, and self-discipline to make regularly scheduled time to plan and write the content.
Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny by regularly scheduling three marketing hours per week to publish a blog once per week and share it strategically on chosen social media channels of Instagram and LinkedIn with linked posts each week, tracking marketing metrics that result.
Relevant: Does this matter in your overall purpose? How does it serve the primary goals, or mission of your company? Is this the right time?
One of the reasons I love HR and why Good Smart Funny exists, is to help people (small business owners and people leaders) to enjoy what they do, and that the people that work for us are the main ingredient for success. Writing regularly on ways that make it easier to enjoy your work, by managing people easily, feels relevant to me.
Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny by regularly scheduling three marketing hours per week to publish one blog per week that is useful and engaging to potential clients and community of GSF, and share it strategically on chosen social media channels of Instagram and LinkedIn with linked posts each week, tracking marketing metrics that result.
Time-based: When will it be complete? What can you accomplish in intervals? What milestones can you set for it? Assigning deadlines helps prevent the daily busy tasks from taking over the time you want to give to this.
At the end of each quarter, I can assess how successful I was at meeting the goal of one post a week, as well as see how many new followers, likes, comments I gain, what topics spark better conversations, or lead to feedback? At the end of the year, I can review each quarter over the next and determine if I grew visibility, established credibility and connected with a bigger community for Good Smart Funny.
The SMART Good Smart Funny goal:
Increase visibility and establish credibility for Good Smart Funny by regularly scheduling three marketing hours per week to publish one blog per week that is useful and engaging to potential clients and community of GSF, and share it strategically on chosen social media channels of Instagram and LinkedIn with linked posts each week, tracking marketing metrics that result at the end of each quarter and at the end of the year.”
Ta-Da!
Now, with a clearly defined objective, I know what I need to do to make this part of my priorities and not let it get pushed aside with all of the distractions (mad-hatters and tea-parties and cards painting roses red) that come up. I am also clear on what is required to say that this is complete. Hello, accountability!
If you have a team, help them create SMART goals and you’ll have a much easier time following up with them, keeping them on track, and holding them accountable. And if their goals align with your business goals, then imagine the momentum you can make together.
Now, which way would you like to go?