It’s January and that means we’re thinking about resolutions, goals, and our vision of what 2016 will bring us personally and in business. I don’t know about you, but I make resolutions every year and they’re typically something like “I’m going to lose weight” or “I’m going to make more money.” Basically, they’ve vague and they’re something everyone says at some point in their lives. I wanted to change that this year after I went to a networking meeting in my local community. The speaker made an excellent point about being deliberate with your goals and specifying what you want to happen. So, now I’ve got 3 tips in how to create deliberate business goals in 2016. I recently talked about this on Periscope and you can watch the replay.

1. Create Deliberate Business Goals

What do I mean by deliberate? I mean:

• Focused
• Intentional
• Specific
• Purposeful
• Calculated
• Conscious

When you think about your business in 2016, what do you want to see happen? I know that make more money and get more customers is at the top of that list – but it’s also at the top of everyone’s list. And how are you going to make that happen? Write business goals that are specific enough that you know exactly when you accomplished them. For example, here are a few of my goals for 2016:

1. I will teach 6 paid social media workshops.
2. I will write 3 paid ebooks.
3. I will Blab with my co-host Heather Heuman every month.
4. I will broadcast on Periscope at least 1 time per week.

I have a few others as well that specify my income goals, email subscriber goals, and blogging goals. What can you say specifically you will do this year to make your business better in 2016?

[clickToTweet tweet=”Create deliberate and specific business goals – nothing vague ever works! – @StephNissen_ #biztip” quote=”Create deliberate and specific business goals – nothing vague ever works! – @StephNissen_ #biztip”]

2. Write Your Business Goals Down

There’s something about writing down your business goals that helps them come to fruition. And that’s not just fluff and stuff – that’s based on a study done by Psychology professor, Gail Matthews at Dominican University of California. Matthews found empirical evidence that by writing down your goals you were more likely to accomplish them and you’ll have an even higher rate of success if you share your goals with a friend for accountability.

Writing down my business goals was something I had not done before. This year, I even created a “goal board” after
attending a networking group in Washington, MO. All we did was take a small piece of poster board, stickers, sharpies, and some other decorative elements to make a visual reminder of our goals. I’ve also written mine down inside my iBloom planner. (Seriously, love this planner!)

Now that my goals are written (in multiple places), I will be able to see them consistently. My goal board is going to be posted right above my desk in my office and my planner goes with me everywhere. I will have consistent reminders of my specific goals for 2016!

3. Review Your Business Goals, Often

So, you’ve got specific, measurable goals that you’ve written down. Great. You’re committed to achieving them, right? Well, we are right now, this month. But what about when you lose steam next month or in 6 months? This happens to the best of us which is why step number 3 is to review your business goals often. My plan is to review my business goals once a month. Remember that planner I mentioned in Step 2? I have written in my planner on the 1st day of each month through December, that I will “Review Goals.” Now there’s no excuse. I have already set up reminders for myself to keep my momentum going and stay on track.

When I say to “review your business goals”, I don’t just mean to read them again. I mean I’ll be asking myself these four questions:

1. Has this goal been achieved already?
2. Am I on track to complete this goal on time?
3. What did I do last month to help me achieve it?
4. What can I do this month to help me achieve it?

This gives you the opportunity to really make sure your business goals are achieved this year. And I know you want that. And I want that for you!

So, there you go: Create deliberate goals, write them down, and review them often. That’s 3 simple steps that will put you on the right track to completing your goals this year. Well, this year, and every year after. Above, I shared 4 of my specific goals. How about you share just 1 goal with me in the comments? I’d love to hear about it!