One of the best pieces of advice I have for home business owners, entrepreneurs and network marketing professionals is to stay focused. It’s all too easy to go astray and when you lose sight of your end goal, your chances of achieving it decrease.
Your End Goal and Lighthouses
Lighthouses mark the shoreline and warn sailors of things like rocks and shallow waters that can damage ships and even cause them to sink. If a captain loses focus of that lighthouse, he runs the risk of grounding or damaging his ship, preventing him from meeting his goal.
Think of your end goal like a lighthouse. If you take your eyes off of it and focus on other things, worry about distractions and fail to use it as a guide, your business’ ship will sink, and you won’t reach your goals.
We Set Goals to Give us Direction
I work with all kinds of business owners and other professionals to help them set goals and create business plans that will help them be successful. We set goals as a way to help us define where we want our business to be and what we need to do to get there.
A good business plan consists of achievable goals and then strategies and tactics that need to be accomplished to reach and even exceed the goals. This kind of plan is complete and will help a business grow, develop and make a larger profit.
If we were to arbitrarily set goals and then set them aside and forget about them, there would be no point to them. In most cases, businesses that don’t set goals aimlessly drift from project to project without really moving forward or reaching their fullest potential.
How to Stay Focused and Succeed
Once you have set some goals and created a business plan that will help you reach them, it’s up to you to stay focused on those end goals.
Check Each Task for Goal Orientation
Before you take on any task or project, check to make sure it will help you reach your end goal. Getting into this simple habit will prevent loss of focus from the beginning and help you learn to prioritize your time.
Of course, all businesses come with some tasks that aren’t directly goal oriented, but that need to get done. Set some time aside for things like answering emails, book keeping and paperwork and do those things as scheduled so they don’t take away from your focus.
If you need to, hire team members to take on some of these things so you can work on goal-achieving tasks.
Envision the End Result
Picturing what your business, and personal life, will be like when you achieve your goals can help you stay motivated and focused. When you set goals, take some time to envision what will change when you meet them. Then, let that image and mindset stick with you as you go about growing your business.
Set Personal Deadlines
Some business tasks come with deadlines. You need to have a product pitch ready by a certain date or you need to have that report done for your next team meeting. These deadlines help you get things done and stay focused on the task at hand.
Other tasks don’t come with deadlines, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them. Set some personal deadlines for tasks and projects and then hold yourself to them. When used the right way, deadlines can help you maintain excellent focus.
Have Weekly Assessment Meetings
Holding yourself accountable is one of the best ways to make sure you stay focused. Keep to-do lists after you check things off or use a work diary to make notes on what you do during the week.
Then, hold a weekly assessment meeting with your team, or even just with yourself, to reflect on how well you have stayed focused and what you have done during the previous week to help you achieve your goals. Then, make changes for the next week to help you be more effective.
Staying focused on the end goal is absolutely essential if you want to live the freedom lifestyle that comes with being a network marketer or business owner.
I help business owners set goals and then create plans that will help them focus and be successful. Contact me if you would like to set up a one-on-one meeting to help you do this for your business.