Goal Setting and The Outcome of my 2012 Business Goals | Secrets of a MN Photographer

I am a huge believer in goal setting.

It is said that those who set goals and then write those goals down accomplish more and earn more than those who don't partake in active goal setting.

I believe it.

Writing down my goals wasn't always part of my plan. I'd make goals in my head, but I wouldn't commit them to paper.

Later, I wouldn't be able to remember what those goals were, much less know if I had completed them or not.

So last year, at the start of 2012, I decided to create and write down some tangible, measurable goals for the year.

They were:

Shoot 10 weddings.
Shoot 30 portrait sessions.
Reach 1,000 Facebook Likes.

Simple, measurable [I could easily tell if I reached them or not], and I had a clear end date - the end of 2012.

I'm happy to say that I met 2 of the three, and almost met the third goal too.

In 2012, I shot 12 weddings, 46 portrait sessions, and ended the year with 980 Facebook Likes.

Yayyy!!!

It feels to good to be able to look at the goals I specifically set last January 1st, 2012, and to know if I met them or not.

This year, I once again created and wrote down some goals for this 2013 business year. I created personal goals too, that I want to accomplish this year, and even published those on the blog.

At this time next year, I'll be able to determine if those were met or not.

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Do you create and write down goals? For yourself or for your business?

If you don't, I highly encourage you to do it.

Pick one goal, one thing that you want to accomplish this year.

Like we learned in school, goals should be 'SMART'. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely.

Your goals should be specific, and measurable which means that you can tell if you reach them or not.

They should be attainable, but can be reach-goals, ones that you are taking a leap to try to achieve.

They should be relevant. To you, your life, your business, your dreams.

They need to be timely, or time-measured. By saying this is a 2013 goal, you created a time-frame for your goal. You want to accomplish the goal by the end of 2013, so it puts an end date on your goal.

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Go ahead.

Dream up some goals.

Write them down.

And go after them.

If you want to publicly declare your goals, I'd love to hear them! We can help keep each other accountable. So - what are some of your 2013 goals?