If you have used traditional goal setting methods to set goals for your small business, you probably experienced the feeling of disappointment when your results fall short of your goals. But do you realize how your unachieved goals are truly affecting you? Small business owners pay an especially harsh price. Goal setting, using traditional methods taught by most business consultants and authors, can demolish your confidence in your abilities and put your self-esteem completely in the tank.

Initially, when small business owners sit down for a session of goal setting they are very optimistic and even somewhat idealistic about what is attainable. Goal setting requires making some guesses about what is attainable, often based on pretty sketchy information. We usually don’t realize how much guesswork actually goes into our goal setting, especially for long-term business goals. We don’t think of our goals as “educated guesses”; instead we tend to think of them as firm commitments.

Viewing long-term goals as firm commitments is fine, of course, until you look at your business goals from further down the road. When small business owners pull out their goals months after setting them they usually find themselves staring at a long list of all their unachieved goals and all the things they promised themselves they would accomplish and didn’t; all their hopes and dreams remain just that – hopes and dreams.

It is really no wonder that 87 percent of small business owners I have surveyed do not set goals of any kind, even though they are aware how critical business goal setting is to their success. They want more self-esteem and self-confidence not less. Who doesn’t want that?

Here’s the thing most small business owners do not know about goal setting: Done differently, by using Magnetic Goals strategies, you can use your goals to boost your confidence in your ability to build a successful business. One simple Magnetic Goals strategy is called “Measure What You Treasure”. It is a fantastic and remarkably simple method to ensure that you are continually recognizing and appreciating the steps you are taking forward and all your accomplishments along the way. As a small business owner you will always have more work than can ever be done, so you will be happy to know that the “measure what you treasure” strategy will also prevent you from feeling overwhelmed and demoralized by all those things that you didn’t get accomplished.

When you use Magnetic Goals strategies you will build your confidence in all areas of your business, you will boost your self-esteem, eliminate your feelings of overwhelm and dramatically improve both your motivation and your focus.

No matter where you are in the development of your small business or how confident you are feeling today, you can use Magnetic Goals to build your confidence and boost your self-esteem When you learn more in the free report found at MagneticGoals.info you will no longer let goal setting rob you of your confidence or diminish your self-esteem.

Business development books and business consultants caution you not to take a step without goal setting. They tell you that goal setting is a vital undertaking for anyone who is serious about their business and that you need to have a clearly defined set of goals to ensure your success and without them you risk failure. Yet, according to my survey of small business owners, 87% do not use goals to ensure their business success! Why do so many smart people with excellent products and business potential avoid goal setting?

There are many reasons so many small business owners resist setting goals setting even though they know it is vitally important to their business success. See if any of these are your favorite reasons why you avoid this important activity:

Reason #1: It hasn’t worked in the past. If you have gone through all the trouble to define and document goals for your business, only to look at them some time later and find that you have come up short, you might be wondering: “What’s the use? Documenting my goals doesn’t work for me”.

Reason #2: Unaccomplished business goals are painful and costly. If you have set goals, you probably recognize the feeling of disappointment when you have come up short. When you use traditional goal setting methods and don’t achieve all your goals, you can pay some heavy prices. Unaccomplished goals can rob you of your confidence, motivation and energy.

Reason #3: You don’t like to be wrong about your assumptions. Goal setting requires making some educated guesses about what is attainable, often based on pretty sketchy information. There is a high degree of risk of being wrong and no one I know likes to be wrong.

Reason #4: You don’t want to be disappointed with yourself, or disappoint others, if you set goals and don’t achieve them. You may see your goals as a public declaration of your intentions and if you fall short you may be judged, by yourself and/or others, as a failure.

Reason #5: You think goal setting has to be a long complicated, tedious or hard process (it doesn’t). This one stops a lot of people who would rather do just about anything but sweat over business goal setting.

Reason #6: You may see goals as somewhat limiting or stifling your creativity. You may take the position that if you commit to a goal you must stubbornly pursue it and close the door to other opportunities that may arise.

While these are the most common reasons for foot-dragging, when it comes to goal setting, the reasons for not setting goals are almost endless. I even had one lovely lady tell me that she didn’t set goals because she was afraid that if she wrote them down she would jinx her future success. She thought it would be “bad juju”! We can be very creative when it comes to finding excuses for not attending to this vitally important task.

When you think about it, with all these reasons to avoid goal setting, why should you even set goals? Small business owners, business book authors and consultants are missing a vitally important piece of information about goals: they have a magnetic quality.

That brings me to reason #7. This is the most important, yet seldom recognized, reason small business owners resist setting goals…

Reason #7: You don’t realize the power and full benefits of Magnetic Goals. When you define your own set of Magnetic Goals, use them as a tool, rather than just a “I have to do because smart folks tell me to” exercise, you will see for yourself the awesome power of Magnetic Goals to draw success to you.

When you visit MagneticGoals.info you can learn more about Magnetic Goals and how to use them to ensure your business success. You will never want to avoid business goal setting again and there won’t be any good reason to!

Most small business owners agree that goal setting is important but the majority of them resist attending to this critical business success activity. Do you avoid business goal setting? If you do you are certainly not alone. Some time ago I surveyed a number of business owners and found that an astounding 87% said they did not set goals!

Many small business owners who come to me for business coaching tell me that they find goal setting is boring and tedious hard work. The entire idea is met with either a shudder or a yawn. But business consultants and coaches will tell you that you should set goals so you know where you are going. I say “No! Set goals so you get where you want to go!”

Most business owners do not fully understand the true benefits of business goal setting. If they did, the percentage of business owners who fail to engage in this critical activity would be much lower and the number of small businesses failures would be a whole lot lower too! But, how do you make this a priority? One way is to make sure that it is not boring or tedious undertaking. If you know how to make it creative and fun you will love the process.

Setting your business goals, when done properly, using Magnetic Goals strategies, works because of the amazing power of an important, and highly undervalued, part of your brain: the Reticular Activation System (RAS).

Surprisingly, the more fun you have setting and using your goals, the better they work to draw success to you because your RAS responds to creative fun. With Magnetic Goals, the more you are emotionally engaged, having fun, with your goals the better your brain works with you to generate the business success you desire.

Also, when goal setting is no longer a dreaded activity, you will be highly motivated to regularly set goals and then, even more importantly, use them on an ongoing basis to draw success TO you. So, the more fun you have the better it is!

If you want to generate great business results using simple strategies that are both fun and effective is vitally important – that is what Magnetic Goals are all about. Stop chasing success and use goal setting techniques that are both fun and amazingly effective to draw to you the success you desire and deserve.

When you get your free report on magnetic goal setting strategies by visiting MagneticGoals.info you can start today to use the simple and easy strategies to build massively successful businesses and have a great time doing it.

Most small business owners, almost 87% of those I surveyed, don’t have goals – Magnetic or otherwise.  There are many reasons for this, and there is one in particular I want to talk about today.

You see, small business owners often pay a particularly harsh price when they set goals, using traditional methods, and then come up short. It can demolish their confidence in their abilities and put their self-esteem completely in the tank.  This is particularly true for those small business owners who demand perfection from themselves and from others. Traditional goal setting is risky business because if you fail to achieve what you said you would, you may be putting your self-esteem at stake.

If setting goals puts your self-worth at risk, if it means your self-esteem may take a serious hit if you miss your targets, why do it at all? Why not just do what other small business owners do –forgo goal setting altogether? Good question.

Here’s the answer:  Done properly, goal setting will not only dramatically improve your business results by drawing success to you,  you will also feel better and better about yourself every day. Surely feeling good about you was one of the reasons you started your business in the first place. And, the more confident you are about what you can achieve, the more you risk, and the more you risk, the more you achieve. And on it goes.

One of the important Magnetic Goals concepts I teach is “Measure What You Treasure”.  This simple technique, based on something called the Hawthorne effect, that can (and should) be done in less than 2 minutes a day.

One of the great side-effects of tracking results every day, and particularly the way I teach it, is that you will see incremental forward progress – each and every day. And, if you don’t see even a little progress one day – you get to do tomorrow differently and see some progress then.  No more waiting until the end of the month, the quarter, or the year only to be demoralized at having missed your goals.

It takes only a tiny bit of structure, and only a few moments a day, to do an internal “happy dance” in recognition of you and your progress, to make tremendous strides towards your vision for your business – and to feel really good about you along the way.

To learn more about “Measure What You Treasure”, the Hawthorne Effect, and how to set and use Magnetic Goals to Draw Success to You, Get my free report Click Here.

Please leave your comments and questions. Inquiring minds want to know…

If you have taken the time to get clear about what you want to accomplish and set goals for your business success, you have taken a very important step. But do you know how to set goals and then get them working as hard FOR YOU as you are working for them?

Far too many small business owners, who use traditional goal setting strategies, set goals then tuck their goals away in virtual drawer somewhere and get on with doing their business the same old way – and get the same old results.

If you have set goals that seldom see the light of day you are not using them to keep you focused and on track – you are missing out on two very important strategies.

One strategy, critical to the achievement of your goals is what I call “Measure What You Treasure” (I’ll write more on soon) and the other critical strategy is “Accountability”.

When you tell someone what your goals are, and ask them to support you by asking you frequently “Have you accomplished what you promised yourself to do?” or, even better, “What did you choose to make more important than the accomplishment of your goals?” – you are using the powerful tool of accountability to help you achieve success. You will be moving steadily forward towards what you know is most important to you.

Don’t let the goals you set gather dust! The support of an accountability partner, be it a business associate you can rely on not to coddle your excuses, or business coach whose job it is to support you stay on track, is priceless beyond measure!

One of my private small business coaching clients sent me a lovely essay recently, and since it touches on the subject of accountability, I’d thought you’d enjoy reading part of it. Leaving a comment would be fabulous!

On Accountability:

A New Season is Knocking at My Door (Published with Permission of the Author)

By Anita Jo Meyer, Waupun Wisconsin

I am torn between the simplicity of my surroundings and the vastness of today’s technological complexity, just as I am torn between living in the material world and in the spiritual world.  Both exist simultaneously within me.  I need to own both.   But the question is, how do I live in and with balance?

I cry.  Why?  Because tomorrow, I have a call with Cathy and I feel accountable to her for my success or my failure.

Why? Why do I feel accountable to her?  Why do I not feel accountable to myself?

I often try to appease others.  I think they have more of “the Truth” than I.  Is that the child, still within me, feeling that authorities outside of me own my power?  Is that why I feel accountable to others?  How is that so?  Why have I abdicated my power to them?  Why do I not claim it for myself?

The time is NOW!

I do have within me the knowledge, wisdom and understanding I need.  I will use my abilities and unwrap the hidden gifts within.  My past is past.  My future is not yet manifest.  My NOW holds the millions of possibilities and millions of probabilities for all my potential futures!   What will I make of them?  What will I manifest?  My thoughts, words, deeds, emotions and beliefs create my own reality.  What will I create?  Someone else’s supposed dreams?  Or will I manifest my own visions and dreams?  The choice is mine alone.

I pray for clarity and order.  I feel like I want to know and do “everything”, all at the same time. I want to immerse myself in nature to know the trees, the flowers, plants, forests, prairies, mountains and lakes.  I want to know the earth and sky and all that they contain.  I want to know the creatures that live below the earth, on the earth and above.  I want to connect with the sun, stars and moon, planets and galaxies, and all that extends into the outer reaches of the universe.  I want to understand the play between the darkness and the light.  I want to know peace and love of myself, my family, and humanity.  I want to know myself as one with it all.

Most of all I want to reach beyond my fears and doubts.  I want to know the fullest of my capacity and grow into all I can be.  Oh, what a glorious feeling that will be.

I sit, here, at my desk in the caress of the warm early spring sun.  So grateful.  Oh, so grateful for all in my sight and all that is beyond.  Stems and foliage of flowers, yet unseen, are stretching through the soil to awaken in the light and warmth of  a new season.  The trees are budding, puffs of delicate clouds float ever-so gently in the sky, farmers pick stones in the fields, people rake the remnants of  last years leaves and grass leaving open space for new growth.  The ladybugs and flies walk and fly between the window panes spurred to life by the warmth of the sun.  The same sun that warms my skin and my heart, exciting my anticipation of the things yet to come.

I feel the pregnant pulsations in nature, waiting patiently to burst out of the drabness of early spring.  I feel the same pulsations within my heart and soul.  Something is anxiously waiting to gush forth with new awareness, consciousness, fullness.  All it asks of me is to let go of the old growth of the past years of my life, to be grateful for all that is, and to be open to a new season of growth with the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of the mystery of  love that I am.

Copyright 2010 Anita Jo Meyer, Waupun Wisconsin

I’ve been having a blast helping small business owners to set goals that really work (Magnetic Goals) to keep them on track and moving forward, generating great results, and have a lot of fun along the way.  I continue to be filled with joy as I see the results of our work together – they have great businesses, fantastic lives, and help others to do the same.

People come to me from all walks of life, for all kinds of reasons, but there is one thing about the coach/client relationship that benefits many of them more than they ever dreamed possible – accountability. In a coaching relationship that means declaring what you will accomplish to move forward and have the results you truly desire, and giving your coach permission to check in with you on your progress.

Some of my clients were stuck in inertia for months – even years. As hard as they tried to motivate themselves it wasn’t until they brought in a success partner, a coach, that things started moving – and move they did! They set goals, found remarkable courage, learned new tools, and achieved, even over-achieved, their most important goals at amazing speed.  One of the major reason they reach the goals they set is accountability. Why does being accountable to someone else work? There are many reasons and much research on the topic but perhaps it’s enough to know that accountability is easy to implement, and when done right, it really works!

For a few of my clients, our coaching does not include a formal structure for keeping them accountable because they have developed strong self-accountability. But for others, as they learn to be accountable to themselves, they need both a carrot and a stick to keep moving forward and getting great results.

The carrot – a conversation of celebration where we both “do the happy dance” in celebration of what they have accomplished. The stick – the thought of reporting that they did not make the choices that would lead to the accomplishment of what they committed to do (to themselves – not me!) and the acknowledgment their business success took a back seat to something else.  They know we will be shining a light on how they make their choices and it helps them stay focused on the goals they set.

If you think that being accountable to someone who can help keep you on track (without guilt or criticism), make great choices, and celebrate your “wins” – consider having a the built-in accountability that a great coach can provide.

I accept a small number of private clients, and my coaching style is not for everyone, but I’d love you to consider me as your accountability partner in your business success.  Click here for more information and let’s talk!

A common problem that keeps small business owners from the success they desperately want and deserve is lack of focus. My new clients often tell me that if only they could focus more, and not get distracted by BSOs (bright shiny objects), they just might be able to work towards a goal long enough to reap the rewards of their hard work.

One reason many small business owners lack the focus necessary for success is that they are afraid to miss out on some great opportunities that just might bring them the results they long for. But, if you don’t choose a very small number of opportunities, and focus on them exclusively, you can dilute your focus so much that the results you want never come.  A another reason many business owners constantly shift their focus from one opportunity to another is that at some point the work required to bring one opportunity to fruition can becomes challenging (scary?) and even a bit tedious or boring.  It is remarkable how quickly the appeal of a once-juicy opportunity can fade.

The 2010 Winter Olympics take place next month and I am reminded that the only way an Olympic athlete can ensure a “shot at the gold” is to pick a single sporting event and focus exclusively on training for that event.  I can imagine how tedious and routine that singular focus can be at times. While attempting to become world-class at both downhill racing and cross-country skiing might seem much more interesting and exciting, the odds of becoming good enough at either event to stand on the medal podium are very slim indeed.My clients and students know that one of my favourite phrases is “If you chase two rabbits you will catch neither one” (source unknown). They also know that I have added my personal extension to that quote “…When you are eating rabbit stew you won’t even recall the one that got away”.

How many rabbits are you chasing? Pick one and chase it down. The stew is delicious!

Need help staying focused on what’s important to you? I am as close as your keyboard.