Many business people I know don’t really set goals of any kind, or at least not to the degree they really should. In fact, in December of 2008 I did a survey in which I asked small business owners “did you have a plan for 2008?”
87% said they did not…87%! That’s astounding!
I admit I thought the number would be high because often, when my clients come to me they are teetering on the edge of business failure, and worse, personal burnout. Soon I discover that they have not been setting goals, magnetic, or otherwise. But the number of people trying to build successful businesses without clearly defined goals surprised even me.
There are lots of reasons so many business owners resist setting goals. If you are not setting goals for your business, see if any of these are your favourite reasons why not:
• 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 when setting goals.
• You don’t want to be disappointed in yourself or disappoint others if you set goals and don’t achieve them.
• You think goal setting has to be a long complicated, tedious or hard process (which it doesn’t).
• You see goals as somewhat limiting or stifling of your creativity. You take the position that if you commit to a goal you must stubbornly pursue it and close the door to other opportunities.
The reasons for not setting goals, even though virtually every business book or coach would caution us not to take a step without defined and written 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 them if she did, like it was bad juju or something!
Read any book on business development, or ask any business consultant and they will tell you that you need to have a clearly defined set of goals to ensure success, and without them you risk failure. But I think these authors and consultants, and I can’t think of a single exception, are missing a vitally important piece of information about goals … goals have a magnetic quality. The number one reason people don’t set goals is they don’t realize the power and full benefits of Magnetic Goals.
Once you understand the power of Magnetic Goals, and you define your own set of Magnetic Goals, use them as a tool, rather than just a “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. To learn more about defining and achieving Magnetic Goals get the e-report: www.magneticgoals.com
