Debbie Mayo-Smith: Get smart to achieve your resolutions

Is a dream is just a goal without a timeframe? Photo / Thinkstock

I remember a US motivational speaker saying a dream is simply a goal without a timeframe. Would you put a New Year's resolution in the same category?

In late December, TV3 News asked me to comment on making and keeping resolutions. The top three categories of personal resolutions are: health, weight and budget. And 25 per cent of people have failed in their resolution by the end of January, and 75 per cent by April 1.

My comment for TV3 was twofold: success comes to those who make SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) resolutions (or goals), and who make time to achieve them. Heaping more activity on top of a frantic lifestyle normally results in failure.

With the start of a new year, what are your business goals? How will you turn them into achievements rather than failures?

* Start by being specific, time-bound and measurable. It's not "I want to earn more". It's "I want to earn $10,000 more". Or, "I want to be a senior manager within the company by the age of 37".

* Next, determine your route to get there. Change career or job, further education or training, more experience? To earn more, it could be that you need to attract a different type of client or get more business out of existing clients.

* Once you've charted your course of action, chop it up into small (bite-sized) specific, actionable pieces. And do each within a specific timeframe.

Here's an example. You want to increase business income by $50,000 this year. If your average client brings in $3000, you'll either need to get 17 additional clients, increase your income from $3000 to $5000 from 25 existing clients, or a combination of both.

Seventeen new clients is about one more client every 2 1/2 weeks. So your action plan might be:

* Call top clients to see if there's more business for you, plus asking for referrals. If you have 100 clients to call, your bite-sized activity is two calls per week.

* Focus your business development on those prospects who mirror your top clients. Seek new business by calling, getting referrals, networking, getting X number of appointments per week (figure in your success ratio of appointments that turn into clients).

* Develop your profile. Divide this into activities such as article writing, seminar presentations, networking. Again, specific actionable plans: one article every two weeks (get a ghost writer to do it); quarterly client seminars where they're asked to bring their clients (prospects for you). And don't forget to celebrate your successes along the way.

You may be thinking "but I'm so busy now. How can I possibly fit it all in?" That's why it's critical that you focus on the right activities.

You cannot escape the fact that there are limited hours in the day. You must therefore spend each moment wisely, focusing your time doing the right activities for you.

If your role is to produce income or be the strategic thinker, is it the best use of your time to do administrative work? Bumble around with the computer? Help staff solve their every problem? Do the cleaning around the home? Absolutely not. You must focus your time on activities that will best help achieve your goals. Delegate what won't.

It's useful to list everything you do regularly for the roles in your life (as a parent, partner, employee, friend, member of the community). This self-examination is where your time and balance breakthrough begins.

Go through your list of activities and grade them. Find ways of eliminating time wasters, while keeping pleasurable activities. For business, ensure you rank the activities that are most profitable. I always say it takes the same amount of energy to market and develop a $500 client as it does for a $5000 client. So why waste your time going for the $500 clients? If you want to develop new business, why waste your time on administration? Even if you're a commission-earning salesperson, you would profit far more by hiring a student part-time to do your $12.75 an hour paperwork and free you up for the $50+ an hour income-producing work.

You can achieve anything and everything you'd like to in 2011. Have an open and imaginative approach to setting SMART goals, break your action plan into small bites and, one by one, start putting it all together.

And, finally, remember not to to get caught up in menial activities.

www.debbiespeaks.co.nz

Debbie Mayo-Smith Facebook Business Page

Debbie Mayo-Smith is a bestselling author and international speaker.