I want you to try something for me. I want you to throw out the yearly calendar and start thinking in term of EVERY 30 DAYS.
It’s fine with me if you have goals to achieve in the next year, 3 years, 5 years, etc but break them down into doable chunks. I call these benchmarks.
A benchmark is a number that measures an activity or result.
Benchmark Examples:
- Bring in $_____________ in gross revenues in July (result)
- 3 new clients in July (result)
- Make one business development phone call a day (activity)
- Give one teleclass in August (activity)
- Attend 2 networking events in August (activity)
Do you see how doable these are? Much more doable than saying “I’m going to make 200 business development phone calls this year.”
I teach my coaching clients how to benchmark their way to success. We set benchmarks in 5 areas: Financial, Marketing, Selling, Fun, and Health.
Take time right now to set your benchmarks. Put them in a place where you can see them every day. I have a form I use with my clients and they fill this out the 1st of every month. Whenever they wonder what they should do to grow their business every day they pull from their “Benchmark Your Way to Success” form.
Your benchmarks are repeaters that you do every month. The next step is to write down your ‘enders’. What do you want to complete in the:
- Next 30 days
- Next 90 days
- Next 12 months
Have some fun and just dump your brain out into these time frames! Now, when you want to work on a project you look at your enders list and pull your action steps from there. It is a lot of fun to see your ‘next 12 months’ ideas move into the ‘next 90 days’ and ‘next 30 days’ section and you start to get projects completed and see progress in your business.
If your business is not where you thought it would be as of today what are you doing about it? Start benchmarking your way to success!
We’re going to be working on this in detail at my SuccessPlus 2012 event in Minneapolis, MN on September 21-23, 2012. If you’re ready to take action and experience 3 extraordinary days I hope you will join us!
The biggest difference between entrepreneurs who make it and those who don’t is their confidence. Build your confidence by setting benchmarks and taking action on them every day. You will experience incredible momentum!
Now is your time. 2012 IS YOUR YEAR.