Goal Setting Going into the New Year

Image by Brian Wilkins via Flickr

A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. –Walt Disney

It’s that time of year – the time for looking ahead to the New Year, setting personal and professional goals and putting plans in place to make them happen.  I’ve been working on personal goals for weeks now, letting ideas float around in the ether to see which ones stick and which ones don’t.  I’ve got some great ideas for our home, which means my husband’s resolutions are pretty much taken care of.  (Haha!)


I challenged my daughter and the VP for Marketing and Product Development to think about what goals she has for her line this year.  We’re very determined to create a wholesale market for her Sun On The Go sets, which will mean a day trip to Atlantic Beach and another day trip (or half-day trip) to Kinston.  When setting our goals, we want to make sure we’re setting SMART goals.  Her goal:  “Put this set into a children’s boutique and into a small local chain of stores.”  Is this a SMART goal?  This is how we figured it out.


Specific – Is this goal specific enough?  In this case, not exactly, because we didn’t put a time frame to it.  So we went back and tacked on, “…in time for the Summer tourist season.”  That means meeting with buyers in January and February.


Measurable – How are we going to measure our progress?  This one is pretty easy – by how many orders we receive and the quantities of those orders.


Attainable – Is this goal attainable as stated?  Yes, we can make this happen if we get out there and talk to buyers.


Realistic – How realistic is this goal?  Given our production set-up and the staff on hand, we can make this happen.  We’ll actually have a few months to get the manufacturing done.


Timeable – Can we reach this goal in the timetable we have?  Of course, though this step of the process is the hardest, because the clock puts limits and schedules on us, but that’s OK.  If we didn’t have the calendar pages turning on meeting this goal, then we would not be motivated to crack the whip on ourselves to get her fantastic sets on store shelves.


Now, as Walt Disney himself said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

What goals do you have going into 2012?  How do you plan to meet them?