It is a gloomy winter day as I write this with 2024 right around the corner. I just opened up my 2023 goals and felt completely deflated. Sitting down and reading, “#1- Doubling the clients we serve and doubling our business revenue…” didn’t happen. It's like working your ass off at work to find out that you didn’t get a raise. Only in my case, it means that I can’t give the kind of raises I also want to give to my team members.
As I went through the process of copying my “2023 goals” and renaming them “2024 goals,” I realized that even though I hadn’t accomplished my #1 goal, I had completely accomplished #2 and #3.
#2 involved hiring our new Manager of Daily Assistance, Erin Kruk, and #3 was hiring our Assistant Manager for Digital Marketing, Micahrae Osteria. These two women have brought so much breath and dynamo to our team. And, as it turns out, I actually accomplished over half of my goals for 2023. I just didn’t feel like I had because I had been so focused on our financial goals for the year.
What did this experience teach me, or should I say- re-teach me? Well… of course, here they are:
My 4 tips for focusing on what matters when setting and accomplishing goals!
1. Give ourselves more credit.
I was so focused on what I hadn’t accomplished for this year, that I didn’t give myself credit or even recognize what I had accomplished.
How many of you can relate to this?
Honestly, once I realized I had accomplished so many of my goals, I treated myself. I gave myself an hour in the middle of the workday… yes I did… to walk around Central Park and leisurely do some window shopping among all of the New York tourists who are on vacation. I pretended I was on vacation for an hour with them.
2. We determine how we measure our success!
Even though I wish I succeeded in my financial goal for our business this year, I also realize that having a solid foundation at Assistants 4 Hire (A4H) is the only way we will grow, and now, we have it and we are ready. As much as I would love Erin and Micah to stay with A4H forever, I know that there is a good chance they will move on to bigger and better things… after many, many years with us (hint…hint). Still, with their help in creating our procedures and processes during the hiring and training processes, we will be ready for new members of our team and also be ready to expand our team in a much more efficient way.
When I remind myself how important this process is for our company, I do feel like we have had a very successful year.
3. Happiness is a great measure of Success!
One thing I didn’t write in my 2023 Business Goals that was in my 2023 Personal Goals was to “Have More Fun!”. This one thankfully spilled into my business, big time.
This year, I had a lot more fun! From competing in golf again to traveling to France, Idaho, and Mexico with Belen and Mexico, Miami, Cape May, and Jamaica with Ashado, it was a year of so much FUN! I loved the weekends on the local beaches to visiting friends in nearby cities. We went and experienced and loved everything in between!
When I was playing a tournament in August, I remember one of my competitors asked, “How is your business doing this year now that you are spending so much time competing?”. I paused and said, “You know, it is amazing. The happier I am and the more I pursue what I love, the more I feel my business and team are in flow.”
It's true! Having more FUN has impacted our company for good! I want to set an example to my team members as well as our clients in doing the same! You can be amazingly successful, efficient, and effective while having more FUN!
4. Focus on the Lessons Learned.
One of the best practices (and one I practice with my productivity clients, as well) is this:
Use a piece of paper- create two columns
Write all of your greatest wins and losses of this year in one column
In the other column write all of your “lessons learned”
Then, rip off the columns with the wins and losses and burn them
Put the column of your “lessons learned” on your fridge so you can see them every day for the next year
Of course, the whole process is to remember that our success is truly not measured by our “wins” and “losses.” Our progress is determined by what we learn from those experiences.
It’s now time for all of us to get our pen and paper (or Google Doc 😁) out and write your 2024 goals. May we all create our goals with a sense of conviction, grace for ourselves, and in the spirit of what truly matters most!
Cheers to a Happy, Healthy, Successful and FUN 2024!
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Written by MerriLyn Gibbs