When I first moved to San Francisco, I took the time to write out a list of goals that I wanted to achieve on a poster board that I hung at the entrance to my bedroom.
These goals were drawn up in three month increments — that is, I had three months to go out and complete the items listed on my wall.
So I decided that my first set of goals should be based on personal and professional ambitions.
The personal goals included …
- Meet someone new every day: Not done (too generic, as I didn’t define it very well)
- Give a gift to someone every day: Not done (also discovered this goal was too generic)
The professional goals included …
- Land 3 clients in three specific verticals:Done
- YouEye
- VMware
- bioSPOT
- Find a charity to begin working with: Still on the lookout. Suggestions for bay area non profits that use technology to improve the world?
- Make 20 calls every day: Not done (ended up realizing that cold calling wasn’t the most efficient use of my time and canned this goal pretty quickly)
Aside from the tangible professional achievements, what I learned from this goal setting session was …
- It Pays to Be Literal: Don’t set vague or conceptually debatable goals. This is easy to do professionally (land a new client, get a promotion, find a new job, etc) but is actually quite difficult when setting personal goals.
- Re-Visit Your Goals Daily: Find a way to visit your goals on a regular basis (saved image on phone, Evernote app, etc) so that you can continue to monitor your progress.
- Focus on Quality, not Quantity: Don’t feel the need to set a large number of goals for yourself. Instead, focus on a small number of tangibly measurable goals that you can track yourself.
- Share These Goals Publicly: Don’t hide from your goals — place them in a publicly noticeable space and discuss them with your friends & family.
With that in mind …
I’ve set four new goals for the next three months. Let’s see how this round goes 🙂
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Aside from being the CEO at MKG Media Group, Mike is a dark beer aficionado with a healthy appetite for travel and pushing personal boundaries.
A proud graduate of Washington State University, Mike currently calls San Francisco home.