If you don’t know what you’re aiming at…

• You will wander aimlessly and feel like a hamster running on a wheel

Define what success means for you

• Each person and business has a different idea of what success actually means
  • Profit vs non-profit businesses
  • Side biz only vs full time
  • Size of business
  • Slow and steady vs quick growth
  • Personal vs business
• What does success mean for you?
  • Financial
  • Number of clients
  • Time investment

SMART Goals

• You have probably heard about SMART goals. In case you haven’t, it stands for goals that are:
  • Specific
  • Measureable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound
• This acronym can help you as you set your goals, but the basic idea is to have a specific destination to target and set specific actions that you can track to hit that goal in a certain timeframe. In the process, you want to make sure that the goals are a stretch, but still in the realm of possibility.

Don’t get too many

• While going through this process, it can be easy to come up with a huge list of goals. While you may really want and need to hit these goals, it is unrealistic that you’ll be able to make actual progress on any of them if you focus on all of them. So choose just 3-5 that you’ll keep top of mind, and consciously and consistently work toward them.
• To help you keep them top of mind and increase accountability, you can write the goals down on sticky notes, index cards, set reminders or notifications on your phone or computer, etc. You can also enlist the help of someone to ask you periodically how you are doing with them.

Helpful resources

• Your 411 goal sheet from The One Thing
• Video explaining the 411

Everyone has personal limitations

• Last episode, we talked about our skills and strengths, but everybody also has weaknesses and limitations
• As entrepreneurs, we tend to have what I’ve heard called “Superhero Syndrome” – feeling like we can do and handle everything
• Believing this, however, is our greatest weakness
• Acknowledging and admitting your limitations is the first step in being able to overcome them

Understanding your limitations

• After going through the exercise in episode 4, you should have a good idea of what your strengths are. At the same time, you should have revealed many weaknesses.
• The first thing you need to understand is that it is okay to have weaknesses.
• In fact, it is good to have weaknesses.
  • Without weaknesses, you would never need help
  • Without help, your growth will be limited, at least by time and energy
  • Having weaknesses (and addressing them) leads you to seek help
  • With additional help to cover where you are weak allows each of you to focus on your strengths
  • When you each focus on your strengths and work together, you can accomplish more than the sum of what you could do individually

Overcoming your limitations

• To overcome your limitations, you are not working to improve your weakness to make them a strength
• You are working with someone else that has a strength in the area in which you are weak.
• Together, you are able to accomplish much more – not in spite of your weaknesses, but rather because of the help you are providing and receive due to your weaknesses.

The more, the merrier

• Having one person help cover your weaknesses helps a lot; but having more people working together to cover each other’s weaknesses is an even greater help.
• This is because the more people you have working together, the more single-minded you each can be – allowing you to really focus and specialize in a particular area.
• This is also a Biblical principle found in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
  • Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
  • For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
  • Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
  • And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Helpful resources

• The One Thing book and podcast