Goal Setting From Our SERVPRO Owner

1/14/2020 (Permalink)

So, next year before you go and set goals think about the bar. Have you set the bar high or have you thrown it on the ground?

Every year we set goals for ourselves that are just maybe too unrealistic. It is not that we don't want to achieve them but it is that "life gets in the way."

Is setting goals something we should all do or is it that we need to set higher expectations? Goals help us to gauge our place in life, but if we are on the correct path, don't they hold us back? People say without them we are just going to do what we need to get by. I think goal setting has brought us to where we are now, a country that just works enough to get by.

I set my goals as I have been taught and then stop and said: "what the heck am I doing?"

The goals I listed out were:

Work out with my kids!

Growth of the company!

Spend more time with my wife!

Organize the garage!

Landscape the yard!

All of these are goals that you can achieve but one directly affects the other. If I reach my goal of working out with my kids, it means that I have to be home in time to work out with them prior to them having to eat dinner, shower, and study. This means that I might have less time Monday - Friday at work to reach my second goal which is to grow the company. Then, in turn, it means that I might have to work weekends making the third goal a total disaster. I don't need that to happen, so this better work.

So, why do I do this every year?

Oh, yeah! To make sure I stay on task and grow myself, or at least that is what I have been taught over the past 45 years of my life.

Think about it, has no one ever challenged goal setting? 45 years is a long time and I think of all of the thought processes that have been changed. So, I say stop setting goals and start raising the bar on how you should live your life. If you have kids, work out with them. Show them that taking care of your body is a good thing, we only have one! Grow your business each and every year by doing what you need to do! Be present and make sure that you hire the A players. Spend time with the ones you love and dammit keep up with your yard work and housekeeping. Make a schedule and follow it. Set the bar high and keep it there. Quite looking to give yourself a way out.

I know this might be a waste of your time but I think this is an area of business/ life that we don't spend enough time on. Look at other countries and they spend a month of each year and the company they work for is still in business, grows each year, has a lower divorce rate, well-organized homes, and minimal and healthy landscaping. Believe it or not, that is a goal every year for them without calling it a goal. Since it is expected it just happens. I fully understand that we are not other countries but wouldn't it be nice to have more vacation time, family time and less stuff to take care of? I think they do that by making sure they communicate better, set higher standards and keep the want clutter down to a minimum. Raise your expectations and you will never have to set another goal again. You could be more tomorrow then you are today if you really think about what I am saying.

So, next year before you go and set goals think about the bar. Have you set the bar high or have you thrown it on the ground? A bar on the ground is quite easy to get over and it really does not involve any skill.