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Is it time for you to focus on less but better goals in your business? We all want to feel like we’re contributing to something meaningful. In fact, pursuing inspiring business goals contributes to your overall happiness! Your goals can also be a filter to help you figure out what to focus on and what to say no to.

But sometimes, our goals can overwhelm us more than they motivate us.

Today, I’m sharing how to set goals for your business, and my top tips for identifying and letting go of the goals that don’t align with this season of your business or life.

Why Goal Setting is Important for Small Business Owners

I know there are business owners out there who are super opposed to setting goals, but hear me out! Setting goals is essential for determining what your next steps in business should be this year, month, week, or day!

And as human beings, we’re wired to ask ourselves what our purpose is, what we’re here for, and if the work we’re doing matters. If you’re an ambitious woman in business, you’re probably asking yourself these questions quite often!

Having clear goals can help you feel like what you’re doing is worth it, especially in those tough seasons of business or life when it would be easier to just give up. Successful business owners always find a way to keep moving forward when times get tough, and having clear and meaningful goals is one way to keep yourself motivated to keep going.

Don’t Base your Happiness on Achieving your Goals

I think I need to give this disclaimer, because it’s really easy for us to start believing that once we hit that big goal, everything will change.

The type of business owner you become along the journey is more important than whether or not you reach your business goals.

Yes, the pursuit of goals can help us be happier in the day to day knowing that we’re doing work worth doing. But no, true contentedness is not found in actually achieving your goals. You might have seen other entrepreneurs reach big goals only to realize that it didn’t feel as all-satisfying as they thought it would, and maybe you’ve even experienced this yourself!

There’s nothing wrong with setting big goals and going after them, but don’t wait to enjoy your life until you get there.

Scattered Efforts Lead to Scattered Results

It can be really easy for entrepreneurs (especially multi-passionate and talented ones!) to move their business an inch in a million different directions. Focussing on one to three goals in your business will help you get farther than trying to juggle ten things at once.

You may have heard it said, “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything”. If you’re looking at a laundry list of business goals and feeling overwhelmed by the projects that are stacking up, it’s time to prioritize.

How Many Business Goals Should I Have?

If you can’t remember your goals, how are you supposed to make progress on them? If you have more than 3 or 4 goals, chances are it’s hard for you to list them from memory.

What if you narrowed down your goals to the top 3 goals that could make the biggest impact? What would you be able to accomplish if you were able to give the best of your time, talent, and energy to one part of your business? Try to find the ‘domino goals’ that will help knock all the other goals in your business down too.

When you have too many goals, they start competing with each other for your time, energy, and attention. It makes it nearly impossible to make any real progress on any of them when you’re moving back and forth.

One Goal at a Time

Try to focus on one goal each quarter or month and organize your schedule, to-do list, and even marketing strategy around that goal.

It’s okay to postpone goals until next month, or next quarter, or even next year. You have time. Often times the good things get in the way of great things in our business. And it’s hard to say no to good things, but ultimately it’s making space for something more important.

Why Do You Want This Goal?

There’s a huge difference in the level of sustainable motivation you’ll have for reaching your goals depending on why you’re pursuing that goal. Are you pursuing it because you’re trying to prove your self-worth? Trying to fit in? Because someone else said you should do it? Or are you doing it because it means something to you?

Write down why you want each of your goals, and feel free to ditch the ones that don’t have a meaningful reason behind them.

Focus on your Systems and Habits

If you want to project your future success, look at what you’re doing today. When it comes to pursuing your goals, focus on the things that you can show up and do right now. Big goals are reached one step at a time, and focussing on your habits will give you a greater sense of control and ownership.

And guess what?! When you have less goals, you’ll have more time and energy for the habits required to reach your goals and become the business owner you want to be.

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