5 Goal-Getting Gumption Traps When Progress Is Slow

Author: Stacey Barr

Author: Stacey Barr

Many of us small business people have that entrepreneurial hankering for achieving goals fast. This is a fabulous trait for success, but not if you let it's dark side go unmanaged. The dark side of wanting big results fast is impatience and subsequent despondency when progress is slower than you'd have liked. But slow and steady is not all bad. In fact, it can be faster to take the tortoise's approach to reaching goals than it is to take the hare's approach, as the fable tells us. Instead of zipping continuously from one bright shiny goal to the next, hunker down and diligently devote yourself to each of a few very important goals. Here's how: Gumption Trap #1: Your targets are set too high. The idea of doubling your income this year might set the happy little butterflies loose in your stomach and curl up the corners of your mouth, but goals this big can be dangerous if you don't have a great track record of achieving the goals you set. Set your targets just a wee stretch beyond what you know you've been able to achieve in the past, and build momentum from reaching more goals sooner. Gumption Trap #2: You don't honestly and truthfully BELIEVE you can reach your goals. If you're looking at your business plan and notice a little twinge of tension or whimsical wishfulness, it might be that you don't truly believe you can do it. And unless you do believe you can achieve your goals, you won't. Make sure you want to achieve them, set targets that are just a little beyond your comfort zone, and write a detailed action plan for how you are going to reach them. You'll feel better then. Gumption Trap #3: You haven't scheduled into your diary the actions that will achieve your goals. If you know exactly what has to be done today, to make progress toward your goal, it's so much easier to just get in and do it. Otherwise, you'll flounder around and get distracted and indulge in urgencies, and make not real progress at all. Do your very best and always systematise your plans - even if you think you're a creative type and couldn't organise your way out of a paper bag. Gumption Trap #4: You're focusing on the points, not the trend. Particularly when this week's progress doesn't show up as a nice blip in your performance measure, don't entertain discouragement. Some weeks you will get a nice blip, some weeks you'll get a modest or barely detectable blip, and there will be some weeks when performance slides back. Natural variation is normal, so graph your measure values to help you focus on the overall direction of the trend. Gumption Trap #5: You give up rather than test and tune. Surely you don't think that you can have all the answers and know the true way to your goals before you even set out in pursuit of them? No - we all need to learn as we go. And when our performance measures show a flat trend, that's a sure sign your actions aren't working. So find and test some new ideas to make real progress toward those goals. It's more fun and satisfying than giving up. TAKE ACTION:

Give each of your 2010 goals the once-over, and see if anything needs to change in how you'll pursue and track progress toward those goals, so you don't fall into any of the gumption traps.About the Author:

Stacey Barr is a specialist in performance measurement, helping micro and small business owners to move their business results from where they are, to where they want them to be, using powerful, transformational measures. To grab your free copy of Staceys Special Report 7 Clues to Measure What Matters In Micro & Small Business, visit www.staceybarr.com/smallbusiness.

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