Have you reached all of the goals you set for yourself and your business? If not, there may be a very real reason why. Perhaps the goals you set weren’t the right goals. Or maybe they just need a little tweaking. The following tips will help you set better business goals (and you can embrace many of these tips in your personal life, too).

#1 Make Them Heart-Pounding Good

If your goal doesn’t excite you, it’s not a good goal. You won’t feel motivated to plan for success, let alone follow through on your plans. The end result is an unachieved goal. Instead, look to create goals that make you feel motivated and excited.

Your heart should pound with a bit of anticipation. And if the goal frightens you just a little bit, that’s often a good sign. It means you’ll be challenged. [Tweet: “Challenging goals are more fun to attain than those that seem easy or dull.]

#2 Get Into the Nitty-Gritty Details

Vague goals are not only difficult to achieve, they’re hard to evaluate too. How do you know when you’ve achieved success? When you’re creating goals, be specific about what you want to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it.

For example, do you want to write a book this year? Great. When will you publish it? When will you have the outline completed? Who will edit it? How many pages will you write each day? Get detailed with your goals and your plans.

#3 Grab Your Crystal Ball

One of the keys to setting better goals is to look both at your past successes and failures and to look at the future. When looking at your past, assess the goals you achieved and the goals you didn’t quite reach. Dig deep to uncover why some goals were easier to attain than others and make adjustments to your future goals based on what you discover.

When looking forward, try to envision yourself having achieved your goal. What does success look like? What does it feel like? How does your life and your business change as a result of your success?

Goal setting seems easy, yet it can be a significant challenge to set good goals for yourself and your business. Keep your goals in line with your vision of your future and what success means to you. Use the past as a stepping stone and learning tool and create specific goals that excite you.

In the comments below, I’d love to hear from you. What do you do to set powerful, effective goals for your business?

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Thanks in advance for reading, and sharing your wisdom and experiences with all of us!

To your fantastic success,