Focus ~ Hustle ~ Fun: Keeping Focus on Your Goals in the New Year
What do my high-profile business clients and my son’s Little League team have in common? More than you might think!
On the surface, the two could not be more different. One is made up of executives who are educated, driven, and hungry to grow their businesses and achieve their personal and professional goals.
The other is made up of all under-five foot tall, hyperactive baseball enthusiasts who have a fondness for TikTok and Fortnight.
The similarities come in when you look at how my clients and Little Leaguers are coached. In both settings, I am there to keep them focused on their tasks. And this doesn’t require a complicated formula! When we set our goals, we then put everything we’ve got towards turning them into realities. And then, after achieving what we set out to achieve, we get to celebrate and have some fun!
My system: Focus ~ Hustle ~ Fun
Keep Your Focus!
CEOs tend to be visionaries; it’s what makes them such great leaders. The sky's the limit and the ideas never seem to stop flowing.
However, this can also lead to CEOs being distracable from the main task at hand. Think of a golden retriever. One moment they’re focused intensely on the tennis ball in front of them...but what’s that?! A leaf! That’s a fun leaf…oh a squirrel! I like that squirrel! Oh, and there’s my tennis ball again!
My job is to keep my CEOs focused on the tennis ball, because the tennis ball is the goal we set out to accomplish.
There are practices that we can use to aid focus, such as a daily meditation or saying your goals for the week aloud. Practices like these will help you push aside the other details that might try to pull your attention from your current task at hand. We’ve also addressed the importance of using strategies to break down your long-term goals into short-term ones. Building up your strategy toolbox will make your goals easier to manage and stay focused on!`
The best part is once my clients come to expect the process of focusing their attention on one task, they get used to it. The thing I excel at is creating strategies to make my client’s business goals clear and defined. It’s the rhythm we develop as a team, and it feels good. Their visionary attention is focused on one thing, and there is no better feeling than accomplishing what you set out to do!
Hustle, Hustle, Hustle!
How many times have you set a New Year’s Resolution only to have it fall by the wayside before January is even over? We’re not going to let the same thing happen with your business!
Rather than phrasing your New Year’s Resolutions as resolutions, which are really just intentions, use the SMART goals strategy to turn your intentions into actionable plans. With this strategy, we can rephrase the resolution, “I want to get more clients” into the SMART goal, “I will get three more clients on a monthly retainer by the end of the first quarter.”
Making your New Year’s Resolutions into SMART goals will:
Trigger behaviors by allowing you to see the progress you’re making. When you feel like your goal is attainable, you will be more motivated to keep working at it!
Increase your focus by laying out the steps necessary to achieve what you’ve set out to do. Having clear day-to-day tasks and check-in points will turn your long-term goal into smaller, more digestible ones.
Maintain your momentum, because these aren’t goals for the week, they’re goals for the YEAR.
As a CEO, your team needs you to stay focused so that they can stay focused! When a business has a distracted leader, the effect trickles down until the whole company is too busy jumping between tasks that nothing is getting done. Keeping focused on a task and making it a priority will tell your team, “THIS is what we’re going to accomplish right now.”
These goals that you are setting for yourself and for your company require action behind them to turn them into realities. Creating a culture of hustle in your workplace will give you and your team the drive necessary to get stuff done!
Because your goals, no matter how good they seem, mean nothing if you don’t act on them!
Have Fun!
The best part of keeping your focus and hustling towards your goals is the feeling you get when you complete them. You know the one! When you’re able to finally check something off the list, looking back over the past couple months of work and seeing the result of your efforts. That feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. That feeling of pride in yourself and in your workforce.
Chase this feeling!
Everyone’s work can feel monotonous sometimes. Keeping in mind how your daily tasks tie into your core values will make your work feel less like work. Every part of your work should tie back to these core values. Remember your WHY and the HOW will become easier!
Working hard and achieving results will make your work fun, the same way I have fun seeing my clients succeed. Success breeds more success, and once we find our rhythm we settle into a cycle of excellence, where the ideas keep flowing and the goals keep getting accomplished.
There is NO shame in having lots of ideas. It’s one of the things that makes a great CEO! But the flip side of that gift is having the self-awareness to know when you need to settle in and focus on one thing at a time. Both for your business and for your team!
My skill, my gift, the thing that brings ME joy is helping business executives focus their creativity and organize their vision into a productive cycle of focus, hustle, and fun! Together, we’ll start this new year off strong!