How to Stay Focused on Your Business Goals

When I first started my blog I was full of ideas. Every time I was on my computer I would get inspired to do something different that I saw online.

I spent so much time dreaming and planning, but never actually doing. It was extremely overwhelming and I got caught up in all kinds of ‘busy’ work.

I started to overthink every little decision and never ended up accomplishing any of my goals.

I spent all my time (which was very limited) on meaningless tasks that I thought I should be doing.

It was hard to plan what I needed to be working on each day let alone for an entire year when I had fifty things I wanted to accomplish.

Have you ever felt this way?

Your brain is racing with projects and ideas and you just want everything done #rightnow.

That was me.

It took me a long time to realize that I was in this never-ending cycle of just doing tasks to maintain my business and jumping from project to project.

I wasn’t focusing on completing the things I needed to grow my business or attain the big goals I had set forth.

I used to come up with a goal I wanted to hit and then make a huge to-do list of tasks. It always felt like my list just kept getting longer and longer.

I needed a plan.

Today, I want to share with you a simple way to focus on the most important things in your business.

If you are like me then you have big goals, you just need a roadmap to accomplish those goals. I am going to break down each of the steps I do to figure out what to focus on and what will have the biggest impact in my business.

#1 - Brain dump
The first step is to do a brain dump. This literally is exactly how it sounds. Take out a sheet of paper and write down everything that pops into your mind that you want to accomplish. This is where you will do the deep work and go beyond surface goals.

When doing this, remove any distractions and schedule in time to complete it. You don’t want to rush through this process.

Don’t worry about how big or small the goals are, just write it all down.

Try to get very specific with each goal.

I want you to focus on what you want to achieve. Don’t just write down surface goals.

#2 - Prioritize

The next step is to look at the list you just made in step one.

• Do you actually want to accomplish all of these goals, or did you write it down because you feel like it is what others expect from you?

• Which goals stand out the most?

• Can you commit to these goals?

• Is there anything you can cross off?

You need to prioritize this list.

Pick the top 3 that you feel are the most important to you right now.

If you are having a hard time, consider thinking about why you want to accomplish each of the things you wrote down. What will those goals do for you?

Even though you may want to accomplish all of them, I want you to narrow the list down to the goals that you want to attain first.

There isn’t room for 10 goals. You must prioritize your list to be able to move forward.

#3 - Break it down

Now that you have your top 3 goals, it’s time to break them down. I told you to pick 3 because I want you to start focusing on quarterly goals.

I run my business in 90-day cycles. By choosing 3 top goals you can put all of your time and effort towards completing 1 goal per month.

Since you have prioritized the list, I want you to start with the top goal that you will work on first.

The easiest way to stay focused in your business is to break down the goal into individual projects and activities. This is where you get into all the nitty gritty details of your goal.

What steps will you take to reach the goal?

What projects do you need to work on?

You can’t just say, “I want to earn $3,000 a month with my business.”

How will you earn that money?

What do you need to do every single day to attain that goal?

It’s time to break it down to create the roadmap for your business so you know exactly HOW you will achieve your goal.

The goals tell you WHY, the projects tell you WHAT.

For example, let’s say your goal is to lose 10lbs in 90 days.

What things do you need to do to lose that weight? Think about how you can break down that goal into individual projects.

Each of these projects are bigger things that you need to focus on with your goal. In this example, your projects could include: meal planning, exercising and mindset.

But, you can’t just say I am going to meal plan to lose the weight.

You have to take it a step further and write out each of the tasks that will make up that meal planning project.

That could include: researching healthy recipes, creating a weekly food plan, grocery shopping, etc.

All of these tasks will help you to maintain your weight loss program to hit your goal of losing 10lbs.

You can see how breaking down your goal into separate projects and then breaking those projects into individual tasks will help you to create your action plan.

It allows you to see what the exact activities are that you need to work on every single day.

Next, it is time to put these tasks onto your calendar.

#4 - Sprinting

If you are someone who feels like they are never getting anything done in their business then you will love sprinting.

The Sprint Method is where you focus all of your time and energy on completing one high-impact project in a two-week timeframe.

Doing this will help to keep you on track instead of shifting your focus between several different things.

Since you have a specific deadline, it helps you to stay motivated and on task.

Once you have broken down your goal, projects and tasks you are ready to put them into action.

You can use 2-week sprints to help you focus on exactly what you need to be doing each day.

To plan out your sprints, you would take out your calendar and write in each task for week 1 and week 2 of the sprint.

For example, sprint #1 would be one project that you chose for your goal.  Then, you could put each of the tasks that make up project #1 into the days for that 2-week time period.

This way, you would be focusing on all of the tasks that make up that 1 project and would complete it before you did anything else. Using this method lets you know exactly the tasks you need to accomplish every single day.

Instead of sitting down at your desk and wasting time not knowing what to do, you will have an exact plan of what to focus on.

Each of these sprints will move you closer and closer to attaining each of the goals you wrote down.

You can see how this is a very intentional process. Using this method has helped me tremendously.

I no longer feel like I am never getting anything done and I actually have a roadmap every 90 days to accomplish the goals I want to hit in my business.