This article was originally published in Real Estate Agent Magazine Twin Cities, written by Charity Malmberg, Founder and President of Trademark Title

 

With February nearly over, many people are already abandoning their New Year’s resolutions for the comfort and ease of old routines. It’s easy to do! Studies show that upwards of 92 percent of people lose sight of their resolutions, never actually achieving them. However, this doesn’t destine you for failure too. It might just mean that you, like me, need a little encouragement, a little restructuring of your goals in order to attain them. So, here’s to 2017 – the year you set strategic, attainable goals and accomplish what you set out to do!

3 TIPS FOR SETTING STRATEGIC GOALS
Goals are easy to come by. All you have to do is imagine a slightly better you, a slightly better business, lifestyle, or income, and you can think of a goal. But strategic goals, the ones you can actually meet, take more time and intentionality to create. I hope that these three tips help you get started (or re-started, rather) on setting goals that you can and will attain.

FIRST, SET ACTIONABLE, SPECIFIC GOALS
So often we want to set goals like “eat healthy,” “work less” or “lose weight.” These are all wonderful ideas, but not necessarily actionable and definitely not specific. Instead of vague ideas, focus your goals as items that could be checked off a list, objectives that are specific enough that you can assess your progress. For example, instead of “work less,” your goal might be, “work 45 hours a week.” Be sure there is something you can actively do tied to each goal and keep them as specific as possible.

MAKE YOUR GOALS MEASURABLE AND ATTAINABLE
Similar to making your goals specific, this tip will help you to focus your goals and get them to the point where you’re able to see and measure your progress. Let’s say you want to sell twice as many homes in 2017. As any salesperson knows, you can’t necessarily control the outcome of your hard work or the number of sales you meet. You can, however, control the number of pitches, presentations, marketing materials and more that you invest time into. Instead of focusing on the end result, focus on something you can have more control over. Perhaps in this example you’d focus on the number of homes you show. Write down that number and you now have an actionable, attainable goal.

FIGURE OUT THE STEPS IT TAKES TO MEET YOUR GOA
Usually, people tend to either be a “big picture” person or someone who gets caught up on the details. Either way, when it comes to goal setting and achieving, we need a little bit of both. Take your big picture goal and break it down into the steps it will take to get you there. For example, going back to the goal of showing homes; you have the number, but what does it take to reach that number? First, take that number and break it down into months, then weeks and even days, if appropriate. Perhaps you’re down to showing four homes a week.Then think about other steps it would take to achieve those showings: sending marketing emails, asking for referrals, attending networking events, sending out mailers, open houses. Write down these other steps in chronological order. When you have all the actionable steps, schedule your steps out – actually writing them in your calendar as tasks each month or week that move you toward your big picture goal.

GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED
It’s hard to meet any goal, even an actionable, attainable, measurable, one without support and accountability. Accountability and encouragement can come in all different forms, a mentor, a friend, a business colleague are great places to start. We at Trademark Title also want to offer you some support in achieving your 2017 goals. On March 7, we are hosting an event featuring Erik Therwanger, founder and president of Think Great LLC. Erik will be presenting on leadership, building teams and accomplishing goals. This is a great opportunity to bolster you along the way as you strive to accomplish goals in 2017. To sign up for the event, visit our page on Eventbrite at https://goo.gl/4PosBA or reach out to me.

A special thank you to Matt Perman author of “What’s Best Next” for inspiring some of these goal setting ideas. I encourage you all to read his book; it’s inspiring.