I have spent many hours working with companies to develop their goals. We call it a “financial model” or a “cash flow projection.” Often times we will call a “budget,” which is really just a projection aimed at keeping spending within a range that was defined to be sure we can meet the bigger picture goals.
Perhaps in the bigger picture we set our goals at a high level, such as, “I want to complete six projects to net $100,000 each this year. That means I am looking at $600,000 to cover my overhead and from which to pay myself.
Another goal might be described in terms of time. I want more free time to spend with my family and loved ones. Life is short and if we spend it all working and not creating amazing memories for our family and close friends then what are we doing this all for?
We spend much of our time thinking about our goals from the point of view that we want to grow and build our companies. Or we think in terms of spending more time with the people we care about.
I’d like to propose a different way of thinking. Zig Ziglar said that if you help enough people get what they want, then you’ll have everything you want. What if you built a company (or even your whole life) around the idea that you want to make others wealthy? What if the goal this year was to take 5 people from a 5 figure income level to a 6 figure level and 2 people from a 6 figure to a 7 figure level this year? I wonder what that would look like in terms of a projection. Maybe instead of 6 projects netting $100K each it would look like this. I want to bring in enough business to hire (or promote) 5 project managers and pay them each $150,000 annually. Now let’s see what those projects need to look like in order to achieve that goal?
My guess is you’ll start thinking bigger. Much bigger. In my experience, the bigger we think and the more it’s about how we can help others succeed and less about ourselves, the more successful we will become. We’ll make more money, which will provide the comfort and hopefully the freedom too that will enable us to spend more time with the people we care about?
What do you think? How will you define your goals for 2015?