Why Goal Setting Matters

Published: July 6, 2016

written by M. Kendall Ludwig, president and principal designer, CurlyRed

Every 90 days or so, I open a PDF that looks much like the one you see above and start writing.

You see, my business coach to the stars Susan Katz won me over in the area of goal-setting. And it wasn't an easy battle. I never used to see the point of setting goals. It seemed like a waste of time, in a way—"I know what I need to do, just let me get to work!"

But I had no idea what I was working towards.

(Now, I could have a whole other debate about settling long-term goals, but I'll leave that for another day.)

Settling goals every quarter, and a strategy to get to each goal, has been of utmost importance in shaping my business. It brings clarity and direction to my daily and weekly tasks. It helps me evaluate the way I spend my time each day.

These five goals are often a mix of professional, personal and spiritual. Anyone who knows me knows how valuable work-life balance is to me, so I may even have more personal goals in a given quarter than professional ones.

While most of my goals are too personal to share in a public forum like this blog, one of my more recent goals was to launch the new CurlyRed website. I had a strong desire to make that happen quickly, but also wanted to make sure the design was as strong as possible, and ensure we had thoroughly tested and optimized the site before launching. So that goal remained on my goal sheet for several quarters, as we worked through the various stages.

Once my goals are set at the beginning of a new quarter, I review them just about every day, just for a few minutes. This keeps me focused, and my mind on the big picture (it's just so easy to get lost in the little details, isn't it?)

If you like what you'd read, feel free to download the sheet above and get planning!

For more resources in this area, you should head over to Susan Katz's site (and maybe contact her, or another capable business coach, if you need someone to hold you accountable).


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