June 8, 2020 • 11 mins
Question: "I struggle with making long-term goals, but I desperately want to move my business forward with intention. How do I create goals for myself that move the needle while still working in the way that I work best?"
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Corey Winter (00:01):
Welcome to 10 minutes to being boss, a bite
size show for creative businessowners where we give you
actionable insights, tools andtactics. I'm Corey winter. And
here's your host Emily Thompson.
Emily Thompson (00:14):
All right, Cory, what do you have for me today?
Corey Winter (00:16):
So I've got a problem. And this seems to be a
problem a lot of people haveDon't laugh at me.
Emily Thompson (00:25):
I know you got some problems.
Corey Winter (00:27):
I got all these questions are actually my
questions. These are notcommunity members questions.
These are all my questions. I'mjust trying to,
Emily Thompson (00:33):
like, go read these. And they're like, Oh,
that's my question. Do I'm gonnago.
Corey Winter (00:37):
This is so me, I relate anyway. The question is,
I struggle with making long termgoals. But I desperately want to
move my business forward withintention. How do I create goals
for myself that move the needlewhile still working in the way
that I work best?
Emily Thompson (00:54):
Thank you, right, that you can't make any
Corey Winter (00:56):
long term goals for today.
Emily Thompson (00:59):
Right? Ooh. And this is something that I think
most creatives struggle with,for sure. And just new business
owners in general, reallystruggle with this. So we can
certainly talk about this, I gotyou, I got you. And all you
bosses out there may strugglewith this. We'll work through
(01:20):
this together. I think the firstthing that we need to recognize
is that we all work differently.
So in general, especially andyou know, all these like
business like the super businessbusiness, he spheres, it's all
like five year goals, where areyou going to be in 10 years, all
these things like not all of ourbrains work that way. So first
thing you have to do is simplyrecognize that you can be a
(01:43):
great business owner, even ifyou are incapable of setting
extremely long term goals foryourself, it's fine, you can
still do business, you can stilldo really great business. In
fact, I'm one of these people,when people are asked me, you
know, what's your five yeargoal? I have no idea you want to
see me clam up guys asked methat question. Next time you see
(02:05):
me, because
Corey Winter (02:08):
my five year goal is to have more goals.
Emily Thompson (02:12):
Good, because that will probably be the case.
So you don't have to be able tomake long term goals. And if you
struggle with that, don't likebeat yourself up about it, don't
beat yourself up trying to doit, even if you can't find a way
that works for you. So I reallystruggle with five year goals,
(02:35):
I'm really good at about a yearor two on a good day. That
doesn't mean that I'm incapableof moving my business forward
with intention, it just meansthat I'm moving a little more in
the moment, I suppose. So firstand foremost, identify or come
(02:59):
to terms with the idea that weall work differently, and
identify what sort of timeframesthat you will work best in and
do this by just testing somethings out, you have to be
mindful of your own process, Ithink a great way to do this is
to sit down and you know, take apiece of paper, and but at the
(03:20):
top, or down the side, itdoesn't matter, whatever your
orientation is, for how it isthat you best make lists. And do
a do one month, three month, sixmonth, 12 month, to two year,
five year and 10 years. And justget going with some goals. And
(03:46):
wherever you start filling thoseblocks, let's say you start
getting really blocked at about24 months at the two year mark,
then you know that you're goingto work best making goals. Two
years out or less. And that'sfine. Work with that. So being
(04:08):
very mindful of your ownspecific process and how it is
that you best plan will help yousort of take control over what
does work for you and make itwork for you. So where are you
at? Cory? Is he over therethinking? Are you thinking about
your goals? Are you just
Corey Winter (04:22):
trying to think about how I'm setting goals
currently? Yeah, it's about amonth, a month to month right
now.
Emily Thompson (04:31):
Well, and I will say do this a time when month to
month goals. If that's the bestyou can do, then you're doing
better than a lot of us, forsure. And I think we can all
identify that depending on oursort of level of security or
what's happening in the world.
It can absolutely have an effecton our ability to make goals. So
(04:51):
I myself have found myselfmaking much more short term
goals than ever before. Becauseright now short term is all he
can work with. And I thinkthat's really fine. So instead
of getting angry at the factthat, you know, I can't make my
six month or 12 month goals,I've just really shortened down
my timeframes and really workedon making those work for me. So,
(05:13):
for me, I work really great.
Quarterly, I like to work interms of three month goals. 12
months is really where I shine,or within 12 months is where I
really shine, anything beyondthat always looks a little
fuzzy. I think that's also thenature of online business. And
(05:34):
how we do business these days,things change so much so
quickly, even before currentstate of the planet. That is
really difficult. And I think,almost a waste of time for us to
truly consider anything furtherthan two years out whenever it
comes to doing business online,because things shift so swiftly.
(05:56):
So for me three month goals, orlike I think in three month
chunks, up to a year, kind offuzzier in that like 12 to 24
month phase, or timeframe. But Ifound myself really struggling
with those three month goals.
Even over the past couple ofmonths, I've instead started
making six month or excuse mesix week goals and working in
(06:19):
six week cycles instead of threemonth cycles. So whereas usually
I would sit down and plan out asolid three months and know
exactly what projects I'm goingto tackle within those three
months, I can't really do thatanymore, it makes me feel weird,
I don't know what's going tohappen, I get really anxious
thinking about it. But whereI've found a great amount of
(06:40):
comfort is instead thinking inthese six week cycles, and
thinking about what I can getdone in six weeks, and just
going from there. And being insix weeks cycles, I've actually
been able to map out what I'mgoing to be doing through the
rest of the year, which at thispoint is about seven months or
so. And that feels like quite afeat. if I do say so myself.
(07:01):
Anything beyond that I have noidea. And right now I'm not
gonna force myself to figure itout. But I am able to keep going
based on these six week cyclesof planning and implementation.
And the way that you do thiswith intention is to hold your
values in place, and values comeinto play. Regardless of whether
(07:24):
you're planning six weeks or sixyears, they are the foundation
of any or should be thefoundation of any goal that
you're setting for yourself oryour business that will lead you
to where you're supposed to go.
Even if you can't see what thatlooks like. So and we have a
resource on this, you can go tobeing boss clubs slash values.
(07:48):
To learn more about values. Wealso talk about that a lot in
our in the being boss book,which you can find anywhere
books are sold, or let's seewhere else we have that, oh,
it's also part of our CEO daykit. So values is very much so
part of what we do here at beingboss. And that is how you move
your business forward withintention. Regardless of how far
out you're able to plan.
Corey Winter (08:09):
We also have a goal setting worksheet that is
free to download.
Emily Thompson (08:13):
Perfect in the show notes. Cory will be there.
Perfect. Awesome. So as I helpyou out, Cory.
Corey Winter (08:22):
So before we run out of time, do you have any
specific tips in general thatanybody could use to set short
term goals?
Emily Thompson (08:31):
For sure. So let me share with you how it is that
I do this. And I'll even sharehow I'm doing in my six week
cycles. So six weeks is a verysort of short amount of time.
And I'm really thinking for thenext sort of seven months, so
through the end of the year. SoI sat down and just very
realistically made a list of allthe projects that I want to
(08:52):
complete. So and these areprojects that I'll move my
business forward. So it's likedoing some upgrades to the beam
boss community. It's doing someupgrades to CEO date yet. It's a
new being boss website, which isactually been lists for about
six months. But we're nottalking about that right now.
Still, it's fine, it's fine.
It's still no I'm so sittingdown and thinking about those
(09:12):
things that you want toaccomplish in your business. I
always think of them asprojects. And then I laid out my
six week cycles throughout therest of the year. So I think
there's probably five, six weekscycles left four or five if I'm
not mistaken. And I gave myselfa little break in between each
cycle. So I can sort of havesome buffer time, those sorts of
things. So I laid out those nextcouple of cycles and had this
(09:33):
list of projects that I wantedto do. And then I literally just
started designating which cyclethese projects would go in and I
gave myself limits with the ideathat I can only complete two
projects per cycle per businessbecause you always have to
remember that I'm running twobusinesses and I did this for
both being boss and for Almanacsupply Co. So in each six week
(09:54):
cycle, I'm going at twoprojects. Per business, so four
projects and all for each ofthose cycles through the end of
the year. And sure there's acouple of projects that are
going to have to be pushed tonext year. But the key is that I
now know in which six weekscycle each of these projects are
(10:15):
going to get done and I'm movingmy business forward over the
next seven months. Despiteeverything crazy that's
happening with plenty of bufferin there in case shit hits the
fan because we all know that itmight and I'm doing it with
intention because each of theseprojects are very much so
aligned with my core values andthe values that we hold true
here at being boss and then alsoat Almanac supply Co. So for me,
(10:37):
list out those cycles in thisgonna be quarters, I used to do
this with quarters, fourquarters in a year, I list out
all the projects that I do ineach quarter, all the projects
that I want to do and just startassigning them and then get to
work.
Corey Winter (10:54):
Have questions and looking for answers. Join bosses
from around the world in thepain boss community, and be a
part of an ongoing conversationabout cultivating a boss
mindset, creating healthyboundaries, some real life,
business tactics and more. Learnmore and join us at being boss
club slash community.
Welcome to 10 minutes to being boss, a bite
size show for creative businessowners where we give you
actionable insights, tools andtactics. I'm Corey winter. And
here's your host Emily Thompson.
Emily Thompson (00:14):
All right, Cory, what do you have for me today?
Corey Winter (00:16):
So I've got a problem. And this seems to be a
problem a lot of people haveDon't laugh at me.
Emily Thompson (00:25):
I know you got some problems.
Corey Winter (00:27):
I got all these questions are actually my
questions. These are notcommunity members questions.
These are all my questions. I'mjust trying to,
Emily Thompson (00:33):
like, go read these. And they're like, Oh,
that's my question. Do I'm gonnago.
Corey Winter (00:37):
This is so me, I relate anyway. The question is,
I struggle with making long termgoals. But I desperately want to
move my business forward withintention. How do I create goals
for myself that move the needlewhile still working in the way
that I work best?
Emily Thompson (00:54):
Thank you, right, that you can't make any
Corey Winter (00:56):
long term goals for today.
Emily Thompson (00:59):
Right? Ooh. And this is something that I think
most creatives struggle with,for sure. And just new business
owners in general, reallystruggle with this. So we can
certainly talk about this, I gotyou, I got you. And all you
bosses out there may strugglewith this. We'll work through
(01:20):
this together. I think the firstthing that we need to recognize
is that we all work differently.
So in general, especially andyou know, all these like
business like the super businessbusiness, he spheres, it's all
like five year goals, where areyou going to be in 10 years, all
these things like not all of ourbrains work that way. So first
thing you have to do is simplyrecognize that you can be a
(01:43):
great business owner, even ifyou are incapable of setting
extremely long term goals foryourself, it's fine, you can
still do business, you can stilldo really great business. In
fact, I'm one of these people,when people are asked me, you
know, what's your five yeargoal? I have no idea you want to
see me clam up guys asked methat question. Next time you see
(02:05):
me, because
Corey Winter (02:08):
my five year goal is to have more goals.
Emily Thompson (02:12):
Good, because that will probably be the case.
So you don't have to be able tomake long term goals. And if you
struggle with that, don't likebeat yourself up about it, don't
beat yourself up trying to doit, even if you can't find a way
that works for you. So I reallystruggle with five year goals,
(02:35):
I'm really good at about a yearor two on a good day. That
doesn't mean that I'm incapableof moving my business forward
with intention, it just meansthat I'm moving a little more in
the moment, I suppose. So firstand foremost, identify or come
(02:59):
to terms with the idea that weall work differently, and
identify what sort of timeframesthat you will work best in and
do this by just testing somethings out, you have to be
mindful of your own process, Ithink a great way to do this is
to sit down and you know, take apiece of paper, and but at the
(03:20):
top, or down the side, itdoesn't matter, whatever your
orientation is, for how it isthat you best make lists. And do
a do one month, three month, sixmonth, 12 month, to two year,
five year and 10 years. And justget going with some goals. And
(03:46):
wherever you start filling thoseblocks, let's say you start
getting really blocked at about24 months at the two year mark,
then you know that you're goingto work best making goals. Two
years out or less. And that'sfine. Work with that. So being
(04:08):
very mindful of your ownspecific process and how it is
that you best plan will help yousort of take control over what
does work for you and make itwork for you. So where are you
at? Cory? Is he over therethinking? Are you thinking about
your goals? Are you just
Corey Winter (04:22):
trying to think about how I'm setting goals
currently? Yeah, it's about amonth, a month to month right
now.
Emily Thompson (04:31):
Well, and I will say do this a time when month to
month goals. If that's the bestyou can do, then you're doing
better than a lot of us, forsure. And I think we can all
identify that depending on oursort of level of security or
what's happening in the world.
It can absolutely have an effecton our ability to make goals. So
(04:51):
I myself have found myselfmaking much more short term
goals than ever before. Becauseright now short term is all he
can work with. And I thinkthat's really fine. So instead
of getting angry at the factthat, you know, I can't make my
six month or 12 month goals,I've just really shortened down
my timeframes and really workedon making those work for me. So,
(05:13):
for me, I work really great.
Quarterly, I like to work interms of three month goals. 12
months is really where I shine,or within 12 months is where I
really shine, anything beyondthat always looks a little
fuzzy. I think that's also thenature of online business. And
(05:34):
how we do business these days,things change so much so
quickly, even before currentstate of the planet. That is
really difficult. And I think,almost a waste of time for us to
truly consider anything furtherthan two years out whenever it
comes to doing business online,because things shift so swiftly.
(05:56):
So for me three month goals, orlike I think in three month
chunks, up to a year, kind offuzzier in that like 12 to 24
month phase, or timeframe. But Ifound myself really struggling
with those three month goals.
Even over the past couple ofmonths, I've instead started
making six month or excuse mesix week goals and working in
(06:19):
six week cycles instead of threemonth cycles. So whereas usually
I would sit down and plan out asolid three months and know
exactly what projects I'm goingto tackle within those three
months, I can't really do thatanymore, it makes me feel weird,
I don't know what's going tohappen, I get really anxious
thinking about it. But whereI've found a great amount of
(06:40):
comfort is instead thinking inthese six week cycles, and
thinking about what I can getdone in six weeks, and just
going from there. And being insix weeks cycles, I've actually
been able to map out what I'mgoing to be doing through the
rest of the year, which at thispoint is about seven months or
so. And that feels like quite afeat. if I do say so myself.
(07:01):
Anything beyond that I have noidea. And right now I'm not
gonna force myself to figure itout. But I am able to keep going
based on these six week cyclesof planning and implementation.
And the way that you do thiswith intention is to hold your
values in place, and values comeinto play. Regardless of whether
(07:24):
you're planning six weeks or sixyears, they are the foundation
of any or should be thefoundation of any goal that
you're setting for yourself oryour business that will lead you
to where you're supposed to go.
Even if you can't see what thatlooks like. So and we have a
resource on this, you can go tobeing boss clubs slash values.
(07:48):
To learn more about values. Wealso talk about that a lot in
our in the being boss book,which you can find anywhere
books are sold, or let's seewhere else we have that, oh,
it's also part of our CEO daykit. So values is very much so
part of what we do here at beingboss. And that is how you move
your business forward withintention. Regardless of how far
out you're able to plan.
Corey Winter (08:09):
We also have a goal setting worksheet that is
free to download.
Emily Thompson (08:13):
Perfect in the show notes. Cory will be there.
Perfect. Awesome. So as I helpyou out, Cory.
Corey Winter (08:22):
So before we run out of time, do you have any
specific tips in general thatanybody could use to set short
term goals?
Emily Thompson (08:31):
For sure. So let me share with you how it is that
I do this. And I'll even sharehow I'm doing in my six week
cycles. So six weeks is a verysort of short amount of time.
And I'm really thinking for thenext sort of seven months, so
through the end of the year. SoI sat down and just very
realistically made a list of allthe projects that I want to
(08:52):
complete. So and these areprojects that I'll move my
business forward. So it's likedoing some upgrades to the beam
boss community. It's doing someupgrades to CEO date yet. It's a
new being boss website, which isactually been lists for about
six months. But we're nottalking about that right now.
Still, it's fine, it's fine.
It's still no I'm so sittingdown and thinking about those
(09:12):
things that you want toaccomplish in your business. I
always think of them asprojects. And then I laid out my
six week cycles throughout therest of the year. So I think
there's probably five, six weekscycles left four or five if I'm
not mistaken. And I gave myselfa little break in between each
cycle. So I can sort of havesome buffer time, those sorts of
things. So I laid out those nextcouple of cycles and had this
(09:33):
list of projects that I wantedto do. And then I literally just
started designating which cyclethese projects would go in and I
gave myself limits with the ideathat I can only complete two
projects per cycle per businessbecause you always have to
remember that I'm running twobusinesses and I did this for
both being boss and for Almanacsupply Co. So in each six week
(09:54):
cycle, I'm going at twoprojects. Per business, so four
projects and all for each ofthose cycles through the end of
the year. And sure there's acouple of projects that are
going to have to be pushed tonext year. But the key is that I
now know in which six weekscycle each of these projects are
(10:15):
going to get done and I'm movingmy business forward over the
next seven months. Despiteeverything crazy that's
happening with plenty of bufferin there in case shit hits the
fan because we all know that itmight and I'm doing it with
intention because each of theseprojects are very much so
aligned with my core values andthe values that we hold true
here at being boss and then alsoat Almanac supply Co. So for me,
(10:37):
list out those cycles in thisgonna be quarters, I used to do
this with quarters, fourquarters in a year, I list out
all the projects that I do ineach quarter, all the projects
that I want to do and just startassigning them and then get to
work.
Corey Winter (10:54):
Have questions and looking for answers. Join bosses
from around the world in thepain boss community, and be a
part of an ongoing conversationabout cultivating a boss
mindset, creating healthyboundaries, some real life,
business tactics and more. Learnmore and join us at being boss
club slash community.
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