When you’re an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and lose sight of your passion.
You’re working long hours, you’re constantly hustling, and you might not be seeing the results you want as quickly as you’d hoped.
It’s important to keep your entrepreneurial passion alive through these tough times.
Don’t Be Hard on Yourself
Do you beat yourself up because you can’t stay motivated to achieve your goals?
Have people made you feel bad about this?
Or even hinted that you may be flighty, flaky, or fickle?
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It’s them, not you.
Seeing Your Goals in Context
Many people have a hard time sticking to goals because they don’t seem to have a wider relevance or broader application.
They don’t help the world at large.
Their personal and business goals seem selfish or small and not rooted in anything of significance.
If you struggle with keeping yourself inspired, think about how achieving your goals will help and serve others.
People and businesses become more committed to their goals if they have a positive impact on other people’s lives.
Ask yourself how your success, and your company’s success, can make a positive contribution to the world.
How to Create Goals That Align with Your Values
First, think about what you value the most.
What do you stand for?
What is important to you?
What are you passionate about?
Once you clarify these values, it will be easier to create goals that align with who you are as a person – and stick to them.
For example, let’s say you want to increase the number of coaching clients you have by the end of the year.
Simply stating “Boost coaching clients by 100%” is hardly inspiring.
But if you attach this goal to something important to you and create an action plan to achieve it, you are much more likely to be successful.
“Boost coaching clients by 100%, helping people find direction and well-being in their lives after career burnout.”
Get Clear on Your Personal Values
As an entrepreneur, it’s essential that you get clear on your personal values.
Doing so will help you to set goals that are in line with what’s important to you, and it will also motivate you to keep going when things get tough.
There are a few key questions that can help you to get clarity on your values:
Answering the following questions honestly will give you a good starting point for getting clear on your personal values.
- Brainstorm your personal values. List things that stir your emotions or make you upset, or causes you stand up for. What would you change in the world if you could? (List up to 10-15 values).
- List your business goals.
- Choose 3 values that are most important to you.
- Work out how those values relate to your primary business goals.
- Re-imagine your business goals with these values incorporated into them.
From there, it’s just a matter of setting goals and taking action steps that align with those values.
Once you add value to your goals, list the action steps you’ll need to take to accomplish these goals, day-by-day.
Goals + Value = Vision
When you add values to your goals, this contributes to your overall vision for the different areas of your life.
Having a vision for your life is what keeps you motivated, focused, and on your path.
What Values are Hindering Your Goals?
On the flipside, we value many things that can impede goal-setting and achievement. These values are unconscious and for the most part, hidden from us. They aren’t explicitly stated in our goals, but they influence us in many ways.
Do any of these feel familiar?
- I value approval.
- I value being perfect.
- I value crushing the competition.
- I value sacrifice and hard work.
- I value leisure.
It is hard to see these things operating in your life, let alone phasing them out.
Or, you may see them and not recognise their negative influence.
It’s worth taking the time for self-examination and refection to uncover whether these values are helping or hindering your goals.
Annual Review of Your Goals and Vision
As we progress through life our goals, values, and vision can evolve.
This is why we should make room for flexibility and growth within our value-based goals.
Make sure you set aside time to review your values and goals every year.
Static goals do not promote growth.
Just because you’ve dedicated time developing goals, doesn’t mean that they will remain the same until you complete them.
Don’t be afraid to question your goals and shake things up.
