Goals and Milestones: Keys to Performance

Today is Wednesday, so this post is on outstanding performance.

Outstanding performers set and achieve high goals.  Today is March 26, almost the end of the first quarter of 2008.  Amazing how time flies, isn’t it.  At the end of January, I did a post asking if you had written your 2008 goals.  I hope you did.  If have haven’t done so, I suggest that you take this opportunity to write them.

Sometimes goals, especially big ones, can seem overwhelming.  That’s why I always suggest breaking large goals down into more manageable chunks.  Milestones are the best way to do this.  Every year has four quarters: January, February and March: April, May and June; July, August and September; and October November and December.  The end of a quarter is a great milestone date.

Earlier this year, I blogged about setting a goal of earning 33% of my 2008 income from the internet.  I set two milestones with a first quarter 2008 timeframe to help me reach this goal. 

The first was to publish my new book Straight Talk for Success.  I’m happy to say that Straight Talk is now available at Amazon.com.  It will be in bookstores and at Barnes and Noble.com in a couple of weeks.

The second milestone was to set up my online store.  www.CommonSenseStore.com is scheduled to go live this week or next.  I will let you know when it is up and running. 

I’m pleased, because I have met two crucial milestones associated with my goal of earning 33% of my income from the internet in 2008.  I’ve made slow, but steady progress during the first three months of 2008.

I tell you this story not to brag on myself, but to illustrate how goal setting and milestones facilitate performance.  I have been thinking about e commerce for some time now.  However, I got serious about it in late 2007.  That’s when I set the goal of 33% of my income from the internet. 

This was definitely a stretch goal.  I have never sold anything on the internet.  That’s why I needed to set milestones.  Finishing the final work on my book and getting it published, and setting up my e commerce site were things that I thought I could reasonably accomplish in Q1, 08.  Setting these milestones, gave me the focus and energy to actually accomplish them.

The common sense points here are clear.  Goals drive performance.  Milestones drive goal achievement.  It’s the end of Q1, 08.  If you haven’t written your goals by now, write them.  If you’ve written them, review how you’re doing.  If you’re not doing as well as you would like, take this opportunity to create milestones for the end of Q2, Q3 and Q4 08.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. 

I’ll see you around the web and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.