How To Choose Your Business Goals

People often confuse workload, number of tasks and speed with actual productivity. Are you profiting from all your work or just wasting time and energy?

It start with defining goals. Dude, what do you actually want to achieve?

You can be a busy fool and go broke, no problem. The internet era means you can be on call 16 hours a day, typing away at a handheld. Then watch Netflix on the laptop for recreation!

A life spent half-asleep is half a life.

So, work out what the actual prize is, here.

Socrates said 'the unexamined life is not worth living'. He meant that to wander around in a fugue state, not thinking about what you're doing, is not a worthy life.

Many people operate this way. It works fine, mostly. You merely react to circumstance. You do what other people are doing, you do what other people want and you coast along.

It stops working when life throws a rock at you: job loss, illness, divorce, mental breakdown, mid-life crisis, civil war.

These cause people to be more philosophical. They say: "It was terrible, but I feel I'm a stronger person now". It'd be better for them if they'd started examining themselves earlier on!

Now, modern Western society is all go, go, go: get the degree, get the job, get the girl, get the house. Then Joe Gogo wakes up at 40, looks around him and wonders "Is this all there is?"

Well, in material terms, the answer is, yes! If you want to feel comfortable in your soul, get religion. But, that is beyond the scope of this article.

So, how to define goals in business so you actually reach milestones of lasting value?

1. Profit

No profit = moribund business. You have to aim for a fat net profit. You'll need the 'fat' to get you through lean years, if nothing else.

2. Niche

Are you doing what the other guy is doing?
Are you doing what your father was doing?
Have you no idea at all what you're doing?

A recent fad was apps. Another was cafes selling only breakfast cereal. Phone accessories. Vaping. Get in early and go large or putter away in a suburban business unit until you go broke.

The key is having a remarkable product which there's a demand for.

3. Planning

Business plans tend to be made up to fool a bank into giving you a loan. Not writing down on paper what you want to achieve by month 1, month 6, year 1, year 2, year 5, year 10 is stupid.

You'll ping-pong from notion to notion, wasting time and energy. Make a list and form a plan.

4. Specialism

What can you offer that no one else really can:

- A unique resource;
- Location;
- Expertise;
- Character;
- Price;
- Quality.

You have to stand out in a way that causes people to come to you and not Joe Everyman on eBay.

5. Duration

Are you prepared to go for 10 years to finally make a success? Sometimes, success is just outlasting weaker specimens.

6. Ego

You might be surprised by earning a million bucks doing a job you hate is soul-destroying. The only benefit is that you're maintaining your loved ones in comfort, and that is not small thing.

But, we all want to look in the mirror and like the guy we see.

So, in a world full of possibilities, what do you want to do that will make you bound out of bed in the morning, ready to take on the world?

- You might not be able to be a doctor, but you can be a medic, or refine a particular cure.
- You might not be able to be a model, but you can be a photographer or make-up specialist.
- You might not be able to be a rock star, but you can manage a rock band. Or three!

Related:

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