The Ripple Effect of Good Goal Setting

Let’s say you step into January intent on at least revisiting your goals and objectives to see how well aligned they are with your mission and vision, or let’s say someone asks you what you’re doing to review your goals and cast vision for the year. What will your response likely be?

Some of us have a clear and concise answer and some of us might struggle even to remember what our goals, objectives, mission, and vision are. Maybe we don’t believe in setting them because we want to remain ‘flexible’ and ‘fluid’ to meet whatever ‘new’ twist or option or opportunity comes along.

Then there’s always the concern that if we set goals, we’ll just fail in meeting them.

Those of us that are entrepreneurs have a strong tendency to ‘fly by the seat of our pants’. After all, the idea for our business came while we weren’t expecting it. Most of us hadn’t ‘planned’ it. (I know, some of you might have had it planned since 6^th grade)

But that approach only carries water for a short time (5 to 10 years) and then as we expand – on one hunch or another – our business can get ‘top heavy’ and start to go sideways intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and physically and basically the FUN fades away, and we’re left in a state of continual wondering and second guessing.

This is when the ‘ripple effect’ of goal setting or the lack of it begins to spread into all the ‘corners’ of our business, and our identity as a leader begins to be difficult to embrace for ourselves and others.

Then we try and salvage it by digging into it more. We isolate and withdraw. We’re up until all hours working harder – not getting the sleep we need, Working 6 or 7 days a week trying to figure out why the way we’ve always done it isn’t working any more.

Proverbs 15:22 says “Without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.”

In Luke 14:28-30 Jesus speaks of the importance of planning – “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.‘

Michael Laszewski makes the observation – “The tension between planning and trust is real, but it’s something we need to embrace.  Yes, let the spirit of God move and work in you, through you, and in your work. But allow the same spirit to move in and through your plans. Like the writer of Proverbs 16:3 says, commit it to the Lord.”

Last month we were challenged to review and re-establish our goals. There have been some interesting ‘ripple effects’ from that discussion and challenge. We’ll dig deeper into this concept this Friday.