How to Set Long-Term Business Goals

Long term goals are what drive us in both our personal and professional lives. These goals may differ from individual to individual, but one thing’s for certain: we all still have to follow a similar path when it comes to setting those goals. Knowing how to set long-term goals can be a bit more difficult than one would think, but by putting a long-term goal achievement plan in action, you can accomplish anything.

How to Set Long-Term Goals

Step 1: Envision Where You Want To Be

Think about how you want your life to appear 5 years from now. Consider what kind of work you want to be doing, where you want your office to be, who your employees are, and so on. By envisioning yourself in different situations, you’ll be able to decide whether this goal in your mind is something that you really want, or if it’s something that you’re not prepared to do. Be ready to ask yourself if you’re ready to work hard and make sacrifices for this goal. If not, then the goal may either be premature or not suitable for you.

Step 2: Create One Long-Term Goal

This is about focusing your energies and not allowing yourself to get lost amongst attempting to accomplish multiple goals at once. By targeting one specific area and creating a detailed goal, you’ll be far more likely to achieve it.

For example, a poorly defined goal would be:

I want to get into the retail industry by 2015.

This goal makes no mention of what you’ll be doing in the retail industry, if you’ll have customers, where your store will be located, and so on. A better defined goal would be:

I want to own and manage my own shoe store in Guildford Mall by January 2015 with an annual 15% increase in customers over the next decade.

This is where most fail to succeed when it comes to how to set long-term goals: they fail to provide enough detail so that they can create an action plan for themselves. The more detailed and defined the goal, the easier it will be for you to break that goal down and achieve it in smaller and more do-able chunks.

Step 3: Take a Leap

Once you have that action plan of small and achievable goals in place, then it’s time to take a leap and go for it. It can be incredibly daunting, particularly when it comes to your business. Remember that by keeping goals small, any failures are only a minor setback and you can easily dust yourself off and try again. When you’re successful in a goal, be sure to take the time to celebrate your achievement and to reward yourself. Soon you’ll find that the deeper into your goal you get, the easier it will be to keep up the motivation to achieve it.

Over to you

What is 1 long-term goal that you have set for your business? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.