In my last blog post, which was the last post of last year (lots of last’s!) was about getting ready for the new year – this year. One of the things I wrote about was GOALS. SMART goals to be exact. I recently read this great post by Gary Vaynerchuk, entitled “4 Steps to Realistically Attack Your Goals” on Success.com.
I’d like to go over his 4 points with my own spin on them, as I see them from my point of view – whether it’s industry related or being an entrepreneur and a mom.
Gary begins: “Here are the four steps I would recommend to anyone who wants to start auditing themselves to realistically attack their goals—steps that will allow you to focus your time and energy into the best outlets that ladder you up to what you want in life:”
1. Become more self-aware.
Really, this needs to be #1 because I don’t believe you can do the other steps without this one. Over this past year I have done a lot of learning about myself – who I am, why I do what I do, what I want… and it’s been extremely helpful to me in figuring out what my true goals are. Some of it surprised me, but when I really thought about it, I wasn’t really surprised, I’d just been lying to myself for a long time.
I love Gary’s suggestion to take the people who are important to you, who know you so well, and ask them what you’re good at – and not good at. They’ll probably tell you what you already know. It’s your decision to listen.
2. Play to your strengths
Hopefully you now have a good list of what your strengths are. How can these strengths benefit you and your business?
One of my strengths is finding solutions. No matter what it is – whether the coffee maker is broken or a plugin is no longer working the way it used to – I will find the solution to the problem. This is not only a great strength when I’m in desperate need of coffee 😉 but also a great way to help my clients.
3. Respect your weaknesses.
Ok, so we can’t do everything – and that’s ok! This may be a strange one, but I am really horrible about mailing things! Cards, bills, whatever, for some reason they just don’t get mailed on time – ever! I actually filled out cards a month early, thinking that would work – and still mailed a birthday card the day AFTER his birthday! So I’ve come to grips with this. I pay bills online, send invoices online, and am seriously considering a card service – or maybe I’ll just hire my daughter to be my “mailing assistant”. 🙂
What are your weaknesses? You mean to blog, but 8 months later still have nothing written? HIRE someone! There are a lot of great writers out there who will “get you” and the job will get done! Maybe you don’t understand – and don’t want to understand – MailChimp or whatever service you signed up for to send emails. You don’t need to do this! There are actually people who enjoy working with MailChimp or AWeber – or even Infusionsoft – and are really good at it!
[clickToTweet tweet=”The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln” quote=”The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln”]
YOU need to go back up to #2 and work with your strengths. THAT is how you will succeed. THAT is how you will get things done!
That is what Gary’s #4 is – Stay in your lane.
I can – and have – worn many hats – in both my personal and business life. I have found that I am the happiest, most focused and successful when I stay in my lane. I can troubleshoot, code, come up with creative solutions, and teach. I have aligned myself with others who fill in my gaps – whether it’s a weakness of mine, something I dislike doing, or just something that’s truly not in my lane. I like my lane. It’s my happy place. Where’s yours?
If you need some help identifying your strengths and weaknesses or finding someone to fill in YOUR gaps – give me a call. If I don’t do it or don’t know someone who does, I’ll help you find someone – that is my strength, after all, problem-solving!
I’d love to hear from you in the comments – how do you stay in your lane – or do you?
Great tips, Mindy! Over the past year, I’ve been very focused on staying in my lane. So I really smiled at this one! It’s an eye-opener and takes focus to a whole new level!
That is great, Susan! It is certainly not always easy staying in your lane so congrats at staying focused on that!
Some days it’s hard to stay in my lane, but I know that I won’t reach my goals unless I do. That means giving up some leisure activities like watching too much TV, chatting on the phone, or spending too much time on Twitter and Facebook. I have to balance out my time on each of these things or I’m drifting out of my lane before I know it.
A Great post and I liked the part about Getting Self Aware. Being able to process your ” Weaknesses” but I look at them as something you may need to work on. Planning Is definitely a good exercise for me. I am planning and making my business succinctly. A great Post always.
Lori English.
Thanks, Lori. Yes, we definitely need to look at the weaknesses that we need to work on as well. I think we should have two “piles” for our weaknesses – ones we need to improve and ones we don’t need to – ones that are appropriate to hand off to someone else to take care of. 🙂
I agree becoming self-aware is the first step towards achieving your goals. Identifying your strengths and weak points makes it so much easier to design a plan that will work for you. Staying in your lane makes sense – do the things you enjoy and are good at and find others to help sort out the rest.
This is fabulous, Mindy! Thank you. I’m a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk and love your spin on his key points. I couldn’t agree more with his points and especially #1. Everything in life stems from knowing ourselves and often this is a process of self-exploration over our lifetime. So often our perception of ourself when we are young is really that of a young person and I see through all the work I’ve done how much I’ve transformed and how different I am now, than I perceived myself back then. All of the points really resonate with me and I would be wise to take heed of #4 a bit more too. Ask for help and let others do the things you’re not good at. Sounds like good advice for us all!
Thank you, Beverley. So true how our perception of ourselves changes over time, as it should – as we change and we see things more clearly.
So true, it is always best to do what you feel most comfortable with and are best at doing.
Awwww, this is so perfect Mindy.. I love it. Funny thing too.. Jackie and I were just talking about this last week.. she asked me her 2 strengths and what’s holding her back… and we discussed that last night… crazy huh.. but typical for this time of year.
Glad that you found that thing for you, your strength.. and truth.. stay in our own lane… I love working with you. Glad to have met you Boom roomie! 😉
Jackie certainly is the wise one – good for her asking you that question! I love working with you too! 🙂
Great article, and this is something I have thought about, done something about, and needed a reminder to do again. My strength is I am a great planner and organizer. My weakness is I am a great planner and organizer. If I don’t monitor myself, I spend too much time on my strength, and need to spend more times in the weeds of my business. Thanks for the reminder!
Haha, Robin, I so relate! I could plan my life away and still get nothing accomplished. It’s putting those plans into action that have been my weakness. Thank goodness for my accountability partners!
#2 is my favorite…..play to your strengths. Know what they are and look for opportunities to use them! That is my happy place for sure.
I love that, Christy! Look for opportunities to use them! Very important!
Thanks Mindy. I know one of my weaknesses is taking on too many projects. While I have learned to delegate, I tend to find even more ideas that I want to explore. That being said I do know how to complete a task and have clear goals now set for my jewelry design business this year
Excellent, Alene! Better that you know how to delegate as you see all the new shiny things to explore than if you weren’t delegating at all! 🙂
These are wonderful tips, Mindy, and at such a perfect time as many of us are envisioning and designing our next steps. I love the advice to knowing our weaknesses and ‘staying in our lane’ and really appreciate the reminder, which for me is all about letting others do what they do best as well.
Fantastic tips Mindy and so important !!! I tend to “stay in my lane” as I am self-taught and have always learned from those that have come before and made mistakes and now know what works and what doesn’t. Makes more sense that way, yes? Easier to stay if you have a community of like-minded people surrounding you and supporting you as well 🙂
Oh yes, learn from those before you! Makes life so much easier! (Tell that to my teens, lol.) Community is so very important – once I found mine I truly began to flourish!
I’m moving from being a generalist coach to a specialist coach. So I guess you can say I’m still looking for my lane.
I’ve taken a good look at myself as well, Mindy! That’s why I’m transitioning out of web design and focusing on my core competencies and desires. (In fact, I sent a web design customer your way, fyi.) Gary V. is terrific at cutting to the core, and I love your take on his advice. We’ve changed our business a ton for 2017, and I’m certainly looking forward to what those modifications mean, both personally and professionally. Hopefully, my inward reflection and gut feel didn’t steer me wrong! 🙂 Always love your website and graphics.
Meghan, you sure have made a lot of exciting changes to your business! Thanks for the referral – I’ll let you know if I hear anything. I’m sure your gut totally steered you in the right direction! 🙂
Becoming self-aware really resonates with me more among this list. Everything starts from within and how you are in anything is how you are in everything.
I’m the “try to do too much” kind of person. I know that’s one of my weaknesses, so I need to work on saying no as one of my strengths. I also wear a lot of hats – I’m definitely the head cook and bottle washer. I look forward to finding others who can help fill in my gaps. I’m gaining a few more these days, but there are a few gaps I need to fill for sure.
Oh, it is so nice when those gaps are filled! Let me know if you need any help in finding some help to fill in those other gaps!
A few years ago, I did the exercise of asking people who are important to me and know me well what they thought I was good at….some responses were surprising.
Wonderful, Rachel! I hope the responses were helpful to you.
These are really great tips,
Mindy. I agree with you that #1
Is the most important. Although, staying in your own lane #4 is key because if we don’t stay in our lane, we won’t get much done and we aren’t attracting our dream clients.
BTW, I can relate about sending cards. I recently joined a company that helps you organize and send your cards for you! Let me know if you’d like to learn more.
That sounds great, Tandy!