June FAQ – I Achieved My Goals, Now What?

One Friday each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.

I have achieved my goals for the first half of the year, what should I do for the second half?

First, I’ll say congratulations on having such a productive six months and accomplishing your goals. Next, I would ask about how you set those goals and if they were challenging enough. That can be a starting point for looking ahead. Was it that everything lined up nicely, and you were fortunate to hit on all cylinders during the first half of the year? Did you expect to accomplish so much in that time frame? If it was intentional, then great. If it was lucky, keep that in mind as you set your next set of goals.

The midway point of the year is always an excellent time to evaluate what you have accomplished, what remains on your goal list, and what has worked or not. Using that framework, you can begin to establish what comes next. What would make the biggest difference for you or your business as you look ahead to the coming months? Do you expect your landscape to remain the same? Perhaps you have been able to free up more time each day or week to work specifically on your goals. If so, adjust accordingly to take on more difficult tasks to stretch yourself and the outcomes you are achieving.

Ask yourself if you are setting risky goals. Are you stretching yourself? Like building muscles, if you don’t feel some pain, there is likely little gain. Your goals should not be a task list to be checked off. They should be meaningful enough that it will help change the trajectory of whatever you are applying them towards. That could be your career, your health, your business overall, etc. Keep your sights set high and push yourself to a point where you may be unsure whether you can achieve it. They should still be attainable and realistic, but will require effort to accomplish them.

Finally, begin to build the plan that will help you get where you want. If you had success in the first half of the year (and it sounds like you did), what can you use from your current routines to pick up where you left off on your new, more challenging goals? Begin to anticipate where roadblocks may impact you, and devise ideas on how you can move past them. What extra learning do you want to get out of the next set of goals? Think about what you want to see, hear, be when you are reflecting on the year as a whole in late December.

It is great that you accomplished so much in the first six months of this year. Now, push harder to stretch further in the next six months and see where that can take you. They are your goals, so you are always in control of what they are, how many you have, and ultimately, what you get from them.

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