The Power of Intention when Goal Setting for Business

Posted: 22^nd January 2021

By: Sandra Garlick MBE

Love it or loathe it, goal setting is a powerful way to drive your business forward and stay focused on what you hope to achieve.

Setting goals or intentions is the perfect starting point if you are wanting to recognise and celebrate your own achievements.

Why is goal setting important?

Without any direction your business would flounder. Goals don’t need to be overwhelming, which is why you’ll hear me refer to intentions as much as goals. The intention to succeed, inspire, grow, or achieve is dominant energy that infuses everything we do in our life and work.

There are thousands of articles about goal setting on the internet, but I’m not here to share yet another version or delve into the breakdown of a SMART goal. My intention is simply to empower you to explore setting goals for yourself.

“Most of the reason we don’t do things is because we’re afraid to fail. I just made a decision one day that I was not going to do things in my life because of fear.” Sara Blakely, CEO of SPANX

Sometimes your worries about setting goals bring up those fears that niggle away in the back of your mind.

• Fear of failure
• Fear of judgement
• Fear of success and what it will do to you
• Fear of getting it wrong

As Sara Blakely points out in her quote, fear can stop you from achieving great things if you allow it to take over.

Why bother setting goals?

To get beyond the fear, we must step up and take action. Knowing that your intentions for the months ahead are valuable to you, and have the potential to drive your business to the next level should help you feel the fear, but do it anyway.

Let’s explore a few reasons why goal setting is so beneficial to your business:

• Bring a little clarity into your working life – goals are stepping stones from A to Z, they focus your thinking on taking the next small step. You can brainstorm your ideas and mind map your dreams, but your goals will remain unfulfilled without taking the necessary action.

Thinking about the actions you’ve taken in the past – or what you may have avoided – provides you with clarity of self. What challenges you? Can you activate your strengths to achieve, or do you fall back into old patterns showing potential weaknesses? With a clarity of mind and strong intentions, you will be able to reset your goals.

• Visualise your future – If you’ve ever created a vision board, you’ll appreciate how commanding the process can be. Whether you do this via a digital platform (as I do) or prefer to dig out the scissors and glue, the result is always the same – a representation of what you want to attract into your life. The inspirational quotes and bright images mean nothing unless you take action and make sure that you have it nearby so that you see it every day.

Manifesting any goal, be it a handwritten list or pictures on a board, requires positive action. Book that course, join the webinar, make that call, and subscribe to the membership that offers you the accountability you need to bring your goals into reality. That’s where you’ll find the intention to succeed.

What action steps are you going to take today?

• Keep going – you may find that the initial motivation that drives you to set unique goals begins to fade as the weeks and months pass you by. Finding a way to activate the dopamine released in your brain (associated with rewards), and helping you find that motivation and momentum necessary to keep going is vital in today’s busy environment.

Did you know that it takes 21 days to form a habit? Spend some time each day working toward your goals, even if it’s just checking in to make sure you’re on tract.

Being part of a group of like-minded women offers you the accountability and support you need to set the right goals for your business and achieve them.

• Be who you deserve to be – goals allow us to step into our personal power and be who we want to be. That might be a team leader, a speaker, an author, or something else. Whatever your goal is; make it personal. When you accomplish your goals, it builds character and establishes yourself as a leader in your field.

Spend some time thinking about what’s important to you and your business. Visualise it. Breathe it in. Create action steps to make it happen. Ask for help and support.

Join the Woman Who Achieves Academy today and give your goal setting journey the best possible start.

Sandra Garlick ©