Home Health & Hospice Week

Aim high, but be specific about the smaller steps you’ll take to get there.

If you’re like many managers, you spend a lot of time thinking about your goals, but may have a hard time accomplishing them. That’s probably because you’re ignoring the key guidelines for setting “effective, realistic goals that you can achieve,” says James Manktelow, founder of strategic planning site www.MindTools.com. Whether for your agency or your career, the following seven rules will help you set reasonable goals that you can feel good about:

1. State each goal as a positive statement. You should focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. For instance, “Be promoted to CEO” is a better goal than “Don’t stay at the same management level.”

2. Set precise goals. You can’t measure success unless you know what it looks like. When you create a goal, assign a date, time, or amount that you want to meet. This way, you’ll know what you’re aiming for.

3. Give each goal a priority. If you hope to accomplish several goals, you need to know which ones are most important. Assigning priority will help you focus your attention without feeling overwhelmed.

4. Keep goals small. You may want to achieve a sweeping goal, but it will take several small steps to get you there. Break down large goals into bite-sized chunks so that you don’t give up midway.

5. Set goals for performance, not outcome. You can only control how you perform, not how others react. Rather than saying “My company will gain five new customers next month,” you should say “I will improve our marketing strategy in this way.”

6. Write down your goals. Thinking about your goals is good, but writing them down is best. This way, you are constantly reminded of what you want to accomplish and why.

7. Make an action plan. Now that you know what you want to accomplish, you must hammer out how you’ll do it. Write out the individual steps, and then check off each one as you complete it.