The beginning of a new year is a great time to set goals for the coming 12 months. Goal setting is important to both personal and business success. Goals help us work toward desired results and provide a point of guidance. They can be aimed at short-term issues, long-term projects and everything in between.
Goal setting can also be used as a resilience strategy to promote organization. No matter what type of farm you have or what stage you or your farm are at, goal setting is important. There are several questions to consider when setting goals.
1. Are the goals SMART?
SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. As you write each goal, ask yourself – is it specific? Is it measurable? Is it attainable? Is it relevant? Is it timely? If it isn’t SMART, identify what needs to be changed or added to the goal for it to meet the SMART guidelines. This method is a great way to get started with setting both personal and business goals.
2. What is the timeline for the goals?
Thinking about goals in both the short term and long term can also make them more achievable. Typically, anything that you want to accomplish within a year is a short-term goal. If the goal has a timeline greater than a year, it is a long-term goal.
Short-term goals can be written as a to-do list. Write them down and put them somewhere they will be seen often. For farm goals, this might be the fridge or somewhere in a breakroom. For personal goals, this could be on your computer or your bathroom mirror. This way, you will be reminded about them often and be able to achieve them in the set amount of time. Short-term goals typically require less time and resources, or they may be short term due to urgency. It’s likely you will have multiple short-term goals you are working on at once, so it’s also vital to consider prioritizing your goals.
Long-term goals should also be written down and be very thorough. It may be beneficial to break long-term goals into smaller goals to keep things on track. If the overall goal is to be achieved in five years, consider if there is a one-year goal for each of the five years. For example, if a farm goal is to improve reproduction, perhaps within one year you can reach a certain benchmark and then build on that benchmark in subsequent years. This can help reduce overwhelm and make even large goals feel more attainable. Whether goals are short or long term, they should be written down and have a timeline.
3. Are these everyone’s goals?
Specifically for farm goals, it is crucial to communicate about and share goals with everyone involved on the farm. A process often used for goal setting in farm transfer situations can also be useful in setting any type of goal on the farm. This can be especially useful on multigeneration farms and on farms with multiple managers. This three-step process involves developing, blending and prioritizing goals.
In the first stage, developing, individuals draft their own goals for the farm. In the second stage, blending, you share and combine your goals with the people you work closest with (this may be your spouse or siblings or whoever is in your generation on the farm). In the last stage, prioritizing, all people and generations on the farm come together to share their goals and create one prioritized list. Creating goals for a business together can help ensure buy-in from everyone involved, as everyone gets included in the process.
Goal setting is important for any farm, as it keeps the business moving forward to the next step. Using these questions as a guide, take your first steps toward setting some goals today! A new year can mean a fresh start and new goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.
