This post is brought to you by another guest contributor, Linda Frakes.  She is a long time corporate executive and decade long entrepreneur.  She added another layer to her education over the past two years when she sold a business and the purchaser defaulted on the loan that she held.  She now adds ‘bankrupt executive’ to her repertoire, and writes the blog “The Bankrupt Executive“ and tweets often about ways to live frugally on Twitter!

We are more than one month into 2010, that renewed enthusiasm that you started the year with has almost worn off, right? Remember how you felt on January 4th? This was the year! Then, alas, life got in the way.

With an Olympics full of dedicated athletes breathing down our necks, this might just be a good time to take a second look at our own direction, just to be sure that our drive is actually taking us somewhere.

How do those athletes do it? They are there because someone helped them at an early age helping determine their personal goals. How long has it been since you clearly articulated your business goals. Or are you on a road trip with no specific destination, simply enjoying the ride? If so, NOW is the time to STOP and design your business’s trip planner for 2010.

Bronze Medal

The first step is to set some VERY specific goals for 2010. These should be trackable metrics that allow you to objectively measure against. For example:

• I will grow my business by 32% in 2010
• My customer base will expand by 12% in 2010

You only need one or two (NO MORE than 3!!!) of these goals…this is your destination, after all. What kind of a road trip would you plan ending in five cities?

Silver Medal

Now that you’ve determined your goals for the year, it’s time to break them down into bite-size pieces. This next step gets you closer to ending up where you want to be at the end of your trip. Here is where you determine the cities you want to visit along the way.

Each month, determine a specific monthly goal that supports your year- end destination. If you want to be in the city of 15% annual growth, then perhaps February’s goal is 5% over last year. Don’t just make your monthly goal the same as your annual goal…so you need a goal that moves you towards your final year-end destination.

For example: FEB. 2010 GOAL

• I will grow my business by 8%
• My customer base will expand by 2%

Gold Medal

This is where the rubber hits the road. By far, this stage of planning is the most difficult, because it requires you to be continuously laser focused on the things that will make your business end the year exactly where you have planned for it to be.

EVERY WEEK you must set specific objectives that support your monthly goal. This process will insure that you are truly doing the things that will actually get you to your destination in the most effective & efficient manner.

February Goal: Expand customer base by 2%
Objectives for February 2010:

• Week 1: Network with 20 potential clients
• Week 2: Schedule client meetings with 10 of the above
• Week 3: Schedule 2nd meetings to present proposals with 5 of the above
• Week 4: Finalize details, sign contracts with 2 of the above.

This is now at the ACTIVITY level…not simply a number you’ve written down and hope to achieve! EVERY DAY you should review your weekly objective!

And here’s the real acid test on this one…compare that weekly objective with what is on your calendar for today. Does EVERYTHING support achieving that goal? If not, either your goal is wrong…or your doing stuff that doesn’t matter!

Laser focus and daily determination got Shawn White to the Olympics…even on days when he wipes out. Will you be on the platform receiving gold at the end of 2010?

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