Ah, January. When a business owner's mind turns to goal setting.

I'm always amazed by the "annual goal-setting" offers that come out around this time. And the amount of earnest effort in retrospection, digging deep into core desires, and bringing inspiration into the new year.

By the way, I'm a fan of setting goals. But I'm even more of a fan of hitting them.

Google how to achieve goals and you'll get advice that’s

  • technical (make ‘em SMART)
  • pithy (write them down)
  • obvious (just make a first step)
  • and eye roll-inducing (reward yourself when complete).

Ugh. 

Somebody’s been feeding the LLM Instagram captions again...

If you've been in business for more than 30 days, you know that hitting your goals is challenging. And the most difficult part?

  • It is not formatting your goal statement correctly
  • It is not your goal-tracking format
  • It is NOT your reward system!

The most challenging part of achieving your goals is dealing with the freaking distraction firestorm that dive-bombs your focus and attention. Every. Blasted. Day of your workweek. 

Where’s the advice on that? 

Every year, I see the small business world over-invest in solving the wrong problem. It's not about setting goals; it's about distraction management — a different way of thinking about goals and organizing work to meet them.

(btw - That's what I refer to as the Hidden Work of Leadership.)

Most business owners have had the experience of naming a significant goal they want to be the priority for the year. Have you?

And most business owners have had the experience of their priorities falling away as they fight the daily and weekly fires that always seem to happen. Have you?

So let's talk about the villain(s). The things that stand in the way between you, now, at the starting line — and you, December, at the finish line.

The villains are distractions. (No kidding, right? Call me Captain Obvious!)

But let me shed some light on their form and nature — know thine enemy and all that. I divide them into 3 general categories that I refer to as the 3 Hobgoblins of Distractions.

1️⃣ First are the distractions you create for yourself. You (yes, you) engineer these into your days and weeks — consciously or unconsciously. You set fires, and your team is on constant fire-fighting duty, and fighting those fires detracts from the steady progress towards your lofty, worthy goal.

Fires are the reason you always feel SO busy — and yet are only inching your way toward progress on what you deemed important at the beginning of the year.

To make progress here, you don't become a better firefighter. You become a fire-prevention specialist.

2️⃣ Second are the distractions that come from outside the team, from the world-at-large. I call these curveballs. It might feel like you have no control over these "outside" challenges, but there is much you can do to insulate your business from curveballs and to minimize their impact when they do get through. 

3️⃣ Third and last are unhelpful expectations. Now, technically, these are "inside job" distractions you create for yourself. I call them out separately because  — while they are not fires — they are energy vampires who come for your spoons.

Expectations are future resentments waiting to happen (thank you Anne Lamott). And in the here-and-now, they are blindspots and false filters that create daily problems.

And here is the worst offender: There’s a myth operating out there that having issues (especially "people issues”) to manage means you’re doing something wrong. And so when people, performance or other problems do come up, owners feel LOTS of negative energy around it — disappointment, irritation, second-guessing. These feelings just multiply the distraction factor.

So many business owners want zero problems, but that is unrealistic (and unnecessarily demoralizes them). The goal is not to have zero problems but to have workable problems — that are managed in good faith.

Sure, "goal setting" gets all the glory — but the hidden work of leadership is turning goals into action: deciding what is a priority, not just once — but continually, daily.

Want support taming curveballs and becoming a fire prevention specialist? This is my bread-and-butter, and I've tailored Pocket COO to focus on these challenges. Click the link for details and to book a free exploratory call with me.

My goal is to work with you to: 1️⃣ remove yourself as the bottleneck in your business, 2️⃣ translate your goals into day-to-day guidance for your team, and 3️⃣ protect those priorities when the daily curveballs and 🔥's hit — so that your goals become reality.