OK, What’s Next?

John Holobinko, Managing Director, Business Reimagined, LLC

Having a set of goals for the next stage of your business is essential for you to achieve your current goals and objectives.

In the simplest form of business objectives, you should have a revenue target for your current year.  In addition to that, a good business will have a small set of additional objectives.  For example, you may want to implement a new software system to track inventory, or perhaps a new customer management software system.  Your business objectives are all about improving your business operations, your business efficiency – things that will enable your business to be better.

However there is one additional thing that will help you to achieve your business objectives this year, probably more than anything else.  And that is: you need to set your next set of goals and objectives now. 

At first this sounds silly.  You haven’t even accomplished this year’s objectives and I want you to think beyond that.  But I have a compelling reason:  I want you to think about it as establishing for yourself a state of mind. 

Having a vision for “what’s next” after your current objectives is a power way to help you keep on-focus.  Having a future vision, you are no longer thinking of simply getting the current things done.  Rather, your objectives this year become a step towards another set of goals, another forward step for the business.  In essence, each current objective takes on a larger significance than it would if it stood alone.

But what if you aren’t a business owner, but rather you have a personal career?  The same methodology applies.  The day you begin a new job with a new employer, or take on a different job with your current employer, you should ask yourself “What’s next?”  By doing so, you will avoid getting stuck in a rut in your current position.  As you do your job, you won’t think of it as just fulfilling your current objectives.  You will think about how you are using your current position to prepare yourself for your next position. It will change how you react and work with others, how you nurture your personal network and more. This change of attitude is essential for your personal growth.

Every time I answered the question “what’s next”in my career I was more successful.  And that was all the way to being President/CEO.  Similarly, my companies achieved their greatest successes.  When I didn’t have the answer soundly in my head I found myself stagnating.

Carve out fifteen uninterrupted minutes after you read this, and make your first attempt to answer the question for your business, for yourself, or for both as appropriate.  Simply answer the question “What’s next?” and write it on a sheet of paper.  Place your paper in a place where it is visible to you every day.  Next week, see if you would write the same answer.  If it isn’t, work another few minutes on it, then put it back in the same visible place. 

This simple act will have a major impact on your perspective and the way approach your work every day.