If you haven’t had a chance to set your both your North Star goals and your daily goals and intentions for the upcoming year, now may be the ideal time to do it!  Sometimes it takes a few weeks (even months) to get organized and really discover what it is we want to work on and improve for the upcoming year.  Sometimes setting a North Star Goal can seem so daunting and “committed” that we struggle to set ourselves up for something so far beyond our grasp.

Setting and hitting a North Star Goal becomes more possible when you break it down into smaller chunks and pieces.  Daily goals are small, achievable, daily tasks that help springboard you to the larger goal.  Daily goals are different from stepping stone goals, which I refer to in my article on Types of Goals.  You can read more about stepping stone goals here, and although they are critical to success and moving forward, they are not the type we’re addressing here.

What is a daily goal?

A daily goal is a small, measurable, achievable task that you can accomplish during the course of 1-2 days that will impact and move yourself closer to a Stepping Stone or North Star Goal.  For example, if your North Star goal is to write a book, a stepping stone goal may be to take a course on copy editing.  A daily goal may be to write 500 words today.

Daily goals are SMART goals as well, with a start/finish and a sense of accomplishment.

Why set daily goals?

Sometimes North Star goals are very lofty, and given your mood can seem so far in the future and unachievable.  Daily goals, while smaller but no less important, can move you close to your North Star Goal, or to other stepping stone goals you’ve set for yourself.  Think of your North Star goals as the macro goals, and your daily goals as your micro goals.

If your North Star Goal is to run a marathon, you need to set daily goals of running a few kilometers here and there to get close to reaching your goal.  When you set daily goals in this matter, running a marathon becomes more of a reality.

Examples of daily goals:

Your daily goals can literally be anything and everything, as long as they are moving your forward in your career or your life.  Your daily goals will be different from everyone else’s which is why they are fun to set, and fun to achieve.

Daily goals for your career in sales could be:

• Prospect 5 new, unique clients today
• Close that piece of business
• Have “zero inbox” by day end
• Call my mentor and set up a lunch date

Daily goals at home could look like:

• Find 3 new crockpot recipes to try for when I’m busy next week
• Help my son with his homework, then play a game with him
• Finish the laundry so I don’t have to do it Saturday morning

How to set daily goals:

Everyone has a system that works for them when setting goals for the day.  Some practices I have seen implemented and are effective include:

• Add the daily goals to your CRM as tasks – when they pop up on your CRMs task list, you know its time to tackle them
• Add them to your calendar (this is great for exercise goals – making time and scheduling them in while guarantee success – as long as you stick to your calendar 😊)
• Make a list the night before – sometimes the morning can be rushed and we may push off goals for more pressing matters. Make a list of your goals for the next day, and refer to your list often. Check the list again at night to ensure you hit all your targets.

Now that you’re in the groove and focused on setting some intentions, you may find benefit in building a larger, more robust business plan that includes your lofty North Star Goals, as well as your daily and stepping stone goals to success.  I’ve created a Smokin’ Sales Business plan template to help you – you can find it here.

Hopefully if you’ve read my post on Focus on the Important, Not the Urgent, you will make time for your daily goals and not the distractions that interrupt your day.

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