I’ve been working on goals and dreams for 2014 and beyond. It’s hard to remember in the hustle and bustle of daily crazy but an intentional life is always worth planning for. It’s hard to keep priorities straight when opportunities are coming at you a mile a minute. Goal setting started a little early this year so let me be the first person to get you thinking about your 2014 goals. This is your time to start thinking, planning and yes, dreaming.
I use the Stephen Covey “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” method of planning. I go through the book every few years and update goals and priorities. But, I don’t do it alone – I do it with my ‘Front Row’. That’s the term my Mastermind Business Group uses to describe the people who are most important in your life. The litmus test for ‘Front Row’ is who you would chose to put in the front row of the auditorium at a very important event with you.
After we confirm what our priorities in life are, we spend an entire day drilling down into our yearly goals. We share these goals with the group, the group helps to refine those goals (are they ‘SMART‘?) and then comes the best part! Vision board time!
I’ve blogged about Vision Boards before (here, here and here) but in a nutshell, it’s a poster sized board of your goals … in picture format!
We all save pictures from magazines all year and when we can’t find the perfect picture for our goal, resort to the internet and print them.
Everyone puts their boards in places of prominence around their homes as a daily visual reminder of what they’re striving for. My goals for the upcoming year revolve around family (take a family vacation!), friends (quality activities 4X next year), health (maintain my weight for 2014 through healthy eating and exercise and decrease body fat by 1% over the year), business (start a new soapmaking book, successfully lead the Soap Crafting Club) and finance (college savings for the kids).
To learn more about the Vision Boarding process, Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles” has an entire chapter on Vision Boarding and setting up a Mastermind Group.
The new year is right around the corner! What would you put on your Vision Board for 2014? Or, put another way, what are some of your goals for 2014?
![SMART[1]](https://www.soapqueen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SMART1-120x120.jpg)
Thank you for writing this post! I LOVE your website, shop and videos! I will be a new mama in February 2014. I am very exciting and anxious at the same time as my life will be forever changed. I really want to start making and selling products but dont know where to begin. I have the “Oooh, I like everything”, dilemma and get a little overwhelmed. This stops me from making things because I dont know where to begin. I would like to make candles and soap, but get discouraged because there are already so many people making them. Now I wish I wouldve started sooner. I will be a single parent and things are going to be a tight for me. I will have to be vey frugal. I still have a desire of starting a product business eventually. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated. Best wishes to you! 🙂
Oh congratulations. I so love being a Mom. It’s absolutely the most fun, most harrowing, most rewarding, most hard work I’ve ever done. You’re going to find that you work harder, faster, and smarter on your business so you can max out on time with your little one. And, give yourself a break those first three-four months. You’re so tired and sleep-deprived. Just try to keep yourself sane and not sliding backwards on your business =)
As for where to start? It’s all about making goals and then starting to chunk those goals down. So, if you want to make candles and want to get into 15 stores by the end of 2014, how many cold calls do you need to make (3-15% of stores will say yes as a basic rule of thumb)? Then, break that down, how many calls is that per week? How many sample candles do you need to make to make that goal come to reality? Just break it down into tiny goals, and do it. Every. Single. Day. No excuses to not do the little things. And then, over the entirety of 2014, slogging away, one goal at a time, you’ll get there. Little things lead to amazing things over time. Baby steps eventually do equal a marathon. You can do it!
=) 2014 is your year – new baby, new business … it’s going to be a doozy!
I really love your posts like this one. Very helpful to see some of the ways that you balance life & work.
All the best for 2014!
Thanks Robert! I am so fortunate to have an amazing support team to really help me get clear on my goals and family comes first (always) but business is a very close second! =)
This blog post is just in time. Have you heard of the book “The Secret”. Visualize your goal, post them on boards around the places you will be at thur out the day. Also, one thing I have always believed is “when you pray, pray as tho you have received what you prayed for and it is yours”. So thanks so much for the reminder of these important facts.
I have told everyone I know my little busy is growing in leaps and bounds!!
Hi Wanda,
Yes, I read “The Secret” back when it came out. I’m a huge fan of Jack Canfield’s, “The Success Principles” and he is the one that turned me onto the concept of putting your goals in a different format. Words can be so boring and not inspirational so I love this format.
Little daily steps lead to great things over time =)
Wonderful post! I think I shall actually try this and maybe next year won’t be so disorganised for me!
I just started on my soap making venture and want to be able to start building up a customer base and getting ahead so i can cut back the hours on my “job” that is affecting my health.
thank you!
Absolutely! Start now and continue refining until 2014. I love the Stephen Covey books (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) to really get started with goal planning but there are a lot of great methods. The important thing is so start.
I like that you’ve got a basic goal to start cutting back at your job. If it were my goal, I’d work backwards and do stuff like:
by March 2014, I will be wholesaling X bars per month and retailing X bars per month.
I will do this by making X cold calls per week and working on my SEO for my website diligently for X hours per week for all of January, February and March
… or something like that. You know, just building a basic roadmap =)
Yes I am already working on my new line of soaps for the new year, I am a bit nervous I am wanting to jump into the CP world from the M&P world………….
What a fantastic goal! I’d love to have you in the Winter Soap Crafting Club. So many of the people in the Fall club are commenting how helpful having pre-measured oils and ingredients are. For a new person, it’s one less thing to worry about =) Even if you aren’t in the club, I’m totally here for you as you learn though. SoapQueen.TV has a great free series on all the safety and basic aspects and this blog has lots of fantastic recipes as well.
Fantastic post! I use vision boards along with drawings of my goals.
2014 goal is to market more consistently and make sales go up!
Thanks for this post 🙂
Isn’t it crazy that we’re already thinking about 2014? Wow, time really does fly. I know it’s a little early to think about 2014 but this way, I can slowly refine the goals over the next couple of months too =)
Market more consistently and increase sales is a worthy goal! Make sure to make those goals SMART so you can measure when you meet them successfully.
YESSSSS!!
I’ve been sitting here wondering where my priorities have gone, this looks like a great way to find them again! Plus, I get to play with glitter! All goals involve glitter 🙂
Absolutely; all goals involve glitter. That should be my new motto in general. =)
I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
Um wow, totally did not know my logo would be that huge! Lol. I was hoping for it to show as my avatar. Excuse me please!
Patrice
It is big but it’s super cute! =)
Thank you Anne-Marie!
This is a great post and it came at the perfect moment for me. I was just thinking that I need to start planning for the next year. This year, I had my last baby, finished school and became an esthetician, moved, and my business started to pick up. It came and zoomed by so quickly that I felt a little unprepared. I’m sure life is not gonna slow down anytime soon so now is the time for me to get in gear. For the next year, my goals are to make it back to Disney World with my family, have monthly date nights with my husband, start school to study massage therapy, learn how to ask for help and accept it- in all aspects of life, train to run a 5k, learn how to make cold-process soap, and get a website running for my business. Yikes, seems like a lot when I read over it, but I think keeping busy is the only way I can function.
Thanks for sharing your goals and I will definitely try a vision board!
Patrice
It’s funny, one of my BFFs is also named Patrice and she ALSO overschedules herself =) Coincidence? Yes, you do have a full plate but I love that you’re dreaming and thinking big. I also really like that you’re planning for every area of your life to be a success and taking care of your family life, your personal life, your health and your primary relationship. You’ve got a balanced wheel right there.
And as for learning to make CP soap, you can do it! Take the plunge =) We’re here for you as you learn.
Haha, that is a crazy coincidence! Thanks for your response. Maybe I can also squeeze in time to make it back to WA to take a CP soaping class! : )