Setting goals is an essential part of being successful in business. Having a clearly defined goal allows us to better measure progress, and ultimately reach desired results. However, it can be difficult to monitor progress and ensure that you are on track to reach your goal without proper tracking and checking in.
In this episode of Influence by Design, we explore the importance of knowing if you are on track to reach your goals, or whether some re-adjustments are needed.
One of the most valuable skills you can have as a business owner is setting targets and regularly checking your developments. This gives you data on crucial questions such as, what you could’ve done differently, what can be improved, and where more support is needed.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL DISCOVER:
- The impact of accountability in checking business progress (03:10)
- Breaking down large goals into granular tasks (07:18)
- The importance of setting intentions that aligns your business and lifestyle (10:35)
- The value of daily 1% shifts (13:35)
- Two questions that help evaluate what can be improved in business (17:10)
QUOTES
- “If we don’t look at the results, we don’t look at what’s affecting our results. We’ll never know whether we need to make adjustments.” -Tim Hyde
- “When you ask yourself better questions, you increase the probability of getting much better answers.” -Samantha Riley
- “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – P. Drucker & A. Lincoln
RESOURCES:
Winning the Week: How To Plan A Successful Week, Every Week
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WHERE TO FIND TIM HYDE
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TRANSCRIPTION
Tim Hyde (00:00):
So same sort of principle, what’s the 1% thing that will make your business boat go faster? And we’re coming back to, if we don’t look at the results, we don’t look at what’s affecting our results. We’ll never know whether we need to make adjustments.
Samantha Riley (00:16):
Being very clear on your lessons, I think that your lessons and your learnings are really an amazing thing to look at to decide, well, what did I learn from this situation that happened? And what can I do differently next time? Or what can I maybe it’s a learning that something went really well, and we want to make sure that we’re implementing this as a system.
My name is Samantha Riley, and this is the podcast for experts who want to be the unapologetic leader in their industry. We’re going to share the latest business growth, marketing, and leadership strategies, as well as discussing how you can use your human design to create success in business and life. Inside and out. It’s time to take your influence, income, and impact to the level you know you’re capable of. Are you ready to make a bigger difference and scale up? This is the Influence By Design podcast.
Welcome to today’s episode of Influence By Design, I’m your Thursday co host Samantha Riley and joined as usual, because not always but Tim Hyde. How are you, Tim?
Tim Hyde (01:20):
I’m good, Sam. It’s good to be here to be here.
Samantha Riley (01:24):
Absolutely. We’ve been having a great conversation about it started off as a bit of a personal conversation and when actually, let’s take this to a bigger level, because I think that this is such a great topic for everyone to think about to talk about. Because, well, we’re going to talk about are you on track to reach your goals, whether it’s your yearly goals, or whether you do your goals in eight weeks blocks like I do, you do quarterly goals, Tim. But no matter how you set your goals, now’s the time to really check in because if you’re in Australia, we’re coming up to the end of financial year fairly shortly. If you’re in the US, or somewhere where you have a January to December fiscal year, then you know, now’s the time to check in to make sure that you’re on track. So no matter where you are, and how your fiscal year runs, now is definitely the time to to check in and really ascertain where you are,
Tim Hyde (02:21):
I think even even bigger picture than that, whatever the cycle is for you, whether it’s as you just said, six weeks sprints, or 90 days, or 30 days, or whatever it happens to be the practice in itself, of setting some targets and then checking in at whatever period, both I think personally and professionally in our business. And going well, what went well, what didn’t go, Well, where do I need to reset? Where do I need supports? You know, what should I have done differently? What will I do differently? All those things, whatever period, you want to say it is probably one of the most valuable and important skills that we can have, as a business owner, totally even potentially more so than, you know, making ourselves a better expert at what our business delivers?
Samantha Riley (03:07):
Absolutely. I’m going to call the elephant out in the room here. And I’d love your take on this. I believe that most people don’t check in, because they have a little bit of shame around maybe not achieving their goals, or maybe a bit of frustration, like depends who it is about knowing that they’re not on track. And it’s just easier to pick up the carpet just give it a bit of brush under there than to really face head on, we might not be heading in the right direction. Look, as
Tim Hyde (03:39):
in graduates from children, there isn’t a lack of accountability. I don’t want to be held accountable for stuff and I don’t necessarily want to be held accountable for my own. You know, failings. Yeah, as well. It’s very visible as other people didn’t go well, or the economy or the you know, the other economy or the recession or, but it is I think it’s one of the things that we definitely need to take responsibility for is now. And there’s a vulnerability and accountability piece to this as well. And again, we’ll always let’s, let’s take an honest look at how are we going and adjusting accordingly. I think this if you’ve got a team, that it’s even more important to have this, but making sure that you’re having an open conversation about how you do that the team’s activities are aligned to your goals. And I know this is something that you do incredibly well in your business. And you know, my last six months has been really focused, as we’ve spoken about and really been focused on how do I create a high performance team, where it’s not just me and my vision, but how does that translate into what what is, you know, Grace do today or what does Lucy do when she comes into the office? You know, what do they need to do and how did they know that the activities they do fit into a bigger picture of my vision
Samantha Riley (04:59):
you As you’re explaining this, the way that I see this is actually, I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a cruise. But I love cruising, I think it’s a fabulous way to have a holiday and completely switch off. But from the second you get to port to the second you get off the ship, it runs like clockwork. And there is I think there’s 1000s of people on board those ships that are on staff, they have huge dining rooms that run like absolute clockwork to get 1000s of people in and out, they’ve got all of these people to get on and off the ship. When you know, when you’re pulling into port for day trips. Every person understands their place, and every person makes everything happen so that it seamlessly is departing ports every day getting people fed. And I think that we need to think about our business like this, in that we all have a role to play. And we all need to do it in a timely manner, in an in a way that makes everything move along. Because that’s just so important.
Tim Hyde (06:06):
Yeah, but it can come back to the accountability. You know that on a ship on a cruise. I have been on one. Thanks, Mum for shutting us a family cruise. You know, it’s just after my wife discovered she become anaphylactic to almonds, which was awkward. Scary. Yeah, right on a cruise. Yeah. But you’re right there, man there. Is that a good bit into that accountability to come back and say, Well, you know, here’s the run sheet for today. And then did We did Ron sheet go according to plan? And do we need to adjust the balance sheet for the next cruise or not. And our business is the same. And as the captain of our business, we need to be doing the same sort of things. This is a plan. This is the run sheet of how the business is going to run on our little cruise. And at the end of it, what do we need to change to make sure the next cruise runs a bit better?
Samantha Riley (06:52):
Absolutely, absolutely. So we’re going to talk a little bit about the ways that we do this. In our businesses, we do things slightly different. But the premise is the same. We’re still looking at major components of our business, where we are, what needs to stay on track what needs to change and who we need to bring in to help. So one of the things that Leon and I do and we do all of our goal setting together is we actually break out any of our longer eight week goal setting down in two weeks. And this is something I’ve done for years and years right back from my very first business, we always pay attention to the weeks because the week set up to the months. So I don’t know if you go that granular Tim, but I always pay attention to what were their wins this week, what were our lessons? What was their income this week? What needs to change for next week? Do you break it down that granular it’s just something
Tim Hyde (07:54):
I’m starting to do. And certainly when I was starting to roll out to my team, we actually created a bit of a performance journal, which goes down to a daily planner. And the daily planner is not onerous, only seen. Certainly, when we’re doing research for that, you know, for that journal, we were looking at some that might have you know, 30 or 40 questions you need to answer each day. But you know, just like you need to win the week, you need to win the day, as well. And just sort of saying, Well, what is the you know, one thing today that will make today successful? And I know you have Sam has i And as many of our listeners, you sometimes the days just blur into each other anything 100% What did I actually achieve today? Or was I just busy for the sake of being busy?
Samantha Riley (08:39):
Yes. Oh, 100%. I’ve just been reading a really good book called Winning the week. And the author is completely gone from my mind. But we will link it up in the show notes. And he does talk about what are the three things that are at the top of your list every day, that if you don’t get to the rest, it doesn’t matter. But it’s the things. And this is why you really need to pay attention to your goals, because this will help you set those three things. So it might not be replying to your social media messages. But it might be I need to follow up on a lead or I need to follow up on on a quote, because that’s way more important than maybe answering social media questions.
Tim Hyde (09:27):
Well, absolutely. And it is really important to kind of do that. It doesn’t need to be right, it just can be just three things. We’ve all had days where it hasn’t seemed like you’ve done a lot, but you come to the end of the day and I felt really productive today. Felt like I had momentum. And it’s usually even without necessarily planning it. It’s usually because we’ve actually done a couple of activities, whether it’s one, two, or three or 10 or 20 things to actually towards our bigger, a bigger picture goal. And so the journal I’m using and whether this Do something useful for you, or just scribble it down a bit of paper on a whiteboard, whatever. And like, what am I doing? What am I top three priorities for today? And does that move me? I think the question about does that move me toward my bigger goal is an important one to ask 100% Not just one of my three priorities?
Samantha Riley (10:18):
Yeah, I think already the theme I can hear here, or the golden thread that goes through everything that we’re talking about, is ask better questions. When you ask yourself better questions, you’re going to get much better results or much better answers.
Tim Hyde (10:34):
Yeah, I think on a big a macro level, you know, even if it’s not necessarily on a weekly basis. And I do think it’s important to celebrate wins, and lessons and you know, am I on track on a sort of weekly basis, on a cyclical basis? And again, whatever cycle that is for you, whether it’s monthly, quarterly, six, weekly, whatever, coming back and looking inside, am I on track? Probably across a couple of key areas. Am I on track? For my profitability? Am I on track, from a lifestyle perspective, so health, enjoying of the business, getting the right work life balance? You know, you and I were talking off air about roommates Ethan’s new show about, you know, what to, you know, live your best rich life, which is on Netflix, on Netflix, we’re both starting to get into that. But he talks obviously, he’s coming up from a perspective of, you know, from a personal finance perspective, but he’s not saying that everyone needs to be rich, everyone needs to have the business or the lifestyle that is rich to them.
Samantha Riley (11:36):
And I think that that’s a really great distinction. Because some people feel rich by having a very relaxed lifestyle, maybe being able to drop their kids at school and pick them up from school, you know, not getting caught up in meetings, being able to go surfing at lunchtime, that for some people is just as rich. As for other people having a, you know, an eight, nine figure business, it isn’t always about the money. For some feeling rich is having health.
Tim Hyde (12:03):
Well, that’s that’s why it’s important to track these things and say, Look, if my intention is to work school hours, and you’ll be able to serve lunchtime, if you start looking at your business and go, Oh, my God, I’m getting taken over. I haven’t been surfing for the last three weeks, it starts to go, Well, what do I need to adjust in my business to be able to reclaim that? And leave my rich business? What do I need to delegate to someone else? What am I taking on that is now getting me off track of my plan? I know, Sam, you and I, last year set the grand intention of not working on Friday, we did. And the first couple of months, right by April, we were like, Yeah, this is we’re crushing it. And then that one meeting started to sneak in. And then the second one, the third one. And by the end of the year, you and I both working Saturdays as well.
Samantha Riley (12:53):
You definitely need to pay attention to the crate,
Tim Hyde (12:56):
it’s important to pay attention because those little things that tell us whether we’re on track on profitability, on lifestyle, on enjoyment of the business, all those sorts of things, you know, those early indicators, if we look at our performance metrics, and our business will tell us where we’re starting to go on track, or off track. Absolutely. And for those of you who know, the four futures model, the little, you know, changes at the beginning, if you don’t look it up, the little changes at the beginning will, you know, have this big impact about where you end up in 12 months time or in three years time or in five years time, depending on what your business goals are.
Samantha Riley (13:34):
Totally, it’s the 1% shifts. I can’t remember the name but I think was it the I don’t know if you know this story, Tim, there was a cycling coach and I I’ve got a feeling it was maybe Great Britain, where they were the, you know, our low performing cycling team. And he came in with the idea of we’re just going to fix 1% every day. And they just really got granular and focus on what’s the 1% that we can do better today. And by the end of the year, they sort of come out on top. And it was purely and just focusing on that 1%
Tim Hyde (14:10):
I think it was actually a rowing team Google have adopted as one of their strategies, was one of the college rowing teams, on university rowing teams in the UK, and Google looked at, you know how this one team had managed to come from always losing to crashing everybody. And it was what was the you know, what’s the thing that makes the boat go faster? Yeah, so, you know, same sort of principle, what’s the 1% thing that will make your business boat go faster? And we’re coming back to if we don’t look at the results, we don’t look at what’s affecting our results. We’ll never know whether we need to make adjustments.
Samantha Riley (14:49):
Totally. So it’s about really staying like being very clear on your wins. Being very clear on your lessons. I think that your lessons and your learnings are really an amazing thing to look at to decide, well, what did I learn from this situation that happened? And what can I do differently next time? Or what can I, maybe it’s a learning that something went really well. And we want to make sure that we’re implementing this as a system. But I think that lessons are really great. So that you can decide what you want to do moving forward. Also being really clear on paying attention to your profitability, like what are your numbers every day, and understanding what you want for to create your rich lifestyle? I think once you you’ve done all that, we really need to then start to understand what are we going to do in the next period? Or what are we going to do in the next cycle?
Tim Hyde (15:40):
Yeah, well, and that’s also not just looking at what’s going badly. But what’s going really, really well that maybe you need to change your expectations or change the goalposts a little bit. Unless, of course, it’s something that’s an abnormal, maybe you want a million dollar contracts last month, and those don’t come around very often. But, you know, or there’s a seasonal thing for your business that says, you know, I make all my money over summer and, or must, I’m a ski resort and only make money in winter. But, you know, we need to sort of look at what is the things that outside of abnormals, that I might need to change my goal that I pulled out, and that’s okay, it’s more about the accountability process. And I think the key thing here, as you mentioned earlier, saying, it’s exercising this muscle that for many of us, we don’t do about holding our business accountable for the lifestyle that we want from it,
Samantha Riley (16:41):
totally, I’m gonna say something else here, which some people won’t understand this, and some people will be nodding furiously. If we don’t pay attention to some of the things that are doing really well, sometimes, there’s a few of us entrepreneurs that get a little bit bored, and we break things. So it is really, really important to pay attention to what’s working, and be very clear, to not touch this.
Tim Hyde (17:10):
Yeah, I think, probably another really good question to ask in this process. Actually, probably two questions. Now that I think of it, Sam. The first one is asking yourself, What did I do? In my last cycle, that I probably should have delegated to somebody else? Oh, like it like it, okay. Because we do have this tendency, I think, as we come into this coach, consultant, contractor, kind of space, because we don’t necessarily have people around us and we do all the stuff. And no one else can do it as good as us. So ask yourself, What did I do? That I probably should have delegated to somebody else? And if you keep seeing the same thing come up, time to hire. Totally, totally. And the second question I think we should, I think we should ask is, who do you need to help you? Do so not just delegate to someone else? But who do you need to help you? Where did you feel outside of your comfort zone? Or potentially you needed? Help with? Right, so that might have been, I don’t know, maybe maybe a certain coach. Maybe it was a business coach, maybe it was a market? Or maybe it was a you know, you needed a new Google Ads person? You know, maybe you need something? Where did you need help, where you were trying to do something, but again, didn’t feel quite comfortable enough or filled outside the depth that you could potentially get some help with. Okay. And again, same thing, if those things keep coming up for you, it’s indicative that there’s a roadblock that’s potentially holding you back from the success that you deserve.
Samantha Riley (18:56):
Yeah. And sometimes that might not be just a, you know, a marketing team or a Google Ads person. Maybe you’re reaching some personal upper limits, maybe you you’re noticing that there’s some past trauma that is stopping you from moving forward. So start to really notice what’s happening, and get really clear on who you need to bring in to help you to move through that. Yeah, absolutely. So overarching message for this entire episode. Now is the time to check in. Are you on track to reach your goals? I think it’s exciting. I like doing check ins. I think they’re great.
Tim Hyde (19:32):
I don’t do it often enough. No. Well, look, I said was it the intent to do it?
Samantha Riley (19:39):
It’s something I actually really enjoyed doing. And I think that where it flipped for me actually, this might help someone. When I first started in business, it was something that I didn’t enjoy to do. And the reason was because I didn’t understand what I needed to move to change the results. But once I started to be able to To read reports, to ask people to give me the data that made sense to me. Once I understood that I could manipulate it, not in a wrong way, but how I could manipulate things to get the results that I was looking for. All of a sudden it went from something that I didn’t enjoy, to again. I like that turn into a game, Tim, you’re a fun person. I’m sure you would enjoy that.
Tim Hyde (20:24):
Yeah, 23 game. It’s a good idea. That’s a really good idea. I think we should finish for that quote. Because you know, I love quote, Sam ID. All right, this one’s from Peter Drucker and says the best way to create a future predict the future is to create it.
Samantha Riley (20:40):
One of my favorite quotes, one of my favorite quotes be who it is that you want to be today. Love it. Tim, thanks for hanging out with me today. I’m going to leave you so you can go do some tracking of your goals. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll catch you on the next episode of Influence by design. Ciao for now.
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