From Dream To Done: Tips on Achieving Goals and Defining Success
Head in the Clouds
2021 already feels different, doesn't it? With the chaotic election behind us and the promise of an effective COVID-19 vaccine reaching the wider public this year, I'm uncharacteristically giddy at the prospect of sharing public space with people again. I am personally looking forward to the reopening of music venues, because performing and listening to music are passions of mine. New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 feel significant. Even beyond the usual wellness, exercise and mental health goals, many people in my circle—both professional and personal—are upping the ante; taking the early part of this new year to imagine what's possible.
With this new breeze of hope in our sails, the future is starting to feel open-ended again. I'm again floating in daydreams about touring with my band, traveling the globe with my partner, buying a home, and deepening my writing career. But I won't wake up tomorrow finding these dreams magically transformed into reality. At some point, I’ve got to bring these dreams down to earth.
Down to Earth
I'm not diminishing the importance of having the dream in the first place. Allow yourself the freedom to imagine what the future could hold for your life and career in the next normal. What's possible? What do I love doing? What brings me the most joy?
Once you’ve answered some of these probing questions, you can start to pull your dream back down to earth, where you can reshape it into a goal. The best way to start is by defining what success means for you regarding your dream. At Creatis, we focus on "what success looks like" when setting goals for our work, as part of the EOS framework we follow. The central idea being: the clearer and more measurable the goal, the better we can manage our way to it. Whether that's by hitting revenue numbers and client meetings, or by starting a podcast and growing our social media channels. When we know what the end looks like, we can work our way back to the present, setting up clear checkpoints along the way.
Then comes the part where we just get to work, step by step; leveraging what we can do right now to get to where we want to go in the future.
From Dream to Done
Here’s how I approach the process, from dreams to checking off that final box of your to-do list.
- Dream It Up—Set aside time to just imagine what’s possible; write down what you want, ask yourself big questions, don’t critique just yet.
- Boil It Down—Prioritize your dreams, focusing on one or two for the coming year, and identify what is doable given all of your responsibilities.
- Make a Journey Map—Just as digital marketers make customer journey maps to track or grow conversion, you can do the same thing with your goals. Identify the touchpoints along the way, the big hurdles, define the success of your goal.
- Take It One Step at a Time—Be present, do what you can each day to move toward the goal, following the map you created. Even a little bit of progress is progress!
If you’re dreaming of a new career or job this year, Creatis is always hiring value-oriented marketing professionals for a host of exciting positions across industries.
Learn more and apply here: Work at Creatis
