Why Female Entrepreneurs Don’t Fail At Their Goals

One of the ladies in my VIP Group Coaching asked a very valid question:

“What strategy do you have when setting your goals for the month?  When I think of my goals and write them down, I have no idea if they’re realistic or possible?”

We hear a lot about the importance of setting goals in our businesses. Goals are important, and not something that should be ignored.

However, many female business owners feel that if they set goals, and then don’t achieve them, they have failed.

Not so.

Your goals should act as a guide to lead you to a desired outcome that gives growth to your business.

But even when you write down and start to take action towards your goal, there is nothing to say that you will meet the goal you set in all it’s finite detail. Goals morph, change, take on their own life as you work towards them. Some goals you hit earlier than anticipated, other goals have to be pushed forwards and given a longer time to achieve. Other goals may be struck off as you move towards them and realise they are not the right finite goal for your business.

I want to encourage you to see the goals you set for your business as a guiding light, rather than something that has no flexibility or fluidity, where you feel you have failed if you don’t reach the outcome you set.

Goals are meant to encourage you and give you direction in your business. Not penalise you if you don’t get there.

Yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals – the reality is that setting them will improve your chances of going in a steady direction towards something you want to achieve.

From that standpoint it doesn’t matter whether your goals are small or huge (so you might as well aim for huge!).

You’ll never be able to set goals and know for a surety that you’ll achieve them, because life, business, circumstances, the world, are ever changing things, and we never truly know what sits around the corner as we work towards our goals.

At the beginning of 2020 many of us set goals for our businesses for the year ahead, without any indication about just how much the world would change 3 months later. 

Then we were hit with a worldwide pandemic, everything came to a standstill, and many businesses suddenly had to pivot and change to accommodate exceptional circumstances. 

Some female entrepreneur’s goals went out the window – like attending offline events. 

Other female entrepreneurs pivoted on their goals, learning how to deliver their products and services in a more meaningful way to people during lockdown.

The very fact that female business owners had goals in the first place allowed them to sit, revisit, review and rethink, rather than floundering when the world so suddenly and drastically changed.

All of the goals and the plans you set for your business are like a blueprint. They’re a foundation from which you plan and work. 

It’s important to acknowledge that your goals are not set in stone, that they’re interchangeable, may be achieved, may get close to, or might not happen at all.  

That is the nature of life, of business, of the world, of our goals and plans.

Think about it this way.

When any football match takes place there are always two goal areas – one at each end of the pitch. 

And when the footballers hit the field, their only goal within that match is to get the ball into the back of the net (the goal areas) as many times as they can, so that they win.

The goal itself. The goal posts, the goal net – they’re the guiding light for the footballers. Something to aim for and try to achieve.

There are always obstacles in the way. Football defence from the other team, the goal keeper. Often the footballers have to pivot and turn and try all sorts of different ways to reach the end goal of getting the ball in the net.

Sometimes the footballers take aim and get the ball in the goal. WIN!

Sometimes they aim and miss and the ball goes out of play.  No matter.  They don’t give up.  They just keep trying different ways to get that ball to the end goal – in the back of the net.

Sometimes the footballers win lots of goals. Sometimes, even with the best efforts, they don’t win any goals at all.

If we took the goal posts, the net and even the goal keeper out of the equation. 

The footballers would be running around a pitch, kicking a ball, with no clue what they were supposed to do with the ball.  Where were they supposed to get the ball to?  What was the purpose?  What was the end goal of kicking that ball around? What was the plan? No-one would know.

Goals at each end of the football pitch provide the guiding light.  The thing the footballers can aim towards and try to reach.  

This applies to all sports.  Archery, running, pole vaulting, basketball, ice hockey.   There’s always a goal to work towards.  Even in gymnastics – there may not be a net – but the goal is a perfect score.

So think of your goals as your guides.

When you work towards those goals and make progress.  That’s success. 

However, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed if you don’t complete a goal in full. 

Some goals you’ll totally nail and win. 

Other goals you’ll have to carry forwards to continue to work towards.

Other goals will be misses that you’ll have to rethink, pivot or take out of your business completely.

None of those goal outcomes are failures. Win, carry forwards, or miss. They all help you to make progress and become better in your business.

You should always have goals written down that outline the things you want to achieve in your business.

But remember.

Goals are fluid.

And if your goals don’t work in the way you expected them to, they’re not your personal failures. They’re simply learning experiences that that’ll help you to identify how to do things even better as you continue to move forwards.

Goal setting requires discipline and consistency to work well.

Bring goals in to your business, use them as you guiding light.

And you’ll see your business grow.

Jenny