Why most Kiwis will fail to achieve their goals in 2013, and what to do about it

With New Year just around the corner, business owners – and those contemplating starting a business – are turning their minds to goals and plans for 2013, but 70 per cent of those best laid plans will come to nothing because Kiwi SME owners struggle with self management.

Having worked with more than 200 businesses in the past nine years it’s quickly become apparent that small business owners struggle to follow through, and that’s why so many remain small business owners or self employed.

Planning is more than writing down your goals and the steps to achieving them. It is actually about execute, measure and correct. Anecdotal evidence suggests that 80 per cent of people don’t plan – but of the 20 per cent who do plan, 70 per cent don’t implement.

The main obstacle to implementing plans is lack of accountability.

Being your own boss has its pitfalls, and one of those is a failure by SME business owners to self manage.

I’ve seen hundreds of good plans – some simple bullet points and others an inch thick – but the businesses most likely to achieve their goals are those that have business partners or some kind of accountability mechanism.

For several years I have been in the habit of writing down my goals and plans on foolscap paper and it is the most frustrating, painful process imaginable because its a constant reminder that I need to lift my game.

Successfully achieving plans and goals hinges on:

• Think ahead
• Planning
• Execution
• Measurement
• Correcting course
• Making sure there is accountability

True accountability is about being part way out of your comfort zone, and part way in your comfort zone. Hit that sweet spot and you will achieve your goals.