As coaches, we think Goals are very important. In fact, many in the coaching community think that getting goals right is the single most important part of a coaching session, and therefore to delivering success.

Often the arrival of a new year is a great time to reassess where you want to be going and the direction you need to take to get there. Whether you’re working in an established business or a startup, I’d be very surprised if t his was the first article you’ve read about setting goals and their importance. Perhaps, however, the reason that coaches spend so much time on helping you to find the right goals for you is that a) they’re always very personal to you and b) they often take a bit more uncovering than you might think.

It’s easily possible for a coach and client to spend a whole session exploring a client’s goals and it will be time well-spent. Goals aren’t bland, cut-and-dried aims that appear from the universe from on high.

True goals are deeply bound to your values and the how of your approach to work rather than simply the what. Of course there will be important aims that are simple and/or financial in nature, especially when it’s a case of needing a certain revenue to stay afloat. What a coach will push you to delve further into and really see the reasons you want to achieve this particular outcome.

This is a good exercise for you to try even on your own.

For example: you want to increase your revenue by 25% in 2017. Think about what is important to  you about that ambition? How might you use that additional income if you had it? What would it give you that you don’t have now?

It might seem obvious – more money coming into a business is always a good thing! Of course that’s right… it just may well not be the full story.

• Perhaps that extra revenue will enable you to finally bring in an external design agency to refresh your brand, so that it no longer falls to you or your tea to make constant tweaks.
• It might build up some money in the bank so you can sleep more easily at night not worrying constantly if you’ll be able to pay your staff – or yourself – next month.
• It might be just the proof that you need to demonstrate the company’s value to investors and secure that next funding round.

Understanding which of these (or the many, many other individual possibilities) is truly the goal that matches your values is extremely important. The milestone might look the same (+25% revenue), but the real goal is very different in each example: a solid brand; better sleep; new funding.

It’s not just important so you reach the right destination, but also so that you can truly celebrate when you get there!