How to Hit Every Target

Imagine you’re going on a road trip. How do you start planning?

Well, you start with the destination.

Where are you going? What time do you want to get there?

You don’t just start bumbling away from home with a blindfold on. You reverse engineer the
destination and map out all the small steps along the way that are going to get you there. This planning process is the exact same for hitting targets in your business.

I sat down with Brett Warren from Metropole Property Investments to get the scoop on how he
implements this process within his team and why it works so well for them.

The first thing Brett told me was that their team plans their “road trip” annually. They all sit down and lay out their goals for the year, both as a team and as individuals across the board. He points out that the two most crucial things that need to happen in this meeting are:

A) Everyone is crystal clear on what their goals are; and
B) There’s a specific emotional motivation behind each goal.

For instance, your goal might be to buy a new car. This annual meeting would give you a chance
to get specific about the type of car you want and what that car will mean to you once you have
it.

The next thing we spoke about was the importance of getting specific.
Let’s say your goal is to hit a certain salary target. The salary figure alone isn’t enough to really
be an actionable goal. You need to assign yourself a timeframe and then reverse engineer it. Instead
of stumbling towards a number, you can calculate what you need to do every day in order to
achieve your goal.

This takes a huge amount of pressure off because instead of focusing on one big goal that seems
lightyears away, you’re prioritizing smaller actionable steps and easier wins.
It also makes it easier to track your progress and hold yourself accountable because you’re
checking in with your long-term goal regularly, instead of letting it inevitably slide to the back of
your mind as other priorities pop up.

Now, here’s the real kicker. This type of process is something that becomes habitual very
quickly. It’s not something that requires a huge commitment or change to daily operations. It’s
mainly a shift in the collective mindset.

Once you adopt this new way of thinking about your targets, it’ll become increasingly easier to
set and achieve them.

The main takeaway here is to achieve your targets without constantly having to remind yourself
of why you’re doing what you’re doing or how much left you’ve got to go before you get there.
Ultimately, you’re turning your big-picture targets into part of your daily routine.

Start focusing on the process rather than the outcome using these 5 basic steps:
1. Clearly identify the end goal.
2. Reverse engineer it.
3. Map out the stepping stones to get you there.
4. Hold yourself accountable with regular check-ins.
5. Get your team on board.

So whatever your KPIs are, whatever industry you’re in, working backward from your target is
the most effective way to create clear, actionable plans to hit them. Just like mapping out a road
trip, breaking down your targets into daily achievables sets you up for success.