How to Achieve Your Goals as a Small Firm Architect
In December of 2015, in preparation for the coming year, I recorded a podcast episode and published an article describing my idea for establishing just one goal for 2016. Instead of picking numerous goals in every area of my life, I would set just ONE Goal.
My ONE Goal
Inspired by one of my all-time favorite books, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, written by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller, my ONE Goal was to be the primary focus for the next twelve months of 2016. As the authors describe in the book, it was the “ONE thing that I could do, such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary.”
My ONE Goal for 2016 was to Master the Art of Delegation.
My architecture firm, Fivecat Studio, was in the process of developing a new “virtual” business model and required the development of many new systems. EntreArchitect was about to commence with a new phase of growth, relaunching with a new website and expanding our private online membership, EntreArchitect Academy. It was not going to be possible to accomplish my many plans for each without focusing on the one most-important goal of delegation.
The Results of My ONE Goal for 2016
I developed a plan to achieve my ONE Goal and proceeded with much success. Far from “mastering” the process of delegation, I most certainly improved this critical skill required for business success.
For me, the year 2016 was mostly about “planting seeds.” I developed many new systems for EntreArchitect and assembled a small team to help me produce and distribute content for the EntreArchitect Community each week. We’re developing new resources and working on better ways to serve small firm architects. You will soon see the results as our “seeds” begin to blossom. (Watch for a major announcement coming in the next few weeks.)
At Fivecat Studio, we intentionally reduced the number of new projects in order to allow me to focus on building this platform. Most of my attention in 2016 (about 80% of it) was dedicated to you here at EntreArchitect. Rather than building two organizations at once and failing at both, I chose to prioritize one over the other. This allowed me the time and focus required to see great success here at EntreArchitect.
As a result of my many small victories throughout the year, we are seeing great rewards. The progress enjoyed here at EntreArchitect will allow me to now refocus on Fivecat Studio while EntreArchitect continues to grow. I am very excited about my plans for the firm and I will share my progress with you here at the blog throughout the year.
The ONE Goal Experiment
Though conceptually very successful, this year I am revising the strategy of choosing ONE Goal.
Like much of what I share here, my ONE Goal is an ongoing experiment. My idea for 2016 was to choose only ONE Goal with the intent that the success of achieving that ONE Goal would automatically help to achieve success in all the other areas of my life and business.
It worked.
By choosing ONE Goal, it did allow me to accomplish more toward that ONE Goal. I have become much better at delegation, a skill that has allowed me to “plant many seeds” here at EntreArchitect and elsewhere throughout my life.
For 2017, I am making some changes to the experiment with hopes to experience an even bigger impact on my overall progress. This year I am choosing ONE Goal for each of the seven areas of my life; career, finance, family, fitness, intellect, social and spiritual. The late author and speaker, Zig Ziglar calls these 7 areas, The Wheel of Life. Neglect one and you will experience a flat spot on your wheel. Last year, by choosing only ONE Goal, I felt a few bumps along my path to progress.
With ONE Goal established for each of the areas of my life and a plan for action developed, I still wanted a way to define my focus for the coming year. How could I unify each of the seven goals? My answer is to select my ONE Word.
My ONE Word
My ONE Word for 2017 is Simplify.
My ONE Goal in each of the areas of my life are influenced by my ONE Word. With so much developing in my life, how can I simplify every area my life and business?
Throughout the year, you will see the results of my seven goals and my ONE Word throughout my life, at my architecture firm and here at EntreArchitect. How can I simplify the process of architecture, so we can be more efficient and our clients can better understand our service? How can we simplify the resources for small firm architects and make EntreArchitect Academy more accessible to more members throughout the world?
It’s going to be an exciting year. I look forward to sharing my progress with you here on the blog throughout 2017. Stay tuned.
Question: Which ONE Word defines YOUR focus for 2017?
My one word for 2017 is RULES. I laid out my 5 goals, and each month I will make one rule to help me achieve theses goals. For example January’s rule is to not open: email, social media sites or surf the web before I complete two hours of work.
Hi Mark,
We have something in common. My one word/theme for the last two years was ‘Simplify’. This year it is ‘Consistency’. Now that I have cut-away much of the excess in my activities,surroundings and simplified routines I want to put into regular practice what matters to me.
To help to be consistent with my goals I created a google excel sheet. I keep it on my google drive and leave it open in my web browser as a am/pm check-in. The first page is a year overview showing the % success of each goal in a color gradient per month. I also added a column for result desired and result achieved. The following pages are by month where the goals are tracked. Goals are listed with result desired column, a criteria column(definition for input) and entry cells. Based on the goal criteria tracking could be a daily, weekly, or monthly input. Y/N, # of times, $$, or description of progress.
Yes it might sound like a lot but it’s a one time set-up and it has been wonderful to see everything in one place. My hope is that by having a visual tracker throughout the year, when the surge of the new year’s motivation wears off or when I get into a rut it’ll serve as a reminder to keep momentum. The other bonus is at the end of this year I’ll have a quantitative value assigned to my effort.
Meg, this is great. I’d love to see your spreadsheets. Sounds like a fantastic way to track your progress.
I love this. My 2016 was all over the place as far as goals go. Paring things down, improving my focus and simplifying sound like just what I need to focus on this year. Thanks for another very helpful post.
I am glad this post was helpful in focusing your goals. Keep us posted on your progress.
‘Push’ is my word for 2017. Push the limits. Push yourself. Push past the pain. Push past doubt. Push.