Every Entrepreneur Should Set These Five Goals
No matter what time of year it is, goals are important. Resolutions help entrepreneurs stay on track and achieve their life’s purpose — whether they be business related or not. Sometimes, it’s the business goals that can have the largest impact on an entrepreneur’s personal life.
That being said, not all of the resolutions on this list are business related. However, they all will help you become a better, more effective entrepreneur. Here are five resolutions every entrepreneur should make this year. Stick around for a bonus goal at the end of this article.
1. Read More Fiction
Yes, this is number one on our list. Entrepreneurs often get bogged down with non-fiction, which is great — the problem is that fiction is often overlooked in the process.
So why is reading fiction so important? Despite what you may have been told, reading fiction is not a waste of time — at all. It leads to stronger emotional intelligence, empathy, and encourages readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuances and complexities. Don’t feel guilty about putting down Ray Dalio’s latest book, Principles, and picking up A Tale of Two Cities or All the Light We Cannot See.
2. Become a Morning Person
This is one of those “keystone habits” that can make or break your day. Getting up early isn’t required for you to be a successful entrepreneur, but there sure seems to be a correlation between success and the waking in the early hours. If you want to become a morning person, don’t forget the most important thing you can do to make the transition easy: go to bed early.
3. Create Killer Content
Entrepreneurs create. It’s in our DNA. And when it comes to content creation, you should be taking it very seriously. Whether it’s videos, articles, podcasts, speeches, white papers, press releases, emails, or anything else — standing out with excellent content will separate you from the pack. Aim to become a better content creator in everything you do, and embody the mantra: Create, don’t consume. You’ve seen enough bad news on TV — go make something.
4. Have More Effective Meetings
We’ve all been there. Locked into a 55 minute meeting that could have lasted five minutes.
Time is precious, and you need to start treating it that way. Learning how to have more effective meetings is one of the best things you can do for yourself. The first thing you need to do is attach dollar signs to all your meetings. Figure out what they’re costing you in lost hours, and make the necessary adjustments. Go shorter, be clearer, limit attendance, and make sure everyone walks away with action items.
5. Be More Productive
What if you had 90 extra minutes every single day? What would you do with that time?
Here’s the good news: we just found you 90 extra minutes. All you have to do is:
-stop hitting the snooze button
-give up one TV show per day
-cut your shower time in half
-cut your email time in half
-pick out your clothes for the next day before you go to bed
Use the extra 90 minutes to work on something you’re passionate about, even if it isn’t related to entrepreneurship. Working on your passions will make you happy, and happy people are more successful in all endeavors of their lives.
BONUS:
6. Read Faster
Ready to double your reading speed in five minutes? Read this.
DOUBLE BONUS:
Need something to practice your new reading speed on? Here are 25 books for entrepreneurs. We also started The Entrepreneur Book Club over on Goodreads. Feel free to join — every month we read one book that offers inspiration, entertainment, or education to entrepreneurs. It’s a great place to connect with like minded individuals.
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