I’m sure you all have huge tremendous goals for your business and for your LinkedIn page too. Well you’re in luck because I’m here to tell you how SMART goals can help you set and accomplish your number one goal on LinkedIn within the next 100 days.
Does that sound nice?
I bet it would!
And to be completely honest with you, the SMART goals method works like no other goal setting system out there. Here’s a quick breakdown of what I mean when I say SMART goals:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Ok awesome. Let’s bring it back home to LinkedIn. Let’s say your goal is to become a top LinkedIn influencer in your niche, who would say no to that, right?
So let’s real quickly apply the SMART goals methodology and see how we do. (Feel free to swap in whatever your next big LinkedIn goal is here.)
Specific: Ok, right off the bat, we were not nearly specific enough with this goal. We need to niche down so when we do achieve this goal we can easily know that it’s done and check it off our list.
So let’s say our industry is the pet food industry, that’s a huge industry! Can we get more refined? Of course! What if our more specific niche was vegan dog food for small breed dogs? Now that’s a lot more defined. This is a category we can become a top influencer in.
Measurable: Now this one’s also tricky, because there’s a ton of different ways we could measure influence on LinkedIn.
We could use number of connections, search results, it could be pageviews on a blog we’ve published, but the key is to pick one and put a hard number on it.
Maybe you want 1,000 new connections, or you want to reach 30,000 views on your next video. Whatever you pick make it measurable so as you progress towards the goal you’re 100% clear on where you’re at.
Attainable: This is where we need to check in with reality, but also gut-check our level of commitment. I am absolutely huge on commitment!
A lot of things are possible when we commit all-in, but you need to also be pragmatic to some degree. It may not be possible to get booked as a keynote speaker for a conference a month out from the event right? Just make sure you’re not setting yourself up for an inevitable defeat with your goal.
Relevant: Does your goal even matter? Will it move the needle forward in your life and business? This is something only you can answer, but keep in mind your grand vision and how it fits in.
If we use our example from before of LinkedIn influence, then it’s absolutely relevant to your business goals.
Time-Bound: This is the all important “When.” How long will it take? By what fixed and exact day and time will you have completed this goal? This piece is crucial as it keeps you realistic and focused on moving forward.
In the Freedom Journal we use 100 days as our timeframe and break it down into 10 day sprints, from there benchmarking along the way.
Ok so how did your own personal goal measure up?
A Few Extra Tips To Supercharge!
I did promise this would be supercharged right? Here are a few extra tips to get you going.
I mentioned it above but your level of commitment heavily influences your outcomes and even the size of the goals you take on. This is a reason why we only focus on one goal at a time.
Would you rather be 100% committed to your biggest goal or have a partial commitment to multiple “nice to have” goals. I think you know the answer there.
Next is accountability. Accountability provides you with a rock solid structure to work from and keep you from getting overwhelmed or fatigued during the process.
And one final thought for you, if what you were doing now was enough to achieve your goals then wouldn’t you have achieved it already?
Action Steps
- Write down a specific goal you want to achieve from LinkedIn.
- Put your goal into measurable terms, use some form of numerical value that’s absolute.
- Make sure the goal is humanly possible, and something you can actually attain in 100 days.
- Ask yourself if your goal actually matters? If it’s not relevant to improving your business then scrap it and start over.
- Break your goal down into smaller chunks and subgoals to achieve over the 100 day timeline.
Result You Will Achieve
A method to achieve your number one goal from LinkedIn within 100 days.
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.