The top 5 goals for small business owners for 2012 according to the March issue of Inc. Magazine are:

1. Grow the business
2. Improve relationships with friends and family
3. Eat healthier
4. Work out more
5. Work less

Do these look like your goals? If so, is this the way you think about them or have you taken the critical next steps? 

In what way are you going to grow your business? Do you need to find new markets, sell more to the same markets, or just find more customers? Do you need to strengthen your brand, your products, or your sales channels? Do you need to change how you talk about your products or to whom you are talking?  “Grow the business” is too broad. You need a strategy that guides your decisions and provides the focus that will allow you to succeed.

The same applies to the other four goals on this list. With whom do you want better relationships? What specifically must you do? When? How often? And what will you stop doing to create the time?

Better eating? What enables your less than desirable eating habits? Are you going to quit buying the foods you can’t resist? Do you have to replace the couch in front of the TV with a treadmill? Are there places you should not go anywhere near at certain times of the day? Do you need to learn more about nutrition or get a recipe book that doesn’t include a half stick of butter in every recipe? Think seriously about the habits, triggers, and obstacles to smart eating in your life and eliminate them one by one.

“Work out more” sounds like a drudge and a half. If you think of it that way, you are unlikely to do it. “Thin and trim” or “lean and mean” evoke a more compelling image for me. But again, you must understand what is preventing you from getting exercise and take action to remove those obstacles or to create new circumstances that support and motivate you. Furthermore, you must stop doing something. What will exercise replace in your limited daily hours?

“Work less” begs the ultimate what-will-you-stop-doing question. It hinges on having just a few priorities, outsourcing or delegating the things that must be done but don’t have to be done by you, dropping many “I really ought to” or “it would be nice if” tasks entirely, and devoting only the necessary time and energy to each task – no perfectionism, no second guessing, no frolicking in a desirable task. Focus, discipline, and the allocation of only as much time as each task deserves.

Avoid vague goals if you really want success. You need focus and specific, concrete steps in the right direction to make progress.