If You Want Big Results, Set Big Goals

What are your 2X, 5X, or 10X goals? What are you working on that you want to improve significantly over a period of time? Without setting significant personal or business goals, it becomes difficult to achieve anything more than incremental improvements. And even that can be difficult.

Is it luck that there are printing companies experiencing a +20% growth rate over the last few years, and are continuing to grow at that same pace today? Or how about the organizations that will surpass last years’ revenue level before the end of the summer? Or maybe your goals are attached to driving out unnecessary touches to jobs going through your plant. What impact would it have if you could eliminate 10, 20, or 50% of the non-value added touches your jobs have every day? I wouldn’t say achieving these goals doesn’t also involve a bit of luck, but I will say those who achieve them had set very aggressive goals and were chipping away at them, one milestone, one day at a time.

These same companies don’t take anything for granted, and they run into the same adversities everyone else does. They are not immune to the paper and supply issues, staffing issues, and client expectation issues that have created headwinds for this industry. One difference is they are laser focused and work together as a team at trying to overcome them.

My point is that there are some of your peers that are experiencing extreme success. Why shouldn’t you be part of that narrative? There are no silver bullets here, and I am not making light of the difficult work it takes to achieve these accomplishments.

It takes setting the goals, identifying the obstacles currently in front of you, and coming up with a plan that you can execute to achieve your objective. It takes relentless execution on a daily basis. It takes utilizing your technology and your staff to its fullest, and not taking shortcuts. It takes addressing the impediments that come your way head on. And it’s having those difficult discussions lessor organizations seem to always put off.

Throughout every day of running your business, you have to make choices. Some folks are making the choice to play to their fullest potential, grow the business for years to come, and to create a sustainable legacy for those that follow. We all know that bigger isn’t always better, and this isn’t for everyone. But, growth does create opportunities. These opportunities can benefit all the stakeholders of the organization, and can make it an attractive place people will want to be part of — as an employee, a customer, and a supplier.

If you have questions or additional insight into this topic, please comment below or reach out to me directly.