Imagine hopping into your car without a set destination. You’d probably end up circling around aimlessly, wasting fuel without making much progress. Yet, many fitness and wellbeing business owners do this in their businesses, they have vague goals but lack a clear destination. Setting your “destination” in business terms is the first step to real progress.
When we enter a postcode into a satnav, we don’t see the entire route right away. We trust the device to guide us step-by-step. In the same way, setting a clear goal or “postcode” in your business is essential for growth. Here’s why defining that destination, and letting go of needing to know every detail of the journey straight away, is so important.
Why Setting the Destination Matters
- When you know where you’re going, daily tasks and projects become easier to prioritise: every action has a meaning.
- Without a clear goal, you may feel like you’re working constantly without seeing results. But with a destination, you can see each step as progress, reducing stress and keeping burnout at bay.
- Hitting smaller targets within your bigger goal gives you a reason to celebrate, building confidence along the way and helping to maintain your motivation.
The ‘How’ Trap
One of the most common blocks for business owners is obsessing over how they’ll reach their “postcode.” This often leads to analysis paralysis, a place where you’re so caught up in details that you struggle to make meaningful progress.
You don’t need to know every step. Just like the satnav, trust that some aspects of the journey will become clear only as you move forward. Consider it also the time to let go of perfection. The fear of not doing things “the right way” often holds us back. Remember, there’s no single path to success; your journey may look different from others, and that’s okay.
Setting the Destination: Practical Steps
- Define your ‘postcode’. Identify your main goal for the next year, such as getting to 200 members or launching a new service or working one less day a week while maintaining the same turnover and income.
- Outline broad steps, not minute details. Think of your business roadmap as a series of check points. The details can unfold as you take action. Many small business owners go wrong here and try to put in highly detailed steps before they’ve set the destination – watch out for that!
- Revisit your destination regularly, especially as your business grows. Check in monthly or quarterly to ensure your destination is still relevant.
The final part to all of this is trusting the journey – you’ve got to have a little faith. It is about surrendering some control and believing that you’ll reach your goal/postcode. This doesn’t mean ignoring setbacks; it means seeing them as part of the path.
It’s important to stay open to adjustments. A missed turn and the satnav recalculates the route. In business, unexpected bumps or failures should be seen as rerouting, not a failure of the journey.
Progress often takes longer than we’d like so focus on consistency not speed – remember consistent doesn’t mean constant before you start over-working and being a busy fool.
And running through all of this to set you for success is a growth mindset; it is your best ally on this journey. Instead of viewing challenges as roadblocks, see them as signs that you’re moving forward. Adopting this mindset helps you stay adaptable and motivated, even when progress seems slow. The new year is the perfect time to set your business destination but you can choose to do it any time – this is your business and your rules. Trust that, like a good satnav, your actions and adjustments will guide you towards that postcode/goal/intention, even if the path isn’t always straightforward.
Until next time,
Best wishes
Philippa x