In 2023, I went from posting on LinkedIn once a month to twice a week. We closed hundreds of thousands of $ in annual revenue as a result (a story for another post). In this post, I’ll share a critical element in 9X’ing my posting volume: committing to this as a goal… and achieving it.
Here are my real-talk, no-magic tips for setting – and achieving – your goals in 2024.
1. Make your goals real by writing them down.
Use a system – can be as simple as a checklist to commit to and review your goals. At Blue Seedling, we use weekly, quarterly, and annual OKRs. It’s not perfect, but it works. To paraphrase Churchill, “it is the worst form of goal management, except all those other forms.” You can read more about how we implement OKRs here.
2. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.
Some of our team members really take to OKRs, and it shows – they accomplish more of their goals. They have the OKR spreadsheet constantly open in a browser tab. They update their OKRs every Friday. They discuss it with their manager frequently. There’s no magic, just consistently doing the work.
3. Yaniv Makover’s Cheesecake Rule 🍰 – a task can take you a quarter, or you can finish it Friday afternoon over coffee and a slice of cheesecake.
We might think something will take forever, when in fact the hardest part is getting started. Once we’re in the zone (with coffee and cake), it’s amazing how much we can achieve in an hour.
4. Start at the beginning of the week.
If you have a weekly goal – whether it’s practicing yoga or posting on LinkedIn once a week – aim for getting it done on Monday. To quote Yaniv again, “Start early.” Sounds simple – and it is. It increases the odds of actually getting it done every week (if something comes up Monday, you still have four more days). And it can lead to exceeding your goal – doing something twice (or more!) in some weeks.
5. Small things accumulate over time into something meaningful.
You’ll finish a 20-hour “GenAI for Marketers” course in a quarter if you invest 1.5 hours every week.
6. What’s the immediate next step?
Break down every big goal to get to the first step you can take tomorrow. “Close $420K of annual revenue from LinkedIn leads” sounds insurmountable. “Post twice a week on LinkedIn” is a doable first step (and ultimately led to that big goal).
7. Habits = magic.
The first time is painful. Heck, the first 10 times might be dreadful. But at some point, with consistency, you form a habit. It feels natural. It feels good! Posting weekly on LinkedIn becomes easy.
8. Last but not least: It’s ok to have a bad week, month, quarter, year.
We’re human. Life happens. Give yourself a break. Then get back on the saddle, one week at a time.
The bottom line
Committing to your goals doesn’t have to be rocket science, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The idea of year-long goals can be intimidating. But just like Yaniv’s cheesecake, if you keep in mind consistency, accountability, and initiative, you can make your 2024 goals one slice at a time – and look back at your results with pride at the end of the year.
