Mid-Year Goal Setting

The second half of the year is here - the perfect time to reflect, reassess, and create goals to finish out this year strong. Mid-year goal setting is the opportunity to refresh your previous goals made at the beginning of the year. Reflecting on previous goals, setting new ones, and breaking down the steps to get you to them are integral parts of hitting targets, and we're going to explain how to do it.

Reflection on Previous Goals

The first step in setting your mid-year goals is to reflect on your original goals from the first half of the year. Ask yourself key questions that reflect on your progress this far. Some good questions to ask yourself are:

• What were your goals/ resolutions at the start of the year?

• Did you achieve or make progress towards the goals you set?

• What are you looking for or continuing to improve as a stylist? 

• If goals did not go to plan, how can you make adjustments to reach these goals this time?

Reflection is so important in goal setting and progress checking because it requires accountability and honesty with yourself to narrow down what you truly want. By sitting down and reflecting on previous goals, you can begin to understand more of what you would like to accomplish and what adjustments are needed to further your goals.

Setting and Revisiting Goals

The next step in goal setting is to actually set your goals and possibly revisit previous ones. After reflecting, you should have an idea of your success rate in achieving your original goals as well as what changes need to be made. For the goals you have achieved, congratulations! It is time to make new goals or continue working on the ones you already have. While setting new goals, make sure they are achievable and relevant, and that you are specific when creating them to be able to track your progress! For example, here are some ideas for goals as a hairstylist.

• Client Growth - Get X amount of new clients to become regular clients by X date

• Retail Sales Growth - Sell X amount of retail product in X amount of time

• Skill Development - Enroll in at least one course to improve my skills by X date

• Consistent Marketing - Post X number of times a week 

You can have many goals at once, but make sure not to overwhelm yourself with too many, which could lead to a feeling of discouragement and overwhelm, holding yourself back from achieving any of them. When revisiting goals, take note of what you think you did well, what you could improve on, and adjust accordingly.

Steps to Achieving

The last thing to do is break down your steps toward achievement. When creating your goals, it is important to be specific so that when you are breaking down your steps to success, you can be precise in how they will help you to succeed. For example, let's say your goal is to post more content about your work as a hairstylist. It would be easy to say, “Well, I’m just going to be better at it!” but it might not get you to your goal because there are no guidelines to assist you. Instead, break it down into smaller steps like: “First, I am going to make a social posting schedule for each platform I need to post on. Then I am going to adjust my schedule to make more time for creating content during appointments. Lastly, I will set reminders on my phone or in my planner to post according to my schedule.” This makes your goal much easier to achieve because you have already figured out exactly how you are going to hit each milestone - now you just have to do it! Creating your steps to achievement can ultimately make goal setting easier and help you adjust your routine to make the end of this year the best one yet.