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This time of year, businesses and individuals alike are setting aside time to think about the future and set goals. If you’ve done this in the past, you know that setting goals is the easy part… but executing a plan to achieve those goals - every quarter, every month, every week, every day - is the hard part. Working for Rhythm Systems for over a decade, I’ve learned a few things about what it takes to stick to the plan to achieve those dreams and goals for the future.
Start with a Solid Plan - A Focused Set of SMART Goals
I know, I know… you’ve heard this before! It’s been around for ages. What’s different in 2026 is the technology to make this part easier than ever before. If you want help making your goals more Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound, then check out our SMART goal writer. It can turn a vague idea into a clearly-written action statement with the click of a button… and one more click generates a set of measurable success criteria to help you ensure you’re aligned around specific outcomes.
Break Goals Down into Milestone Tasks
Once you’ve got the goals set and aligned, you’ve got to shift to tactical execution - who is going to do what by when. Setting clear milestones for each goal on your list is key - even if you can’t identify every step involved in achieving a goal, you should start by breaking down the first 3-5 tasks to get started.
In addition to a task list you can easily refer to a checkoff, I recommend adding these specific steps to your calendar. This ensures the day-to-day won’t get in the way of achieving your goals by blocking off time to do the work to get there. This is why we built our calendar integration with Outlook and Google - to keep the tasks and meetings in Rhythm top of mind and the workflow of your week.
Get into a Collaboration Rhythm
Having an accountability buddy - or a team of them - is another popular way to stay on track with your goals. Establishing the habit of updating your goal progress weekly - and sharing it with your team - is key to successful execution.
We recommend weekly updates because this gives you time to make adjustments along the way. Weekly team meetings are most effective when the time is used for celebrating victories and brainstorming on stuck goals. The collective intelligence of the team can help move problems forward, and we can all learn from each other when we’re having success with a goal.
The Rhythm software provides a proven best practice agenda and framework for a great team meeting - focused on the right discussions to keep the plan on track for success.
Remember the Vision
Motivation is a critical component of successful execution. If you and your team don’t see the big picture of where you want to go in the future - the ultimate why for those goals, you’ll be less likely to keep showing up when the going gets tough. This is why our software has robust capabilities to link goals up to strategy and simple visuals to tell the story of how goals are connected.
There’s no substitute for showing up, rolling up your sleeves, and getting the work done, but these execution tips should set you up for success and keep you going strong toward your goals all year long!
