Difference Between Long Term And Short Term Goals of the Business!

Short-term And Long-Term Goals Examples

Every business wants to evolve and grow.
All businesses have an absolute dream and vision of their growth.
However, merely having a vision does not achieve anything.
Actionable steps have to be taken to achieve them.
This is why all businesses need to set up goals to achieve their dream.
Having a full-proof plan is necessary not just for growth but also to provide more clarity and reduce stress.
Primarily, there are two kinds of goals: short-term and long-term.
This article will highlight the differences between the two and how you can set both of them to grow your business.
Whether you are a freelancer, a CEO, a small business owner, or just thinking to start a business, this goal-setting article will help you.

A long-term Business goal, as the name suggests, is a goal that will take a long period to achieve.
These are generally set up for one year, five years, ten years, or even longer.
These are goals that require multiple things to be done to achieve.
Hence, they are set up for an extended period.
A long-term goal is the first step towards creating an action plan from the vision of a business.
A vital difference between a mission and a goal is that goals are more action-oriented and specific.
These tell you exactly what you want to achieve.
For example, if you run a business of sustainable products, your vision may be that you want to promote the usage of sustainable products.
However, there is no measurable way to evaluate if you are on the right path.
This is where setting up long-term goals is essential.
So your 5-year plan could be to make 1 million people switch to using sustainable products, while your 1-year plan could be to market your products to 200k people.
This gives you an idea about how you can measure and monitor your business.
Long-term goals give you a direction in which you should move forward.
Long-term goals are also a great way to reflect and check for the mistakes that your business may be making.

A short-term goal is one that can be achieved within a short period.
These are things that can be completed on a weekly or daily basis.
These goals are essential to stop the business from drifting away from their long-term goals and continuously work on them: short-term goals help break down your long-term goals into small tasks.
Short term goals help you in making a plan for your everyday functioning and distributing work within your team.
Picking from the example given above, to achieve your one-year goal of reaching 200k people, you will have to ensure that you have an excellent social media presence.
Thus, your short-term goal could be to make one post every day on social media to grow your business.
Therefore, eventually repeating and following the short-term goals will ensure that you ultimately reach your long-term goal.
Short-term goals are necessary to keep a check and balance on an everyday basis.
It is essential to continuously evaluate your business so that you are in touch with your goals.
Often, companies set up long-term goals, but because they fail to set up short-term goals, it is only after five years that they realise that they have been unable to achieve their goals.
This is not good for any business, so it is better to regularly check and stay on track.

You must have understood by now the basics of short-term and long-term goals.
Now, let us see how they are different from each other and how they affect your business.
These differences will help you to prepare better and manage your goals.

This is one of the most apparent differences between the two.
Long-term goals require continuous effort for a long time for them to be achieved.
However, short-term goals can be accomplished within a short period.

Both short-term and long-term goals are meant to have an actionable plan.
Goals without a plan are only dreams.
However, short-term goals have much more actionability as compared to long term goals.
Merely looking at a short-term goal will give you clarity as to what steps you need to take.
However, the same is not the case with long-term goals.
These will give you an action plan indirectly and will require you to rely on the short-term goals.

Both short-term and long-term goals are equally important for a business to grow and function smoothly.
Only setting a short-term goal will make your business directionless.
So while you may be completing everyday activities, there is still no endpoint for you to look at.
This means that you will not have any measure to evaluate whether your short term actions are being beneficial for your long-term goals or not.
On the other hand, only having long-term goals will not help you work towards them on a daily basis.
So it is vital to break down your goals into small chunks to get a more detailed action plan.
Thus, both goals are essential for your business, and one cannot be achieved without the other.

SMART Goals- This is one of the most popular goal-setting techniques. SMART, which standards for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, explains how one must frame their goals and what aspects should be kept in mind to achieve them. Preparing your goals SMARTly is essential because it determines the way everyone in your business functions.
Review: Reviewing your progress is very important for businesses to keep growing. All business goals need to be reviewed repeatedly to check for any failures or problems that may be occurring. Sometimes, our goals and strategies may not be full-proof. Only a full review will help in understanding that. So to keep growing, you must be reviewing your progress strategically.
Shared Goals: Goals should not be limited to the owners and founders of a business. It would be best if you shared them with all the employees and people related to the business. This will ensure your entire team is working with the same goal in mind. This also brings a sense of belongingness within the group, which is very important for a business's effective functioning.
Flexibility: The year 2020 has taught us that uncertainties can always come up and completely change our plans. Thus, it is still essential to be prepared for such uncertainties. So your goals must always have a backup and provide a certain degree of flexibility to be adjusted according to the situation.

Goal setting and planning is the determining factor in how businesses grow and function.
So, ensure that you are setting perfect long-term and short-term goals and working towards them every day.
Growing a business can be stressful, and overtime drains your passion for it.
The best way to combat this stress is to plan and be prepared.
An organised structure helps every business to remain focused and promote innovation.
We hope this motivates you to set and crush your business goals.
Don't forget to reward yourself and your team for every small milestone you achieve!