German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said that thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and putting one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world. That may be why so few business owners follow through on their goals, let alone write them down. If someone offered to teach you how to improve your business by a factor of ten, you would take the class. Writing goals down is close to that. The question for every construction owner in January is the same: do you have written goals for the year ahead?
The evidence for writing goals down is startling. In 2006, USA Today reported a study of people who made New Year’s resolutions. Researchers split them into two groups: those who wrote their resolutions down and those who did not. After 12 months, only 4 percent of the non-writers had followed through, while 44 percent of the writers had completed their resolutions, a difference of more than 1,000 percent.
Construction people already understand the word setting in a different context. Concrete has an initial setting time and a final setting time that decide when a crew can finish a slab, and goals have their own timing: a start date, a review date, and a completion date. Write those dates down and the goal behaves like a magnet, pulling the work toward it. Leave them in your head and the goal stays a wish.
Why Written Goals Beat Mental Ones
Writing forces specifics. A mental goal says sell more sheds. A written goal says sell 240 sheds, 20 per month, 5 per week, at an average price of $12,000. The second version tells the owner exactly what to do on Monday morning. Setting long-term goals in a construction business follows the same logic as strategic planning on a project: define the finish line, then work backward to the first step.
Jim Rohn said that goals are like a magnet; they pull you toward them if you keep them in front of you. Written goals stay in front of you. Post them in the office, on the shop wall, and at home. Read them on Monday before the phone starts ringing and again on Friday before the crew leaves.
The study result holds up in business settings because writing changes behavior, not just memory. A goal on paper forces a number, a date, and an owner. Goals without those three things are slogans. One shed builder has written down goals for four straight years, keeping it simple: the number of sheds sold and the dollar volume. The act of writing forces the owner to decide how many customers must be reached and how many money-making activities happen daily to beat the previous year.
The Five Categories
Break goals into specific categories so one part of life does not crowd out the rest: family, faith, financial, fitness, and business. The business category is the focus for an owner, but the other four keep the owner healthy enough to run the company. Pick two to three simple goals in each category, not ten.
| Category | Sample goal | Daily or weekly action | Measurement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business | Sell 20 sheds per month | 3 customer check-in calls daily | Signed contracts |
| Financial | Keep 12 weeks of overhead in cash | Friday bank review | Cash floor met |
| Fitness | Exercise 3 times per week | Schedule sessions Sunday night | Sessions completed |
| Family | One unplugged evening weekly | Block the calendar | Evenings kept |
Break Goals Into Daily and Weekly Steps
A goal without steps is a slogan. Break each goal into actions you will do daily or weekly, then schedule those actions into a planner that shows days, weeks, and months. One builder’s goal was a set number of prospecting calls each week, and the calls were scheduled like crew hours, untouchable once the week started. The planner does the remembering, so the owner’s energy goes into the calls, not into recalling what the plan was.
The same discipline applies to every target a company sets. Teams that treat setting goals as a documented process, including energy and environmental targets for the buildings they construct, complete them at far higher rates than teams that rely on memory. Building science publishers such as BuildingGreen offer practical frameworks for goals that reach beyond revenue, covering performance and sustainability.
- Choose one evening each week; Sunday night works well.
- Open the planner and schedule every money-making activity first: calls, estimates, follow-ups.
- Schedule the fixed commitments: payroll, supplier orders, site visits.
- Add personal goals so they survive the week.
- Close the week by marking what got done and moving what did not.
Scheduling the Money-Making Activities
Prospecting calls produce the work; everything else supports them. One owner’s goal is to call three customers daily to check on them and ask for referrals. Planned on Sunday night, that action reaches 18 customers for referrals by Friday, and the referrals become next month’s backlog.
The Sunday Night Plan
Thirty minutes on Sunday replaces thirty decisions during the week. The planner becomes the source of truth, so Monday starts with execution instead of deciding what to do. When the week gets chaotic, the owner returns to the plan instead of improvising.
Keep Score and Course Correct
Writing activities down is a reminder, but marking them off is the engine. A checklist lets you assess each week and spot the area where you are underperforming. Why wait until December to discover the business drifted? Corrections work best weekly. The scorecard is not a performance review of the owner; it is a compass.
Surveyors start every foundation by setting out the building plan on ground before a single shovelful moves. Goal setters do the same on paper: set out the weekly actions, check them against the plan, and adjust next week’s coordinates.
The Weekly Scorecard
- Prospecting calls made versus planned
- Estimates sent and follow-ups completed
- Jobs booked against the monthly target
- Collections received versus the receivables list
- Personal goals checked off, not just business ones
The Jet Correction
A jet taking off is aimed at its destination, but winds push it off course for most of the flight. The pilot corrects continuously and still lands on time. A business plan works the same way: the written goal is the destination, and the weekly review is the correction. Small adjustments every week beat a dramatic overhaul in December. The correction is easiest when the scorecard is current; a month of missing marks takes longer to reverse than a single bad week.
Build a Foundation That Holds
Goals without daily habits rest on sand. A review system rests on a strong foundation: fixed review times, visible scorecards, and someone to answer to.
The builder who reviews numbers every Friday catches a margin problem in week three. The builder who reviews once a quarter discovers it in month nine. Review cadence is the difference between steering and hoping. Set the review times in the same calendar the jobs live in, and treat them like client meetings.
Post the scorecard where the crew can see it. Public goals carry a different weight than private ones, and crews work differently when they know the target for the month.
The Quarterly Review
Every 90 days, compare actual results to the written goals. Celebrate what is done, rewrite what is not, and check whether the original goal still makes sense. Markets change; the goal can change with them, but only on purpose, never by drift.
Pair Goals With Capacity
A sales goal of 20 sheds a month means nothing without the capacity to build them. Pair each business goal with a check of labor available, material lead times, and cash to fund the work. A goal that outruns capacity is a plan for overtime and stress.
Scheduling the Work of the Goals
The importance of scheduling in construction projects is well documented: crews, materials, and equipment must arrive together or the job stalls. The owner’s action plan deserves the same respect. The planner is the schedule, and the weekly review is the progress meeting.
Block the year at the top: busy season, slow season, vacations, and the annual goal-setting session. Then block the months, the weeks, and finally the days. Work expands to fill the time available unless the time is already assigned. The annual goal-setting session belongs on the calendar like a permit deadline, because it is the meeting that sets every other meeting in motion.
From Written Words to Finished Work
Every structure begins with excavation for foundation, the digging that nobody sees and every wall depends on. Written goals are that excavation for a business. The December writing session, the Sunday planning nights, and the Friday scorecards are unglamorous, and they are exactly what the 44 percent do that the 4 percent do not.
Start smaller than feels impressive: two or three goals per category, written on one page, visible in the office and at home. Schedule the first weekly planning session for Sunday night. Keep score from week one. The difference between a wish and a goal is a written deadline, and the difference between a goal and a finished year is a weekly review.