Setting impactful goals as a Founder CEO

Female Founder CEOs like us often set business and personal goals to address the aspects of our lives that we think ‘need improvement’ to feel happier, more fulfilled, and get more out of life.

Don’t focus solely on the negatives. Goals that build on positive foundations are equally as important.

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Make changes to be happy and at your best as a founder CEO, but also in other aspects of your life. Spend more time doing the things you care about for a balanced lifestyle.

Reconnect with what matters

When you’re goalsetting for the year ahead, don’t set vague and lofty resolutions. Ask yourself what matters to you and dig deep into why. Then consider how to create more opportunities to achieve these moments of joy.

Appreciative Inquiry

“A strengths-based model of self-determined change. It focuses on what’s working, rather than what’s not working, and leads people to codesign their future.” – PositivePsychology.com

Three reflective questions

Plot a timeline of your life over the last year. Mark on it the key events, achievements, occasions, or memorable moments. These may be personal, family, business, or related to your role as a founder CEO.

Looking at your timeline, ask yourself:

1. When have I felt most happy?

What were you doing? Who were you with? What was it specifically that brought on that happy feeling?

How could you create more happy occasions like these the next year?

2.   When am I at my best?

What situations did you thrive in this year? What was happening and how did you respond? What were the outcomes? What is it about you that meant you thrived? What strengths did you draw on and what was it about the situation that drew these strengths from you?

How can you set up your life and your work to use your strengths and be at your best more often?

3.   When have I felt driven to action?

Can you remember an occasion when you were driven into action? What was the subject of this occasion? What was it about that subject that was important to you? How did this drive impact the decisions you made and the actions you took?

How can you harness that drive as a force for good in the next 12 months?

A personal case study

Asking these questions allows you to gain perspective and redefine success, for you and your startup, by reconnecting with what’s important. Here are my answers:

When do I feel happy?

My happiest moments in the last year were adventurous days out with extended family and friends. We came up with fun ideas, researched, saved the date, and made it an occasion.

Why? The occasions were adventurous but well planned so there was no drama. We booked in advance and got excited about it. We were ‘all in’ when we were there. It felt special to have an adventure with more people than my immediate family. The days were thoughtfully designed to ‘treat’ certain individuals – it felt good to do that and see them happy. I was creating memories and deepening the connection with people who are important to me.

When am I at my best?

I’ve had some moments of feeling ‘in the zone’ in the last year. Focused, energised, capably delivering on the task at hand – whether that’s opening the conversation for a networking group, founder coaching conversations with clients, or writing about what I’ve been learning.

Why? These were roles where I got to contribute and support rather than lead. I got to think deeply - which I love doing - and be exposed to new ideas and contribute to others thinking. I got to support others to achieve their goals, drawing on my knowledge, experience, and strengths such as compassion and curiosity.

When have I felt really driven to action?

Going public with Aata, I felt very focused and driven. 

Why? I hired someone to help me, we set a deadline and I got clear that the work I’m doing is much bigger than me. My mission is simple: to show female founder CEOs that business coaching is an option for them.

Founder coaching is needed more than ever, to support founders in their ability to grow so their businesses can grow, and to lead with resilience through complexity. The world continues to get more complex and unpredictable. Entrepreneurs today require the resilience and capability to bring a new concept to market in these conditions. They can learn to lead on the job - but when so much is at stake as a founder, having a business coach will increase the chances of success.

Big picture, I see the power that commerce wields, and believe that it is the fastest route to creating positive social and environmental change in the world.

As a founder coach to the next generation of business leaders, I’m doing my part to create a world I'm proud to hand on to my children.  

Connect with the joy in life

Whatever you set your sights on in the year ahead, use your newly acquired knowledge to create opportunities to draw on your strengths, be at your best, and engage in the things that energise you.

Need some outside perspective?

At times, it can be difficult to see the woods from the trees when looking at your own business and personal performance. Especially when you’re not quite sure what it is you’re looking for.

Sometimes, an impartial outsider looking in can give you the clarity you need to move forward.

Aata’s Leadership Check-in is an excellent place to begin your founder coaching journey. It’s a diagnostic tool designed to build your confidence in your own abilities as a female founder CEO, and empower you to take the steps you need to grow personally and professionally.

It all starts with a chemistry call - book yours today to find out more.