3 Steps to Creating Business Goals Without Overwhelm

Guest Post by Maegan Megginson

Do you ever feel like you’re too Sensitive to be a therapist and an entrepreneur? Do you have moments when you feel certain you’ll never have the energy, stamina, and motivation you need to achieve big business goals? 

As a Highly Sensitive Therapist and entrepreneur myself, I experience these moments of self-doubt regularly. It usually happens when I’m stalking other therapists on Instagram or connecting with non-sensitive therapists in coaching programs or mastermind groups. I see them hustling, working weekends, adding more projects to their already full schedules. I feel overwhelmed and exhausted just listening to them talk about their goals and to-do lists! All I want to do at that point is lock myself in a dark room and take a nap. 

Many people will read that and say, “Then go take a nap. Don’t worry about growing your business! You’re doing fine in private practice.” 

This is a sensible response. But what if you’re not satisfied with your private practice? What if you’re full of ambition and want to expand your services to create a business that is bigger and more profitable? What if you want to take naps and be a successful entrepreneur? 

The truth is that you can be Highly Sensitive and highly successful, but you have to stop using business growth strategies that are designed for non-sensitive entrepreneurs. 

I experience this dilemma every year when it’s time to set my annual business goals. There’s a common goal setting practice in the business world: You set big annual goals, break the annual goals into quarterly goals, and then work backwards to determine what tasks you need to accomplish daily, weekly, and monthly in order to bring those goals to fruition. 

I tried using this system for several years. I read all the productivity books, purchased an expensive quarterly planner system, and paid coaches to help me set actionable goals using this no-brainer approach to goal setting. 

Inevitably, year after year, I failed the system. I fell behind, got overwhelmed, changed my goals, and eventually threw my expensive planners in the garbage. I spent a lot of time beating myself up for not committing to the system, which fed into my limiting belief that I would never be a successful entrepreneur. 

I now understand that I didn’t fail because I wasn’t good enough. I failed because the system I was using wasn’t designed for highly sensitive entrepreneurs. 

It’s like I was pumping diesel fuel into my gasoline powered engine and then getting mad at my car for breaking down! I was trying to power my entrepreneurial system using the wrong fuel source.

I decided to completely transform the way I set goals for my business based on my needs and strengths as a sensitive entrepreneur. Below are my three goal-setting guidelines along with a downloadable step-by-step workbook to help you set achievable business goals as a Sensitive Therapist and entrepreneur. 

1: Create Goals Based on What You Want to Accomplish and How You Want to Feel 

The first thing I had to change was how I went about setting goals in the first place. For many therapist entrepreneurs, there is no rhyme or reason behind their business goals. Their goals are completely arbitrary!

Here’s how you know if your goal is arbitrary: If you told me your goal and I asked you why that was your goal, what would you say? If you’re not sure or have an answer that isn’t rooted in your own needs and values, then chances are you’ve got yourself an arbitrary goal. I’m warning you against this because arbitrary goals are not helpful for sensitive entrepreneurs. 

Here are a few arbitrary goals I’ve heard from entrepreneurs I’ve worked with this year: I want to earn six-figures this year. I want to open a group practice. I want to hire five new associates. I want to grow my email list to ten thousand people. I want to make a million dollars. 

Those goals sound pretty reasonable, right? They can absolutely be reasonable goals, but I knew they were arbitrary because the entrepreneur couldn’t identify a personal and compelling reason for setting that particular goal. 

If you’re in this situation, it’s worth examining what messages you’re digesting that lead you to set arbitrary goals in the first place. Are you comparing yourself to other entrepreneurs? Are you listening to too many “inspirational” business podcasts that tell you to reach for a certain number? Are you throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks? 

For Sensitive entrepreneurs, setting arbitrary, comparison-based, non-personal goals will put you on the fast track to burnout. We need goals that are rooted in our core values and connected to a larger purpose. 

I set value and purpose-driven goals by asking myself lots of questions about what I want to accomplish (for myself, my community, and the world at large) and how I want to feel after I’ve accomplished it. These questions help me craft clear goals and intentions that feel deeply personal and purposeful. These personal and purposeful goals are the fuel Sensitive entrepreneurs need to avoid overwhelm and burnout. 

2: Set Strategic Financial Goals Based on Your Personal Needs 

I’m not a martyr. I want to do good work in the world, and I want to make money while doing it. Fat profit margins are one of my favorite things! But I’ve learned that it is important to be realistic about how much money is enough. 

Many people get caught in the trap of believing that the more money they make, the happier they’ll be. Or they buy into the belief that 7-figure businesses are somehow superior to 6-figure businesses. Either way, they’re putting all of their effort into making more money without understanding why or knowing when it’s okay to stop. 

As a Highly Sensitive Person, not knowing when it’s okay to stop is pure torture. I don’t have a limitless supply of energy. I cannot keep pushing and pushing in service of building unlimited wealth. I need to know what number I’m working towards and why. I need to know when enough is enough. 

The first step is to get clear on your personal financial goals. I highly recommend investing in a relationship with a Certified Financial Planner. My CFP helps me set business revenue goals based on my personal financial goals. We talk about how much money I need to make in order for my personal dreams to be a reality. 

I’ve discovered that I don’t need to be a multi-millionaire in order to own a home, travel, save for retirement, and donate to causes I believe in.

Having a firm grasp on these numbers helps me set realistic business goals that feel manageable and achievable for my Highly Sensitive self. This means that I can have wealth I desire and be extraordinarily well-rested! That’s a Highly Sensitive entrepreneur win-win scenario. 

3: Create a Flexible Accountability System that Prioritizes Your Emotional and Physical Well-Being

Let’s circle back to the popular goal-setting formula I mentioned earlier. This is the system in which you set big, ambitious annual goals, and then work backward to plan your year around achieving those goals. This is diesel fuel to your gasoline engine. 

When I realized this didn’t work, I grabbed the pendulum and swung over to the opposite end of the spectrum: I stopped setting goals altogether. Seriously! In 2019 I didn’t have any clearly defined business goals and intentionally avoided setting quarterly markers for myself. I was curious to see what happened when I ditched the systems that felt stifling and oppressive. 

I felt instantly better. It was like taking a big, deep breath at the end of a hard yoga class. But by the end of 2019, I realized that my no-structure system wasn’t quite right either. I felt aimless and recognized that I was holding myself back from more systematic, intentional growth by not allowing myself to have any accountability systems in place. 

I felt like Goldilocks! The first system was too rigid, the next system was too soft. What I really needed was a new system right in the middle that would hopefully feel just right. 

I’ve discovered that what I need to succeed as a Highly Sensitive Therapist entrepreneur is a flexible system that prioritizes my emotional and physical wellbeing before entrepreneurial success. 

When I’m taking good care of myself, I have enough energy and motivation to work towards my business goals with ease. When I’m not taking care of myself, I get sucked under by a current of overwhelm and drown in the dark sea of burnout. 

I still am not setting annual business goals. It feels too rigid for me and leads to unnecessary pressure. But I have started setting clearly defined quarterly goals, with one caveat: I give myself full permission to amend, postpone, or delete my goals at any time. 

My emotional and physical wellbeing will always come first. If I need to postpone a goal to next quarter because I need to take a week off to recharge my batteries, so be it. If I need to amend my goal because the benchmark I set is feeling more oppressive than energizing, no problem! 

These flexible quarterly goals give me just enough structure to feel organized and purposeful without leading to overwhelm. 

Remember, Highly Sensitive Therapist entrepreneurs have different sensitivities, strengths, and needs. What works for me might not work for you. The key is that we’re supporting each other as we shake free of the systems and expectations that overwhelm us. 

I invite you to be curious about your own needs as you brainstorm the big, ambitious goals you want to achieve professionally. You can set goals that energize and inspire you within the limits of your sensitivity. You can be Highly Sensitive and highly successful. 

About Maegan Megginson, LMFT, LPC, CST

Maegan is a business consultant, licensed couples and sex therapist, group therapy practice owner, public speaker, and self-diagnosed business-building addict. As an introvert and highly sensitive person, Maegan is very familiar with the struggle that arises when your energetic limitations conflict with your desire to build the business you know you’re capable of creating. She has navigated her own limitations successfully and is proud of her two thriving service-based businesses. Maegan is passionate about helping her clients create businesses that enable them to live life with less stress, more joy, and financial abundance.