Donald Deibler has formalized a personal policy that he says keeps his two food and beverage operations moving in the same direction: no goal counts unless it is written down first. The approach, which he has used for years, involves setting yearly goals every January 1 and monthly goals at the start of each month, keeping both lists visible to guide daily decisions. "I like to set yearly goals every January 1st and monthly goals at the beginning of every month," Deibler said. "I keep these in the back of my mind daily." The discipline, he notes, is in the follow-through.
Deibler's policy matters because it offers a replicable method for managing the unpredictable demands of small-business ownership. As business manager of All Stars Ice Cream and Cafe Bakery and a supporter of his wife's ownership of Dead Horse Beer and Burritos, he operates in an environment where days rarely look the same twice. A written goal, he explains, is something he can return to when the schedule gets noisy, breaking a large yearly target into monthly steps so it never feels like one overwhelming task. "By taking everything one task at a time," is how he describes handling moments of doubt.
The monthly goal is not a smaller copy of the yearly one but a specific step toward it. On January 1, the year's goal is written down in full; on the first of each month, a smaller, specific goal is added underneath it; daily, both stay visible enough to shape decisions. Deibler measures success in plain terms: "By accomplishing your goals and exceeding past that." There is no external scorecard involved; he checks his own list against his own results. The habit of setting new goals is also how he keeps growing once an old goal is met. "By setting new goals," he says when asked what continued growth looks like. Nothing about the policy assumes an endpoint.
The standard applies across both businesses, which sometimes have overlapping goals. Deibler credits his family for shaping his approach to structure. "My family, including my parents and siblings," is who he names as his biggest influence. Growing up with five siblings in Donaldson, Pennsylvania, meant learning early how to divide attention across more than one priority without losing track of any of them. Outside the businesses, the same habit shows up in his commitments to the community, including local youth sports donations and volunteer coaching, work that also runs on a calendar rather than good intentions alone.
Deibler is direct about what makes the policy work rather than fail. "Hard work and a positive attitude," he said, are the qualities he considers most important. Neither shows up on a to-do list, but both determine whether the list gets finished. He also gauges his success "by my own standards," whether that is a monthly goal for the bakery or a longer-term plan for the burrito business. The written-goal habit is not a marketing device; it is the same operating rhythm Deibler has used across both operations for years, now made explicit for anyone who asks how he keeps two food and beverage businesses moving in the same direction.
