Jan
2
It’s a new year, and time for the ever popular New Years resolutions. Well, to be honest with you, I’m not a big fan of making resolutions. People make a big deal over making a promise to themselves and everyone else that they most likely won’t keep. I do, however, think the new year is a great time to look back at how you did in reaching your goals for the year, and to assess what adjustments you need to make for the coming year.
If you haven’t set yearly goals, you should. Having goals to work toward will help keep you focused, and keep your efforts moving forward.
There have been volumes written about how to write goals, so one blog post really doesn’t do justice to the subject. This is just an overview to get you started.
Look at the Big Picture
Start by looking at your end result; what is it you really want to accomplish. Don’t limit yourself by setting too many limits on what is possible. Think in terms of what it is that you really want to accomplish. One of the biggest mistakes people make when setting goals is to put too many restrictions on what is possible. While it is important to make your goal achievable, setting your goal too low is a huge mistake. While earning $1 Million in AdSense revenue with your startup blog in the next three months might not be feasible, setting a goal of earning a dollar a day is hardly worth the effort of setting the goal.
In the steps that follow, you break down that goal into more achievable chunks; right now the important thing is to set that final goal. This is your target. This is what all of the following steps will be leading you toward.
How Do You Eat an Elephant?
The analogy that’s often used in goal setting is, how do you eat an elephant? The answer is, one bite at a time.
After you’ve set your long term goal, you will need to break it down into smaller pieces that are easier to achieve. For instance, if your big goal is something you would like to achieve in one years time, you can break the goal down into 12 monthly goals. Then each monthly goal could be broken down even further into weekly and daily tasks that lead you toward achieving your big goal.
Your monthly goals are used as a measuring stick so you can track your progress along the way. Each month you can take stock of where you are compared to your monthly goals, and then make adjustments to your daily and weekly tasks to get yourself back on track.
For Instance…
For instance, let’s say your goal is to reach an income of $1,000 per month from your blog. You will need to decide what you need to do to attain that goal. You first month’s goal may be to determine what methods you will use to generate income. The second month’s goal may be to reach a level of $100 income for the month.
Your daily and weekly tasks would include writing posts, and taking steps to build traffic to your blog. You could set tasks of commenting on a certain number of blogs, or interacting on social network sites. It could also mean visiting forums each day promoting your work.
When you take care of doing the daily and weekly tasks, you move closer to your goal on a daily basis. If you reach the end of the month, and find that you have fallen short of your goal, you can readjust your daily tasks so that the next month you do reach your goals. You may need to post more often, or do more networking and commenting.
Having a goal helps keep your efforts grounded. You aren’t chasing the latest fads, or constantly changing your game plan before you give the existing plan a chance to work.
One last bit of advice; put your goal in writing. Experts have found that written goals have a much greater chance of success than unwritten goals. Writing your goal reinforces the idea in you subconscious mind, and you are not as likely to abandon the plan.
Forget the resolutions. Set a goal, and then develop a plan to reach that goal. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish.
I set a goal for 2008 for Darin.CC … Good post for me to follow!
Thanks
Darin
Indeed, a lot of people set goals this time of year and leave it at that. While setting the right goals is important, having the ability and determination to work towards reaching them is definitely a must.
Alan Johnson
Very good post Jim. I think it very important to set goals. It gives you something to work towards. Just remember to set realistic goals… it’s much easier to stay motivated if you actually have a shot at reaching the finish line.
Just finding something to work towards is not the issue, you have to find the right things to work towards. Without the right goals, the only thing time management will do for you is help you walk down the wrong path faster
Alan Johnson
Good point. I was going under the assumption that we know what we want, but in reality that isn’t always the case. That’s another topic for another day.
Actually, a lot of our goals represent things we think we want. Seeing the big picture and asking ourselves if reaching a certain goal would actually be worth it is definitely a must.
Alan Johnson
Great post. I can’t wait for 2008! I’ve set the bar pretty high for myself with my personal endeavor and I can’t wait to work my butt off to reach them!
Wait a tic - “can’t wait”? What am I saying! I’m in the midst of doing all the hard work now!
Some more advice, keep a diet goal only to yourself, or do the opposite and join up with a support group, but if you tell your friends you are dieting they watch you like a hawk and point out every time you eat something they don’t approve of, maddening!
You don’t have to make your goals only at the New Year’s, and it isn’t a crime to change your goals if a better one makes more sense.
Also, don’t overdo it, perhaps 5 goals is enough, if you make 10 or 20 goals there is no way you are going to achieve them, much less remember what they are.
And last of all….get advice for goals you need help with, go to the experts, someone who has already achieved that goal, or a book written by someone who is an expert at your goal. That way you are not thrashing around in the dark not knowing what you are doing.
Great Article!
All good advice. Your goals do need t be achievable, but not necessarily easy to achieve. If the goal no longer makes sense for you or your situation, by all means adjust.
The one thing I would add about making your goals known deals with the issue of accountability. If others are aware of your goals they will help hold you accountable. Some people really need that extra accountability to keep them on track. That doesn’t have t be friends and family, but there should be someone who knows what you are trying to achieve.