Goal Setting Is the Fast Lane to Success
When I first decided to get into an online business, I became so
excited that I worked day and night to get everything set up and
ready to go. I put everything else aside and developed a kind of
tunnel vision of what I wanted from my home based marketing
efforts.
I put aside time from leisure activities and put a lot of things
in my life on hold to create sufficient time for my business.
I'd say if you're in this for the long haul like I am, you've
done likewise.
But now that you've developed tunnel vision and found more time
for your business, how do you get the most from that time? The
best thing I've found is what the best business people both on
and off the Internet do: set, meet, and maintain goals towards
success.
If you're wondering what this is all about or how to go about
it, here's what to do.
Set goals at three levels and try to stick to them. The three
levels are long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals.
Long-term goals reflect how much you'd like to increase your
income and how soon. Make those decisions and memorize them. Put
your business on a time line and follow it day by day.
In order to avoid disaster that could put you out of business,
be careful in selecting the business opportunities you're going
to pursue. Don't bite off more than you can chew by joining
every affiliate plan presented to you.
Limit yourself to no more than three at the beginning. Be very
selective, making sure that those you're involved in balance
each other, hold to a specific theme, or belong to one business
type.
The long-term goals determine mid-term ones. How much do you
have to make per week, per month, every six months, to achieve
the long-term goals?
After answering these questions make up your time line, using a
sheet of paper. Draw a line at the left all the way down the
paper. Divide the line into twelve months with hash marks. Label
the hash marks by the month.
To make sure you are working towards you're goals post them on
small notes on your computer, around the house, and in your car.
Find places you'll be likely to see them - on the bathroom
mirror, the frig, the TV, and the car dashboard.
Now choose your short-term goals - the daily and weekly ones.
Make up a "to-do today" list and a "to-do tomorrow" list. Check
yourself regularly to make sure items on these lists get the
attention they need and are completed each day. At the end of
the week, check off your weekly goals.
Okay, now you've met your goals, so what? Well, meeting your
goals should make you feel very good, and you should highlight
that with some kind of reward system.
We all know we can't spend the profits of our work before we
even make them. It is indeed possible and appropriate to meet
goals before we make money. However, what profits we do make
need to go right back into the business as advertising, new
software, web hosting, and the like.
But we can reward ourselves when we meet certain goals. Short-
term and mid-term goals can be rewarded non-monetarily.
For completing a short-term task that's been haunting you
lately, don't go out to eat. Rather, have a nutritious snack,
watch a TV show, or read your favorite section of the newspaper.
For mid-range goals met, go to Ebay and price a set of golf
clubs, let's say, or look at car ads. Perhaps you could get out
photos from a recent vacation and dream of your return to the
spot. Use photos instead of notes posted as reminders of meeting
your goals.
Long-term rewards can be monetary, but don't break the bank.
Hold off on making any major purchases out of your profits until
later. Instead, take the family out to eat at a moderately
priced restaurant, go to a football or hockey game, or have
friends over for cards and snacks.
Keep your tunnel vision active by chipping away at your goals.
Remember, short-term, mid-term, long-term goals are the avenue
to success.