How To Set Goals And Achieve Success In 2013

You’ve probably heard the popular quote “If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.” Perhaps you set some big goals for 2012 but then lost sight of them as you became busy trying to achieve them.

Building and running a business online requires a lot of discipline especially if you’re doing it all yourself. Often times you may feel overwhelmed because you need to continually build and market your website. Some of these things may include content writing, search engine optimization, link building, video marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click management, split testing web pages, writing a press release, podcasting, bookkeeping, publishing a newsletter, etc. These activities could easily occupy a full time marketing staff but because you can’t afford to hire employees you do it all yourself.

So let’s ask you some important questions.

• How do you prevent being in the same situation in your business as the previous year?
• What type of goals should you make?
• How do you make SMART goals?
• How do you create a plan to achieve your goals?

1. How do you prevent being in the same situation in your business as the previous year?

Spend some time reflecting on the things that didn’t get accomplished last year so you don’t make the same mistakes in the upcoming year.

Create 3 columns on a piece of paper and enter these 3 headings
Failures, Why It Happened, Corrective Actions.

Example

• Failure: Unable to complete writing and publishing ebook
• Why It Happened: Too busy working on other projects
• Correction Action: Spend 30 minutes each day writing content until the ebook has been completed

2. What type of goals should you make?

Your lofty goal should be your most important one. Often this is called BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal).

Example
“I want to generate enough passive income to be able to travel anywhere at anytime without worrying about where my money is coming from.”

Picture what type of life you want to have if you achieve your goals. Your monetary goals should simply be a byproduct of the life you want to lead.

Avoid just setting up business goals because there are other areas of your life that are just as or more important to you. Some of these may include:

• Family: Spend time with wife and kids
• Church: Attend church every week
• Charity: Give monthly donation to your favorite charity
• Community: Contribute time each month to a local club or organization
• Health: Work out for 30 minutes each day.

If you put all your eggs in one basket (investing only in your business) it will have a detrimental effect on other areas of your life (ie not giving attention to your family).

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3. How do you make SMART goals?

Every destination needs a road map how to get there. If you don’t follow directions you’ll never reach your destination.

To make goals you’ll achieve they need to be S.M.A.R.T

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Actionable
R – Realistic
T – Timed

Example
If I want to write an ebook my S.M.A.R.T goal would be “I want to create an ebook by writing for 30 minutes each day for 30 days.” The goal is specific (30 days), measurable (30 minutes), actionable (do it in 30 days), realistic (achievable), timed (within 30 days).

4. How do you create a plan to achieve your goals?

Each goal needs to be broken down into actionable steps if they are to be fulfilled.

Create 4 columns on a piece of paper and enter these 4 headings
Projects, Goals, Action Steps, When

Example

• Project – Newsletter
• Goal – Add 1000 new subscribers
• Action Steps – Write one blog post and one guest post per week. Re-purpose content into video, audio, PDF. Send visitors to opt-in form.
• When – January 1st to Feb 10th

Do the same for each of your projects making sure they are S.M.A.R.T.

5. Prioritize your goals

Everyday you need to decide which goal is the most important to you. If you get overwhelmed trying to achieve all of them each day then make adjustments by eliminating one or two projects. Place them in a back burner folder.

It’s easier to focus on maintenance tasks rather than profitable tasks that help build your business. For example when I spend hours checking and replying to my email first thing in the morning I lose all inspiration and creativity for writing unique content. Spend the most creative time of your day (ie the first few hours of the morning) on business building tasks rather than maintenance tasks.

One of Steven Covey’s (author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) most famous quotes says “Begin With The End In Mind.” Goal setting is the key to happiness because it provides the road map for building a successful business.