The seven rules of effective goal setting
Let’s talk about seven specific rules that I think will help you have meaningful goals and make sure you achieve them.
I’m assuming here that you have already have some ideas for your goals. If this is a sore subject for you then take a look at the blog 'The six reasons people avoid written goals' - you might find it helpful.
If you haven't set your goals just drop me an email and I'll help you get started.
If you have goals, let’s begin!
1. Write them down!
The first one is the easiest thing you can do:
Simply write down your goals!
That doesn’t mean you’re going to achieve them, but this is an essential part of the process - it makes you responsible.....
Looking back to the studies that were done with the Yale and Harvard grads in the last blog, the evidence for writing down goals is clear.
There are actually neurological and psychological reasons why writing down your goals works.
Just the act of writing it down makes an imprint into your subconscious mind.
When you write down what you want you feel an instant boost in energy and enthusiasm when you write it.
If you do this over and over again, on a regular basis, you give yourself this ongoing boost and energy.
It is this energy that you really need to accomplish your goals and to take action on a daily basis.
When you lack that energy, you don’t want to take action.
The mere act of writing down your goals gives you that energy!
DON'T skip this step.
2. Be specific
Rule number two is to be specific.
You need to be crystal clear about what you want.
It’s not enough to just say you want more money.
That’s what everybody says.
People say they want more money, or they want to lose weight, or whatever their goal is, but that’s not concrete.
Let’s say, for example, you made £60,000 last year.
£61,000 is more than £60,000.
Will £61,000 that get you excited?
You'[ve made £1,000 more this year than you did last year, that's just under £50 per month, before tax.
I don’t think so.
If you’re 2 stone overweight, losing a couple of pounds is still losing weight, but it’s not going to make a whole lot of difference in your health and your physical appearance.
You need to be very specific.
For the last few years, my husband and I have been driving from Kent to various places throughout the UK.
We use the Satnav to get us there, particularly for the last part of each journey, but the Satnav will not get us to where we want to go unless we give it a very specific address.
The goal setting mechanism in your head, your subconscious mind, is a goal-seeking device.
Unless you give it very specific, clear instructions, like an address or a specific goal, it’s not going to know exactly what to do.
You’ve got to be crystal clear.
I’m emphasising this point because often people say…
“Well, I just want to have a good year.”
That’s just not good enough.
If you look at Fortune 500 companies or any big company, they have very specific sales and revenue goals that they want to hit.
They don’t start the year with the CEO getting in front of the board of directors and just saying…
“You know, we’re hoping for a good year. We want to make more money this year than last year.”
Can you imagine that?
Of course not!
They have very specific goals.
You’ve got to treat your own goals the same way, because you are the CEO of your business and your life.
3. Be realistic
Despite the self-help teachers who say, “Think big! Don’t put any limits on your thinking!” you have to set some limits.
Your goals have got to be realistic.
For example,
Let’s say you’re making £60,000, and you set a goal of making £1 million.
That’s a great long-term goal to strive for, but it’s very, very unlikely that you will go from £60,000 to a million in the next 12 months.
It’s possible, yes.
But for most people, it's very unrealistic.
That should be set as the longer-term goal. You need to be more realistic about what you can accomplish in the short-term, like going from £60K to £100K, or maybe £200K.
This is very realistic depending on your set of skills, and the resources that you have available.
For example…
If you want to make £100,000 per year online, and you have NO marketing skills, very limited resources, and little money to invest in advertising, while it’s technically possible, the reality is that it’s going to take some time to get there.
You’re simply not going to go from zero to £100,000 with no resources, and no marketing skills, in just a few months, or maybe even a year.
It’s not going to happen in the short-term like a lot of people are hoping for.
However, if you have £20,000 at your disposal, it will be a lot more realistic to hit six figures online, because you have more resources…
You can invest a bit more money in your advertising so you can get there more quickly.
What I’m saying is this…
Your short-term goals need to be consistent with the skills and resources that you have available.
If they’re not, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
Then you’ll become discouraged and say, “Goal setting doesn’t work.”
And you won't take action.
The whole point of goal setting is not just to get you excited; it’s to give you the stepping stones to achieve your bigger, longer-term goals.
The worst thing you can do is to set a short-term goal that’s so out of reach that it’s just going to demotivate you.
However, let's be really clear.......
You shouldn't limit yourself.
It’s perfectly fine to have huge 3-, 5-, and 10-year goals.
BUT reverse engineer those and say, “What do I have to achieve in the short-term - in the next 12 months, 6 months, and 3 months?”
Make it very realistic so that you can get excited, and get your belief level up about your goals.
4. Create an action plan
The next step is to create an action plan with a deadline.
Lots of people say they’re going to achieve a goal, but have no idea exactly how they’re going to do it, or when they're going to do it by.
You’ve probably heard that a goal without a deadline and a clear plan is nothing but a wish.
Make sure that you have an action plan that you need to complete and review on a daily basis, and a specific deadline of when you want to achieve that short-term goal.
5. Set BIG goals
We’ve already talked about creating realistic short-term goals, but now it’s time to think big by setting BIG LONG-TERM GOALS that energise and motivate you.
What motivates you?
Doubling your income?
Making a million pounds a year and creating true financial freedom?
Create your vision and create the BIG goals to match it.
They’ll keep you excited.
They’ll give you the drive to do the things you need to do now because of the promise of the future.
6. Know your why.
Goals without meaning will not keep you energised.
You may think that a million pounds or whatever amount of money you want will keep you excited and motivated.
It will, but only for a short amount of time, because actually, it’s not the money you want.
It’s what the money can DO for you and for the people in your life that you want. This is what will keep you excited and motivated to take action.
If you want to lose weight, it’s not really the weight loss that you want.
It’s what being at a healthy weight and looking healthy will do for you.
You need to be really clear about why you want to achieve your goals, and think about the reasons on a daily basis.
7. Take action
The most important part of goal setting is taking action.
Without action, nothing will happen.
This is where the rubber meets the road.
Because you can have:
Written goals
Deadlines
Your plan of action
All your “whys,”
Everything necessary in order
But until you actually take action, nothing will happen!
So set big goals, think big, dream big, and then, of course…
TAKE ACTION!
So what goals REALLY matter for growing your business?
What are the actions you need to take to move your business forward, which you can commit to completing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis?
There are only TWO things you must focus when building an online business.
These two things are where you need to focus when setting your goals.
And they are…
Traffic You must do something to drive traffic consistently. Whether it’s advertising on Facebook, creating YouTube videos, or sharing blog posts on social media, you MUST drive traffic consistently to grow your business.
Sales Next, you’ve got to do something that can actually trigger a conversion, because you can get all the traffic in the world, but if you’re not making sales, it’s all for nothing. How about writing a follow-up email, connecting with the people in your pipeline, or setting up Facebook retargeting ads to your offer?
These are the things that most people don’t do, or at least not on a regular basis.
However, these actions are exactly what’s going to move your business forward, growing your revenue and your income.
And that’s it! How to set your goals and what you need to focus on.
Now, may I make a suggestion?
Because, full disclosure…
It can take a fair bit of costly trial and error to learn how to profitably drive traffic and convert visitors into sales.
However, I do know a proven shortcut…
Which has helped dozens of marketers get profitable (often within just a few days).
And that’s taking an over-the-shoulder tour of…
Our most profitable traffic sources, winning ads, and converting offers
In fact, we’ve put together a point-for-point tutorial revealing our exact traffic-getting and sales-making process in a 100% FREE traffic workshop.
Hosted by none other than one of my Mentors Tim Erway, fearless leader and CEO at Elite Marketing Pro.
Simply pick a time and register right here.
You’ll discover how you can put together a profitable ad campaign in just 10 minutes a day with as little as £10 in initial ad spend.
In fact…
EMP have used the exact formula to turn a $10 test campaign into $141,246.30 in sales.
Those are real numbers, and Tim will show exactly how they did it.
So if you haven’t registered yet, get to it!
Pick a time that works for you to attend Tim’s traffic workshop right here.