| Unfortunately, not every goal is a good goal. | | | | weight so I feel better," say, "I want to lose 20 pounds |
| Goal-setting is a skill which can be broken down into | | | | in six months so I can fit into my wedding dress (jeans, |
| three easily defined, concrete steps: | | | | bathing suit, etc.)." The more specific and detailed you |
| Brainstorm your big objective. | | | | make your goal, the easier it is to visualize and |
| What are you trying to accomplish professionally or | | | | measure your progress. |
| personally? Create a new product line? Cut costs? | | | | Here's another example. Let's say your goal is to |
| Streamline a process? Outsource some of your | | | | outsource as much of your business as you can. Your |
| tasks? At this step, we're trying to get to your | | | | "Why" is to save you time so you have the ability to |
| highest-level goal, so when you name something, ask | | | | create new products, so you can ultimately make |
| yourself, "WHY?" | | | | more money and quit your day job. You may state a |
| For instance, if you say, "I want to create a new | | | | simple goal like "I want to outsource 50% of my tasks." |
| information product," then ask yourself, "Why?" You | | | | Outsourcing is a worthy objective, but it's not a good |
| may answer, "So I can make money." That may seem | | | | goal. Because your real goal is to save time, you want |
| like a logical endpoint, but don't stop there. You need to | | | | to define your goal in terms of hours. A better goal |
| go further. | | | | would be, "I want to outsource enough work so I save |
| Ask yourself "WHY" you want to make money and | | | | myself 4 hours a day." This goal is much more defined |
| you'll soon find out that there are a variety of possible | | | | and specific - and related to your higher-level objective! |
| motivators. You may hear yourself say something like | | | | Set a time-frame for your goal. |
| this: | | | | What if your goal was to make $10,000 to pay off |
| - I want to make more money so I can quit my day | | | | your credit card debt. Do you want that money by |
| job. | | | | next year? Or do you need it by the time you retire? |
| - I want to make more money so I can take a | | | | What if you need it next month? Each of those |
| vacation and pay cash. | | | | scenarios will result in very different strategies. |
| - I want to make more money so I can pay off my | | | | Also, putting a time-frame to a goal gives it an inherent |
| debt. | | | | sense of urgency. As you know, many of us don't |
| - I want to make more money so I can buy a Maserati. | | | | start working on a project until we have a deadline |
| Each one of these higher-level objectives is slightly | | | | (and we wonder where our kids get it)! Even when a |
| different, and is going to result in a slightly different goal | | | | deadline is self-imposed, it helps motivate us. |
| or path to success. Knowing your "WHY" helps you | | | | Goal-setting isn't a scary, overwhelming, or extremely |
| determine your "HOW." | | | | difficult task. In fact, it's pretty simple when you break it |
| Define your goal in specific language. | | | | down into steps like this method illustrates. But it is still |
| It's not enough to know that you want to make money | | | | possible to make mistakes when creating and defining |
| so you can quit your day job. In order to set an | | | | your goals. In the next section we're going to discuss |
| excellent goal, you need to know EXACTLY how | | | | mistakes in goal-setting, and what you can do to avoid |
| much money you want to make. Use losing weight as | | | | them. |
| an example. Instead of the vague "I want to lose | | | | |