“When you values are clear to you, making decisions become easier,” Roy Disney~Executive.

A large component of your visions for your life and business will be determined by setting goals effectively.  A good place to start is by asking yourself, “Where do I envision myself in five years, or even 10 years?”  “What would I like my life to look like?”  “How can I use my business to get me to that place?”  “What impact can I make on others using my business as a vessel?”

These questions and similar ones will cause you to think beyond the surface, and help you to identify your true motivations and aspirations.

Goals need to be specific and positive: Each goal should have a start date, check-up dates, and end date.  This is the only way you will be able to measure your progress.

Outline the steps needed: It’s important to write out all the steps you need to take to accomplish a particular goal.  I personally had the experience a month ago when I outlined my goals for the month.  Because I did not outline all of the steps required to accomplish a particular goal, I got to a certain point and realized the project would take me much longer as there were still other areas that had to be incorporated.

Be careful that you do not have too many steps to one particular goal as you could become discouraged as your accomplishments may not appear to be taking you closer to your goal.  Roy A. Ackerman of adjuvancy.com, an avid blogger,  noted recently, “If you find the goal needs six or more tasks, break it into two goals, because there are too many items needed to achieve this.  …breaking it into definable items that can be completed helps you reach the ultimate goal- achieve your vision.”

State the goal in a positive way: Several years ago I listened to the recording of a motivational speaker and she discussed the effects on the brain of stating goals in a positive way as opposed to negative terms.  She gave an example of this:  Most people say they want to lose weight, but lose is a negative word, and the tendency is that when you lost something you want to go back and find it (so we put the weight back on).  Changing that goal to a more positive statement would be to say I will release….pounds by….

Be comfortable with your goals: The motivation to achieve your goal must come from within.  It cannot be someone else’s desire or goals for you.  You must desire to achieve the results.  If not, y0ur success rate of seeing it through to its conclusion will be very slim.

Share your goals: Share your goals but be selective with whom you share them.  Share them with people who will be your cheerleaders – your balcony people who will provide positive reinforcement on days or periods of times when you don’t seem to be moving forward.  People who will simply check with you to offer words of encouragement.

So do you have dreams or goals?  Remember, that your goal is just a dream if you fail to write it down…but in life there are usually stumbling blocks.  What are some of these stumbling blocks that can derail your goals?  Those will be discussed in a future post.

How do you view success?  Many people grew up with a negative attitude toward the word “success”.  They were raised to believe that if you focused on having success in your life, it immediately branded you as being narcissistic or materialistic?  But is that always the case?

It is true that an unhealthy desire for success at any cost has caused many persons to show undesirable qualities such as greed and selfishness.  However, to the average person success may mean achieving more to make choices, build your self-worth, or accomplish a goal.

Do you ever find that you talk yourself out of success by indulging in negative self-talk?  Do you tell yourself you could never attain those ‘lofty’ goals? Do you set yourself up for failure by listening to the negative voice within?

Rather than listening to the negative voice, you can use positive self-talk to counter the negativity and overcome many anxious thoughts.  It has been said that if you fail to set a goal, you will reach it every time. How can you set goals effectively?

• Identifying your goal and writing it down is the first step in goal-setting.
• The next step is to formulate a plan, which will include a start date and an end date.  As your thoughts flow you will become filled with excitement on how you will accomplish the steps needed to achieve the goal.

At this point are negative thoughts creeping in once again?  Do not allow them to take hold.  Stop negative self-talk and replace them with positive self-talk.  You may need to repeat positive affirmations like, “I am a smart, capable woman (or man); I can do this;”  “I am filled with positive energy and action.” “I deserve to succeed because I am worthy of success.” On a personal note, I never forget to pray for the strength to accomplish what I’ve set out to do and to see it through.

Do you ever battle with negative self-talk in your online business? How do you deal with it? What methods do you use to remain positive and keep your motivation high? Please share.

This may seem like a strange question.  Why would you need to schedule an appointment with yourself? Do you find yourself saying, as I often do, “I wish I had more time.”  Do you find that you start tasks and never seem to complete them?  How many reports have you started in the past three months or more and not completed them?

If any of the above questions even remotely sound like they apply to you, it’s time to make an appointment with yourself.  Many of us who have an online business have other businesses or may work outside of the home, whether it’s a 9-5 job or another schedule that takes you away from home.  You also have family and other  responsibilities, which may or may not include young children.

It’s very easy to fall into a routine of crisis management, where we just attack what seems to be the most critical at that moment.  I know that has happened to me a lot recently…and that’s not good business practice.  It’s not a good practice for any part of our lives.

Scheduling an appointment with yourself means that you will need to take time to put in writing all the short term things you need to do in your life, not just your business, then take time to sit down and make a realistic schedule. It would be impractical to make a schedule for only one part of your life and not incorporate all aspects.  Do not think of this time as time wasted because it’s critical so that you can reduce stress in your life.

For your business you need to take time to really analyze where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to be so that you can know whether you’re actually accomplishing your goals or if you’re just like the little hamster on the spinning wheel.  Just thinking about that poor hamster working those little feet so hard and  going nowhere – not achieving anything, makes me tired.

Have you scheduled an appointment with yourself lately?  If you do, what do you do and how often?  Please share in the comments.

Featured “Monday Writer” – Sheila Atwood

Do you have times when you’re a little low on motivation? Do you need a jump-start to get yourself rolling again?

Join the club. We all have those times in life where we have lost interest. Or the task at hand seems a little too hard to confront.

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you chances are it will burn very briefly.” Steven R. Covey

5 Magic Motivation Action Steps

1. Recognize Success. Life is full of successes we fail to give ourselves credit for. Don’t be so hard on yourself. When you take on any task it can seem to take a long time to find success.

For example when you first start writing a blog, it can seem like new posts take forever. But each completion is success. When the blog is published that is success. Count each step as a success and it becomes easier and easier. Recognize those little successes.

Remember, as your sphere of influence gets bigger, new problems will arise. View resolving each new problem as a success and your sphere of influence will grow again.

2. Partner up! Find someone to share your successes with. Pick someone with like goals, who is supportive of your endeavors. Pick someone who understands. My partner is my sister. We can run ideas and problems by each other. We also share our successes.

3. Produce a product. Nike Shoes tag line is “Just Do It”. You will be amazed at how well this works for blogging, business or in personal matters.

When you feel unmotivated produce a product….write an article, do an interview or design a new label. Keep it simple. Choose something you can easily confront. Choose something you know and can produce quickly. Make a success!

“If opportunity doesn’t knock build a door.” Milton Berle

4. Do Unto Others. This action step is simply magic all on its own. Stop moping around and get in there doing for another person. This step is inclusive of the steps above; (a. Quick success, (b.sharing a success with another and (c.producing a product.

Keep this simple. Make twice as much dinner and share it with a neighbor. Call someone you have been meaning to call and share a happy story. Wash your sweetie-pies’ car. Show up unexpectedly at a friends’ event.

Soon you will be back on track in your own endeavors.

5. Revisit Your Vision. If you have not written your vision of what you want, do it. You can’t reach the top of the mountain if you do not know that the  mountain even exists. When it is hard to push through use your vision as motivation to stay the course. Have courage.

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

To your success!

Sheila Atwood, Newbie Lifeline

P.S. Do you have a magic way you use to get motivated? Please share it.

Sheila Atwood writes “Newbie Lifeline” , a beginner’s guide to making money online. Her current series is on marketing.

The biggest reason most people fail to reach their goals is a lack of action.  The fact that you have taken the time to write your goals on paper, identified the areas in your life that you would like to see these goals realized, and determined what steps you need to take to achieve them means that the only step left is to take action.

Goal setting can build your self-confidence when you achieve the goals you’ve set and are able to measure the process.  This gives an overwhelming sense of achievement and is a confidence booster because you are now able to quantify what you have accomplished and can conceive reaching for higher goals and perhaps greater challenges.

It’s important to set performance goals rather than base your success on ‘outcome’ goals since achieving them may involve unforeseen circumstances over which you have little or no control.

When you’ve achieved a goal, take time to enjoy the satisfaction to enjoy it, note what worked and did not work for you and continue to learn from every successfully completed goal in your life and your business.

One of the things I’ve had on the wall in my home office for several years is a poem that I found a long time ago.  Every now and again I need to remind myself of why I need to focus on  goals that I’ve set in various aspects of my life and the poem reminds me.  I’d like to share it as you may find that it encourages you as well.  Unfortunately I’ve never been able to find who the author is but if you’ve seen it before and know, please share.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ARE DREAMERS WITH GOALS

Your dreams are you vision of where you’ll be after the battle,
your prize at the end of your journey to success.
Your goals are the steps you take to finally attain your prize.

Unless you’re willing to work hard and establish some discipline in your life,
all of your dreams will be pipe dreams,
little mental fantasy trips that will never materialize.

Make concrete steps toward fulfilling your ultimate dream,
and start with solid objectives and goals.

Your dreams are where you want to go,
your goals are how you get there.

The indispensable first step
to getting the things you want out of life is this:
Decide what you want.

Don’t be afraid to think big and dare to be great.
Dreamers are not content with mediocrity.
They never dream of going halfway.
People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.

Are you a dreamer or a goal-setter?  Dream big, but set the goal to achieve the dream!

A clump is a knot or tight cluster of people or things.  It’s a natural tendency in humans to want to stay in groups with   whom they feel comfortable – either people you already know or those with whom you share similar interests.

There are times when staying within your clumps or tight cluster may not be a good idea.  Business events like large training groups, business functions and local networking events usually create opportunities for exposure, networking, building connections and, of course, taking advantage of learning opportunities from others.

If you congregate with just your known circle, you are not allowing yourself to make meaningful connections. You may also have the  type of product or service someone else at the event needs.  You could unknowingly prevent others from  getting to know you.

Breaking out of your clumps or clusters may be challenging especially if you are shy,  but it can be done. When planning to attend any event, try to develop the mindset of a host who has to circulate among everyone in the room just to be sure they are comfortable.

This could mean asking yourself, Who can I help to establish new contacts? Which two people can I introduce to each other, or whose business would likely benefit by being connected to another? Or even, Which speaker impacted me that I can give a sincere compliment to? People enjoy feeling they are important and when you make the effort to do this you will also be building meaningful relationships that can have an impact on your offline and online business.

You may be nervous, but force yourself not to talk too much. Make brief comments then ask questions that will elicit positive responses. In so doing you take the pressure off yourself and the person to whom you’re speaking will be thrilled at your level of interest in what he or she has to say.

People have been known offline to make a big fuss about huge ‘Giveaways’ that turn out to be very disappointing for many customers because the item that was given was of poor quality or of very little value.

What about those of us who work online?  What should we give away, and how can giving away valuable products help to attract more visitors and ultimately business to our website?

The most important thing to keep in mind is that whatever we give away, whether it’s a free report, an e-book, e-course, teleseminar, etc. should be of good quality and value.  Someone may reason that it does not make sense to give away a report which you could probably sell for $17 or even $27.  On the surface it may not seem to be a good business decision, but it could be one of the best business decisions that you make.

For one thing, if you do not have a huge list to market to, selling a $17 or $27 report is not going to bring you much money.  Another thing is that when your readers see the valuable content that you’ve given away, they will not only thank you, but they will more readily be attracted to any future products you may market to them.

In order to benefit from the valuable content that you give to your visitors, you must be able to capture their basic information, usually their name and e-mail address on an opt-in form on your blog, or an opt-in or squeeze page.

Many online marketers then send these persons to a download page link.  What I’ve found that works better is to send them to an autoresponder message where you thank them for requesting the product and send the download link in that first e-mail.  In this was you immediately start to build a relationship with your visitor and you would have verified that there are no errors in the e-mail address.  You also want to assure your visitors that their information will not be shared with anyone else.

As more people subscribe and take advantage of your valuable free giveaway you will be building your list and will have more people to market to in the future.

The main concern and goal for everyone who markets a business online is to get traffic or people visiting their website.  In most cases that website will be  a blog, but your online business may also promote an e-Commerce website

To keep your visitors coming back to your site so they can get to know you, they need to feel that you are an expert on your topic, or at least that you have a good grasp of your niche and can provide good content and advice.

One place you have the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and lead them back to your website in at Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com).  Questions on various topics are asked and answers are given.  People are genuinely looking for help from experts on topics that they need more information on.

When you are able to provide solid answers to questions in your niche or within your scope of knowledge and expertise, you build your credibility and gain exposure.  Because you can post a link to your website, you are also likely to receive traffic from Yahoo! Answers to your website.

It’s quite easy to find questions you can give answers to by searching under various topics or use keywords to find questions under “Recent” or “Popular”.

If you already have a Yahoo! Account, your Username and Password can be used to access Yahoo! Answers.

Have you had success with driving traffic to your website using Yahoo! Answers? Please share.

In my last post the focus was on making the best use of your time with blog posts.  Today we will look at utilizing our time effectively with articles, creating videos, and other product creation.

Points to note from comments received on the previous post:

(a) Do indepth research on a topic in one sitting

(b) Write a long article and then divide it into two or three blog posts

(c) Write a series on a topic you’ve researched

(d) Use templates or copy and paste your format.

Articles:

(i)  You can re-purpose your post by submitting it to your favorite article directories.  You will need to verify the acceptable minimum number of words as some article directories will accept as low as 250 words, whereas some will accept a minimum of 500 words, and at least one that I know of will not accept less than 700 words.

(ii) Because you have written a series or done research extensively on a specific topic, if your individual posts are too short for article directory submission, just combine two or three posts.  Depending on how personal and informal your writing style is on your blog, you may need to make it just a little more formal for article submission, but avoid spending too much time re-writing the information.

Video:

I have not created my first video; therefore, I can only share what I’ve been taught.  When creating videos, plan ahead and create several in one sitting.  This is an especially good use of your time if you’re setting up backdrops, lighting etc.  All of those things take time and by doing your set-up just once you will have save yourself time that can be spent creating other products.

Product Creation

The list of products you can create is endless: special reports, free reports, ebooks, an opt-in page, a sales letter, an e-course…and the list goes on.

When I wrote my first e-book it took me almost three months working on it part-time. When I created my first report, it took me weeks! I’ve made significant improvement, but recently I read Jason Fladlien’s report on “Time Management Secrets “ and I realize I still have a long way to go.

In that report Jason said that it was important to put a deadline on anything you do that’s important and stick to that deadline.  He gave the example that for him all products under $97 must be completed in a single day from start to finish.  His other examples may prompt you to use a timer or determine beforehand how long you will spend on a specific task.

You may download the report at http://budurl.com/jftmr and no optin is required.

Appreciation for Comments

Our time as entrepreneurs is extremely valuable and we each have to determine how to use our time effectively, but learning from each other as well as other marketers is a valuable part of doing business on the internet.  I appreciate all the comments that have been shared on this topic as they will continue to benefit all of us and future readers.

Have you been creating videos? Do you have other recommendations to maximize the use of your time in video creation?  Please share.