Smart Goal Setting
March 10, 2009 Business 50 CommentsIf you’ve been lurking around on the Internet for Ways To Make Money Online, one thing you’ll be seeing a lot of lately is developing the right mindset. Before you even set up a single system, if you’re filled with “what ifs” and negative, self-defeating thoughts, your business won’t go anywhere.
The successful Internet Marketers are those who are determined and focused. So before you even put your toe into the pool of profits, you have to set some goals and change the way you think. My Smart Goal Setting formula will help you…
Why is this such an important first step in your success? It’s an area seasoned ‘net marketers are scrambling to learn because they know that sometimes, the single thing that’s holding you back can be the attitude with which you approach your online efforts and the specific goals you set in place.
For a long time, people didn’t know what made a guru a guru and why some people who tried for months (or even years) weren’t seeing a fair share of the profits. What emerged was that there’s a different mindset between the gurus and everybody else.
I’m going to show you how to think big, seize the opportunities that you deserve, and turn your wishes and dreams into true realities that you can take to the bank!
The Power of Positive Thinking
Right now, there are hundreds of Internet marketing hopefuls who are saying no to their own success. Believe it or not, your mindset is crucial to the way you perform and the way your business efforts succeed or fail.
There’s a right and wrong way to think, talk, and believe. Simply changing your vocabulary can often mean the difference between seeing a 2% change in your profit margin (up or down) and amazing growth that you never dreamed possible.
I have a chart that I refer to on a regular basis. It’s there to remind me not to let negative thinking creep into my thought process and slow down my success. I’ll let you copy it for your own efforts:
Instead of using words like:
· Maybe
· Try
· Hope
· Wish
· If
· Help
· Need
· Can’t
· Tomorrow
· Want to
· Going to
· Well….ummmm….
· Work
· I think
· Can’t afford
· Problem
· But
· Probably
· Have to
I use these words and phrases instead:
· Done
· Finished
· Completed
· I will
· I am
· When
· Assist
· Deserve
· Accomplish
· Today
· Now
· Goodbye, next
· Moving forward
· Create
· Definite
· Committed
· Opportunity
· However, although
· I know, I will
· I choose to
At first, it felt awkward having to forcibly change the way I thought and talked. But I knew that like most people, I had been ingrained to complain and prepare myself for the worst.
Now my subconscious mind – which accounts for about 95% of all of our actions – guides my success without me having to try so hard. I use positive affirmations (verbal or mental accounting of everything that is going good) every day to reinforce my success – and since my income has reached multi-million dollar levels, it’s easy to continue my role.
You may not have it as good as I do right now, so how do you use positive affirmations when you’ve had a rotten day (or year) and feel like Murphy’s Law was written about your life in particular?
I don’t care how small of a good thing it is – take some time (a couple of minutes) at the beginning or end of each day to focus on it. Forget about what went wrong. If you got your first sale, acknowledge it and set a goal for how many sales you’re going to make the next day.
There are an awful lot of people in this industry moaning and groaning about why they can’t make money, why everyone else is, and why they’re failing. If you’re thinking this way then I have the answer for you – it’s YOU!
You are the only thing preventing your success. If you say, “I can’t do this,” then your prediction will come true. You can do it. You will do it. Believe in yourself. People who are failures aren’t true failures – there’s no such thing. They only failed before they allowed themselves to succeed.
Many successful businesspeople have had their ups and downs. Look at Donald Trump – he filed bankruptcy before he built his empire! You may launch a product and realize it flopped because you had your niche slightly off target.
Does that mean you quit and go back to the 9-5 grind, slaving away in a 6 x 6 foot cubicle? Sure, if that’s all you think of yourself. But you can get over the speed bumps and obstacles that try to slow down your success.
And once you hit it – once you see the profit machine start churning – you’ll realize that anything you dream is POSSIBLE. You’ll finally “get it” and be one of the few who continue their success, instead of one of the many who give up.
Setting Goals the SMART Way
The first thing I want you to do is forecast your future. Forget about the negative stuff – you won’t get anywhere harping on doom and gloom. What I want to know is this:
* Where do you see yourself in the next 30 days?
* How about the next 3 months?
* Half a year from now?
* A year from today?
* Five years?
* Ten years?
You’ll notice there’s a healthy mix of short and long-term goal setting that’s necessary for you to begin mapping out a blueprint for your success. When you write them down, use the present tense.
“I am proud that I’m earning six figures and ecstatic that I’m living with my beautiful family in Hawaii…”
Don’t write, “I should be” or “I will…” You want to be living in the moment and seeing it come to fruition. Using future tense is wishful thinking. Using present tense is taking advantage of positive affirmations. Believe it and it will happen.
Use emotions in your goal setting. In the above statement, I didn’t just write, “Earning 6 figures and live in Hawaii,” I wrote the feelings I’ll have when I achieve those goals.
When you use the SMART system, it makes it easy to determine what path you need to take to success. It helps you get everything you want out of life – and then some! Let’s look at what the SMART system is all about:
Specific goals are crucial to helping to reach milestones that are important in all areas of your life. If you’re vague and just say, “I will make more money,” then you might have it come true – to the tune of $1 more this year than you made last year.
You want to put something solid into the equation. Set a date and an amount. “I make $7,000 in September.” But don’t stop there. What will that money do for you? “I make $40,000 in the next 90 days and put down a deposit on a new home.”
It’s better to know how the money is going to help you when planning your goals – even if it’s just to splurge – because it helps you visualize what’s about to happen in your life – and it keeps you motivated and enthused about your daily efforts.
Measurable goals are important because they keep you accountable for your own success. This is a huge pitfall for many Internet marketers. They fly by the seat of their pants and start and stop so many projects that they never realize their full potential.
Measurable goals help you stay on track. They let you evaluate your performance and tweak areas that need your immediate attention. If you’ve spent six weeks on a system that isn’t working, it lets you know so that you don’t waste another six weeks not earning profits!
When you set measurable goals, you can check on them as you’re working. For instance, don’t just say, “I want to be out of debt.” Your specific, measurable goal of “I want to earn $50,000 in the next four months” will let you measure if and when you reach the goal, and also allow you to pay off your debts in the process.
It also turns a negative into a positive. When you’re focused on “being out of debt,” you constantly have to think about the burden of it. When you write about the specific amount of money you’re earning, it’s a positive reflection of your efforts.
It’s also wise to set measurable goals that help you reach your big goals. For instance, if losing weight – 25 pounds to be Specific – were your goal, then you could write measurable goals such as, “spend an hour a day on the treadmill.”
Each day, or at the end of every week, you could measure your results – you either did or didn’t do the work to get you to where you want to be. Then you have a chance to continue working toward your goals or change it if necessary.
Attainable goals are vital to your continued success. If you write down that you’ll make $1 million with your first product launch, you may be setting yourself up for failure.
Your goals should be attainable. That’s not to say you won’t make $1 million with your product launch – it’s been known to happen – but be reasonable with what you can likely achieve.
For example, if you’re only able to dedicate an hour a night to Internet Marketing right now, then a million dollars isn’t reasonable (unless you have a highly unique and in demand idea).
Take into consideration the outside factors that can contribute to your plans – and make sure you leave room for unexpected circumstances. What if you have a family emergency or a financial setback?
You want to reach the goals you set. It’s not bad to dream big, but you have to continue climbing the rungs of success one step at a time instead of trying to leap from the bottom of the ladder to the top in a single bound.
When your goals seem insurmountable, it causes you to get bogged down in negative thoughts and eventually give up on them altogether. This is a common occurrence with ‘net marketers who didn’t take time to consider their mindset.
Relevant goals mean they relate to what you’re passionate about. If you’re not emotionally connected to your goal, you won’t work hard to make it happen. Some people set goals that are so broad and general that it doesn’t help them actually achieve anything.
If you say, “I want a happy life,” that isn’t relevant enough to explain that you want “A seven-figure income this year.” Happiness is different for everybody. Some people making $30,000 a year are extremely content.
Timed goals help you reach a date of completion. If you don’t give yourself a deadline for tasks or goals, then chances are you’ll get infected by the plague of procrastination and never realize your true potential for success.
If you aren’t sure how long it’ll take, make an educated guess. You can always revise your goals – they’re a living, evolving document of how you want your life to unfold.
The only thing you shouldn’t do is keep changing your completion dates because you “just haven’t gotten around to it.” This is unfair to you – you’re sabotaging your own path to success.
You have to remind yourself that your goals are in place. It’s important to have a tangible reminder – write them on a sticky note and put it right on your computer, or carry your goals in your wallet written on the back of your business card.
When you’re able to look at them without having to try to recall from memory what you wanted to do, you’ll be able to take actions that correspond to your individual success.
You’ll instantly be able to see when and if you do something that isn’t aligned with one of your goals. If you eat a Death by Chocolate dessert at a restaurant, then you know that didn’t help your goal of losing 10 pounds in the next 30 days.
Or, in regards to money, if you quit your day job intent on making a go of Internet Marketing, but you sit around all day watching soap operas or surfing sport sites on the ‘net, then you’ll know that you haven’t spent your time toward reaching the goals that you hoped to achieve.
Most people don’t set goals. Do you see them – commuting to work day in, day out – like robots on autopilot? They just do what needs to be done and cross their fingers that it’ll all work out the way they wanted it to – never once considering they have to take the reigns and make things happen for them!
Successful Internet Marketers know that in order to succeed, you have to be focused, driven, and enthusiastic about the endless opportunities and possibilities that are coming their way.
Get emotional about your pending success!
Hype yourself up and drool over the fact that there is no glass ceiling to online profits! When you do this, taking action won’t be a chore – it’ll be an outlet for your enthusiasm and drive.
To your success,
Nick Marks















