If you want to build a successful life for yourself, you need to be able to envision the life you want, set goals for yourself, and follow those goals all the way through until you see success.
Setting Goals
Setting goals isn’t always easy, especially if you are just starting something new. It can be very challenging setting goals, especially if you’re just starting out with something and you have no idea what you’re doing.
When I first started doing the whole online business thing a couple years ago, I literally had no idea what I was doing. I just got done with music school, and I had to somehow figure out how to turn this passion into a sustainable career.
I learned everything from scratch from a program called Wealthy Affiliate. It was a good education, but the problem was that ranking websites these days on Google is hard work. Not to get on a tangent here about the online business side of things, but in the beginning I was focusing a lot on the wrong things for my business.
Expect a Huge Learning Curve
With any new venture, there is going to be a huge learning curve. It’s important to try and learn everything you can about that particular topic, and then maybe if you stick with it hard enough, you’ll be lucky enough to make it a success.
Here is a very important tip I’m going to share with you that I wish I had for myself at the beginning of my journey. Find yourself a mentor, or at least someone who is really good in the area you want to be in. Learn from them and study from them. Learn how to do things that are working for others, and do it.
Don’t Re-invent the Wheel
Follow a system that works for others. Do not try and re invent the wheel. Otherwise you’ll end up spinning your own wheels and getting extremely frustrated. Expect set backs and expect not everything to go as smoothly as planned. Lots of obstacles will appear along the way, but it’s up to you to overcome those obstacles.
Try New Things
Another point is that you may also be focusing on the wrong things when starting a new venture. All I can say about this is to not beat yourself up for it. Certain things may seem glamorous to try at first. Then when you try it, you realize it’s not as effective as you thought it would be, and may end up wasting lots of time and money with it.
My philosophy is that you should try new things that you think will help you succeed. If you give it two or three months and it’s not doing a thing accept wasting your time or money, perhaps it’s time to move on to something else? That’s up to you, but I’m the kind of guy that likes to see results quickly. Time is money after all, and money doesn’t grow on trees!
Don’t Waste Your Time
Eventually you will learn everything you need to know, but you also need to take action on what you learn and give it time. Focus on the things that will be worth the time and effort you put into it, and do your best to make sure that you’re getting some sort of return on either your time investment or money investment.
Conclusion
I hope these tips have helped you with setting goals. It’s rather a grey area because everyone is at different points in their life and on their chosen career paths, but the most important thing to take away here is to choose something to do and stick with that. Also follow in the footsteps of others who are doing the same thing, and eventually you will see success if you keep at it.
So true! Goals are important. I have recently just started setting some again and feel empowered. But just like you said, it is challenging to get started. I would suggest starting with a little sub-goal that is easy to accomplish. This gets the ball rolling. I recently watched a Youtube video from an artist on goal setting. In the video he said that he wanted to acquire a new painting skill and to learn it he had to practice it daily. Of course, this requires a lot of discipline and hence the risk of giving up is high. So what he did, was to tell himself that he would just have to draw one line a day. Drawing a line a day probably takes under a minute. Of course, once he drew that line, he went on to draw for 1,2 or 3 hours more. He tricked himself by keeping the barrier of entry really low.
I like this way of thinking, and you make a really good point. Sometimes we do have to trick ourselves into starting something new, and taking baby steps is definitely better than taking no steps at all.
Took me time to read this but yes it is so true goal setting help us imrove our daily life. It can make is know when to be fast and when to slow down 😊