As many of you know, I am a fan of setting monthly goals for myself to meet for my online businesses. There are a number of obvious and subtle reasons why I set these monthly goals. The reasons range from the cliched to the novel. These goals have helped me stay focused as a niche site developer and internet retailer.
Staying Focused Without Burning Out
Goals are good. But too many goals in an inflexible time frame can cause severe burnout, leading to fewer sales, less revenue, and a generall discouragement with your entreprise. The perfect goal list strikes the perfect balance between what is doable and what will maximize your resources. Setting goals that are far too ambitious may sound good in theory - when you are thinking off them - but it is equally important to take into account for the unexpected. I don't know about you, but I am far from a well oiled machine. Family, friends, and personal free time are important as well.
Monthly vs. Weekly Goals
The difference between weekly and monthly goals is the elasticity of the time frame. The smaller your time horizon the more pressure you have to immediately accomplish tasks. I personally prefer an overall monthly plan with a few weekly goals sprinkled in. Because I have a longer time horizon, I can set larger goals that truly "move the needle" once they are accomplished. A beneficial side affect of the monthly goal setting strategy is that I can take a break from one project and work on another as long as I want to.
This way, the creative juices stay fresh and waking up every morning to turn on the computer is a joy, not a chore. One of the reasons I love doing what I do with online entreprises is precisely that I enjoy what I do. My day job is a chore, not because I don't like it, but because when I need to take a break and work on another task, I can't. Don't let your online business turn into another weight around your neck.
The Art of Setting the Perfect Goal
Many people write down goals as an aspirational exercise. More often than not, a goal becomes just that. Something intangible and theoretically. In other words, wishful thinking. The art of the perfect goal setting has to come with experience. The most valuable thing to aid in this process is to know thyself. Know your limitations. Know that after 2.5 hours of article writing, you will invariably need to stretch your legs, watch a funny youtube video, or change the pace by working on a different process.
For me it comes down to embracing your full potential by balancing "what needs to get done" with what is most gratifying in the more immediate term. I touched on this earlier, but one of the things I like to do is work on multiple websites in different phases of development. When niche blog #1 is in need of backlinking (the "backlinking phase") I take a break after working for a while on this and head over to niche blog #5 which is in pre-development phase in need of a Wordpress basic install. At other times I will switch over to niche blog #3 which is in the design phase. In this way I can utilized different creative intelligences without "burning out" on one large project.
Go Forth and Set Goals!
Hopefully this has helped you rethink how you set goals, or even think about setting some goals for the first time. Start off basic with some easier tasks. Get a handle on what you are capable off. Stop comparing yourself to the Joneses'. After all, this is supposed to be something creative, exciting and fun. Embrace it for what it is worth. A steady long term, big picture, pace is better than a frenetic one that burns out like a match flame.
Happy earning, my friends.
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