Do you ever find yourself veering off track when it comes to your blog? Or even your life? It’s not always easy to stay on the right track and stay motivated, but if you have a plan of action, it can be a lot easier.
The first step to staying on track is to know what you want. You can’t make a plan or follow through with that plan unless you know exactly what it is you want.
Sometimes it helps to know what you want if you can decide why you want it. What is your “Why” for building a website, a blog or starting your own business? Is your “Why” big enough to keep you motivated?
Once you’ve decided your “Why” and you know what you want, it’s time to decide what needs to be done to accomplish your goals. Remember, setting goals and planning them out is your roadmap to the future and to success. But we’ll get to goals in a minute.
Are you a procrastinator sometimes? Often times it’s not that you don’t want to do the work; you’re just not sure of the work you need to be doing. However, if you are a true procrastinator, you may need to give extra attention to the following tips.
The most important tasks need to be done on a regular basis. Decide what tasks are the most important for the success of your blog and do those regularly. Consistency is key.
Decide which major distractions stand in your way. You may need to document everything you do for at least a week before you can make decisions on what needs to be changed. If email takes too long, you’ll want to schedule it for a shorter time period and only during certain times of the day. Constantly checking email is a big time killer and waster.
A great product to track your time “behind the scenes” is Chrometa. It offers a free trial so you can give it a test run and discover when and where your time is actually going.
Once you know where your time is going you can start creating a plan to keep yourself on track to reach success.
When you start setting goals you need to get specific. Vague or general goals will not get you very far. If making money is your major goal, then get specific about the dollar amount you want to be earning each week or each month. If readership is your goal, get specific about how many readers you want to attract by a certain date.
Break goals down into smaller tasks. Making $5k per month or having 5000 readers are excellent goals. But to be realistic, you won’t reach those goals the first month. It will take time, so break them down. Try setting a money goal of $500 within three months, $1000 by the sixth month and so on. You can do the same with readers, set smaller monthly goals, work towards them and before you know it you’ll reach your ultimate goal.
Get involved with your goals; mentally, physically and emotionally. If you’re not committed in all three areas it’s likely you won’t do the work required to meet your goals. By being committed in all areas you will give your goals power and yourself the power to achieve them.
Create a plan of success with daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Write it down. Statistics show business’s that start with a business plan usually have more success than those which have no vision or plan for the future. Blogging and even life needs to have a plan. Look over your plan and goals at least once a week if not daily. It will keep you motivated and on track.
How do you set and stick with goals? Begin by writing down everything you want to accomplish, no matter how big or small you think it is.
The next step is to decide the tasks associated with each goal. List them as steps to complete if you need to. Decide which are the most important tasks and list them first. Does this task need to be done daily, weekly or monthly? Get all your daily tasks lined out, and move to weekly tasks, monthly tasks, etc.
Estimate how much time you need to spend on each task and start a schedule—fill it up if you need to, but don’t forget to allow yourself down time.
Make a list of resources you’ll need or plan to use so you can find them quickly while you’re working.
One of the most important factors is to follow Nike’s motto—Just Do It! When you sit down to work, check your goals, your lists, your schedule and then just do the work.
Anyone else have any great tips for setting and reaching goals? We’d love for you to share them.
Love this post. It's refreshing to know that someone understands the grueling process it takes creating a successful online business. You are innundated with soo many sites trying to guide and assist you with what to do and where to go, it can get overwhelming. I liked your simple and straightforward "plan", and I will also "just do it"
Steve Dresel
Simple is best. It seems like people continuously want to make things more complicated than they really need to be. These tips are some of the most useful I've seen.
Blogging is definitely not a child's play and asks for a responsible writer to start with this business. people think that there are no hard and fast rules and often drag a subject lacking in cogent and convincing arguments in their posts. It is not just a business but a passion for some writers as they want to pursue blogging as a career. You have nicely pointed out the facts and figures of writing to-the-point blogs. keep up the good work.