Since 10 has ended, it’s time to set goals or “new years resolutions” for 2011. There are several things you must keep in mind when you’re setting your goals – these are to keep you from being too ambitious and thus unpractical. Nothing grates on you more like unfulfilled goals. I’ve compiled a list of tips to keep in mind, when you are discovering and then accomplishing your goals.

1. Be Reasonable
Every heard the phrase shoot for the moon? Well don’t. Like I said earlier, when you set goals, and don’t do them, it can make blogging incredibly depressing. Set goals that are possible to obtain, that way you won’t get frustrated if you can’t. And every time you can check off a goal, it’s such a great feeling.

2. Be Consistent
In any goal you decide, consistency is going to be the key that gets you there. Working at it continually is the only way you’re going to accomplish your goals.

3. Set up Daily Reminders
Maybe you should start posting sticky notes at your computer, or some place you frequently visit. Especially if it’s something that will take a lot of work to do, let me assure you, you will try and fine ways to get out of it.

4. Set up Accountability
Get your blogging friends to help you, with emails or text reminders. Not only will this build your relationship, you’ll be able to remember, and maybe actually get them done!

5. Get your blog readers into it
A lot of bloggers use their blogs to keep them accountable. If you start getting comments and emails to do it, you’ll have a much higher chance of succeeding. Also it bands your readers into more of a community. It gives them a cause to work together on.

6. Take Baby Steps
When your goals is x amount of money, or x amount of subscribers. And that “X” is a large number, don’t try and do it in a month. You’ll just get frustrated. If it’s feasible then fine, but if it’s not, don’t get frustrated by trying to do the impossible. Split your goals up into daily or weekly activities that are obtainable.

7. Stretch but don’t Break
Don’t push your self to hard at first. Ease into your struggles, then once you pick up steam it’ll be much easier.

8. Take time to Rejoice in Success
It’s not all about just getting to the next goal. Take time to celebrate when you accomplish something you set out to do. If you got your 1000 Twitter follower, then great – take the time to be happy.

9. Track your Results
Keep track of how you’re doing so that you can be motivated to keep going. And you can see as you progress. Start a Microsoft Word or Excel file, and update it as you progress. (If you happen to still be using a Windows machine – otherwise use Pages or Numbers from Apple. )

10. Check back on your Progress
If you are constantly looking forward, then you’ll never accomplish anything. Looking back at what you’ve accomplished can give you that push to keep going. Don’t get to ambitious, that you lose sight of what you’ve already done.

11. Strategize
You can’t accomplish anything without a plan. Make sure you have a clear strategy for how to accomplish your goals. Have a plan as specific and in depth as you can make it, and stick to it.

12. Have Clear Goals
If you don’t know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish, then you’ll never be able to do it. If you’re trying to get 100ish visitors a day as a goal, 100ish isn’t a number. You’ll get to 80 and think, “hmm this is kind of 100ish.” Make clear goals, so that you can have clear accomplishments.

13. Don’t Undercut Yourself
Don’t allow yourself to settle for “100ish.” Make a clear goal, and stick to it. Don’t settle for anything less then what your goals are. But make sure it’s a feasible goal, otherwise you’ll just get frustrated.

14. Refrain from reading Other People’s Goals
Don’t let other people’s goals bog you down. Your goals are just that, your goals, and other people’s don’t matter. It’s great if they can accomplish them, but if you think about them you’ll just get distracted and jealous.

15. Learn from your Mistakes
Maybe you didn’t do all of yours from last year, that’s ok, just learn from what went wrong. Don’t let them go to waste, let them be learning blocks for you to move forward. Throw together a blog post reviewing your past years goals, like we did here. Take a long hard look, and reevaluate.

16. Don’t Let Failures Demoralize You
Just because you failed on your goals, doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Not fulfilling a goal is not that big a deal, as long as you worked your hardest on it. If you did your best and failed, then it wasn’t a good goal. Learn from your past goals to make new ones.

17. Set Goals that Empower you
Don’t set pointless goals. Every goal should be empowering you and igniting your passion. They may be difficult like losing weight or something, but let it ignite your passion to be muscular.

18. Critically Analyze your Goals
Make sure all of them have a clear purpose, and are something that is really worth it. If you’re going to spend so much time and energy on it make sure it’s worth the time you’re taking.

19. Romanticize about when they’re Accomplished
This is another way to keep you motivated. Keeping thinking about how incredible, and how awesome it will be when you reach that point. Never lose sight of the goal you’re striving for, and how great it will be.

20. Work at one Goal at a Time
Don’t try and pay off to many debts at once, or you’ll just end up keeping all of them. Knock them off one at a time. Some goals will probably be collective ones, so you can work on several. But if you are at a loss for time, then pick one, and gradually check them off.

Tags: commenting, goals

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.