Tag: Goals (Page 1 of 2)

New goals

I’ve spent some months thinking about what I want to do when I grow up and where (and how) I would like to live. The result is three main goals, two old but rephrased and one new. I’m sticking my head out by posting my goals here but it’s good for me to be able to go back and look at them when things go slow.

I posted about My 3 Words for 2011 and two of my three goals can be connected back to them.

Connect and Interact

Connect goes inwards (connect to my inner self) as well as outwards (connect to more people in real life and virtually). Together we can achieve much more.

Interact is defined in a glossary as “act in such a way as to have an effect on another.” To me it translates into being visible and valuable. I include creating relationships and to collaborate. Learn and share are other activities under this goal.

Communicate

I intend to communicate more, online and offline. That means more talking, writing and taking part in discussions.

When it comes to writing I have set a goal of writing at least 200 words five days a week. I’m aware of that it’s a low word count, my primary goal is to create a writing habit that sticks. Then I’ll raise by a hundred words at a time up to 500 words each day I write. I intend to post at least weekly in each of my blogs (see below) and also intend to start writing on that book of mine.

Blogs
I have four blogs. My personal blogs are this one and my blog in Swedish. My business GRS mentor has sites and blogs both in English and in Swedish.

Become location independent

There are a bunch of hurdles, some of them big, before making location independence a reality but it’s lifted to a goal of mine.

Location independent living
So far I have lived most of my life in and around Helsingborg. Things have changed in my life lately and it no longer has to stay that way. I love Helsingborg but there are many more places where I would love to stay. Becoming a true nomad (a person with no settled home) feels like a huge step for me. I’ll most likely aim for a base and then stay for shorter or longer periods elsewhere.

Location independent work
This is more a change of mindset. Writing can be done anywhere, no one – me included – care where it’s done. Client sessions are a bit different. Meeting face to face rules but virtual meetings create results too. Internet makes virtual meetings possible and easy, regardless of where the client and I are located.

How To Get What You Want – part 1

I am evaluating 2010 and preparing for 2011. As part of the process I have picked My 3 Words for 2011 and I’m Reinventing My Business.

This blog post is about how I work on creating a foundation for the year(s) to come.

The Law of Attraction

In A Scary Admission Chris Brogan admits that he believes in the Law of Attraction.

I believe in the teachings inside The Secret. The Secret is a book that talks about The Law of Attraction. There are several books that talk about this, and The Secret isn’t even the best of them.

The premise is that if you visualize and believe with all your heart that you’ll find what you seek, then it’ll manifest.

The key is to remember that Attraction = Attract + Action. It’s not enough to attract something, it takes action to get it. Nothing will manifest out of thin air.

Visualization of what you want to achieve is used in other concepts too, like mental training.

The Secret

The Secret is a catchier name than The Known. In my opinion there’s nothing secret in The Secret, it’s a new cover on what has been said before. They have done clever marketing though.

Think and Grow Rich

I’m currently reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The book is available in print or as free ebook, I have an ebook. As the title indicates, it’s focus is on money. It lists these six steps:

First: fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Be definite as to the amount.

Second: determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as “something for nothing.”)

Third: establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.

Fourth: create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at ONCE, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.

Fifth: write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for it acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.

Sixth: read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you read — see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.

Napoleon Hill talks about the importance of a burning desire. It’s not enough to wish or want, it has to be a burning desire. You need to be determined to get it, stand by it and know what you really want to achieve.

As you see in step 2 above he stresses that there’s no such reality as “something for nothing”.

My view

I believe that it’s a two-phase process: Attraction = Attract + Action. The process works whether it’s money we’re aiming for or something else.

Attract requires us to be clear and specific about what we want to achieve. That’s what this blog post is about.

Then it takes action, I’ll do another blog post about that.

Decide what you want

Napoleon Hill writes that “All achievements have their beginning in an idea”, I prefer to talk about a vision. It shall be something that you really desire and believe with all your heart that you’ll achieve. List what you want to achieve but be specific otherwise you can’t know when you have achieved it.

Paint an entire picture, personal and professional, since different areas of life interact with each other. It can be different levels of details but ignoring the personal side and only have a business vision is not a good idea. The other way around is not good either.

Examples of what can be included in a vision:
• I want to be my own boss.
• I want to work half time and do volunteer work in my spare time.
• I want to have X dollars in my savings account because that means financial security.
• I want to live and work in the Bahamas.
• I want to make the world a better place by doing….

Create ONE vision that covers what you want to achieve. Fill it with emotions, how will you feel when you achieved it.

If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t. – Chuck Palahniuk

Verify it

Consider this:
• Your vision shall be your beacon, something that keeps you heading in the right direction.
• Your vision shall be able to motivate you when the going gets tough.
• It shall be YOUR vision, not something you do to please others.
• It shall be a burning desire.

If your vision does not pass the test above then you picked the wrong vision. Return to the previous step and find your true vision.

Convert your vision to money

How much money does it take to achieve your vision?

How much do you need to make your vision come through?

Your vision might be to become your own boss instead of being employed, there’s still money that needs to be earned.

Your vision might be to be place independent (work from anywhere), there’s still money that needs to be earned.

Even a spiritual quest requires money to make it possible. There’s no “something for nothing” which means that somehow we need to pay for what we want to achieve.

When shall it be finished?

Set an end date – when shall you have achieved your vision?

Hint, if it’s more than a year away then you shall probably reconsider and rephrase your vision. A beacon that’s too far away makes for lousy navigation.

What will you do to achieve your vision?

You now have your vision, an end-date and a required amount, what will you give in return to achieve what you desire?

Define exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. Plan it, at least roughly, so you know how to do it.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. – Tony Robbins

Make your vision memorable

If you’re visual then create a vision board. That makes it easier to picture how you will feel when it’s all done.

Create a statement (agreement with yourself) that describes your vision. It shall include the end-date, when it shall be finished, and what you will do to achieve your vision. Remember to attach feelings, how will you feel when you have achieved your vision.

Keep your vision within sight

Print out your statement. Place it where you see it often and easy. Read your vision daily so you keep it alive and fresh.

One more thing – enjoy the ride! The journey towards your vision has to be worthwhile too.

What about me?

When evaluating 2010 I realized that my original vision had split into two visions, one personal and one for my business. When those visions were aligned it was no problem but when they differed the one closest to my heart did win. Most of my personal vision, along the path to discover your Self, has been accomplished. When it comes to my business vision it did not turn out as I had intended.

Lesson learned – create ONE vision and stick to it. If in doubt along the way, go back to the verify step and see if you vision still is the right one.

What about you?

How do you work to vision what you want to achieve?

My 3 Words for 2011

About two years ago I posted Goals, guidelines and keywords with my three words for 2009: Trust, Connect and Grow.

About a year ago I posted Ready for 2010 where I listed my three words: Trust, Connect and Grow. I kept the words I had selected for 2009, they were still important to me.

In March 2010 I posted Three Words Become Five. I added Rhythm and Nourish to Trust, Connect and Grow.

My 3 words for 2011

I go back to three words instead of five, I extend what some of my three words stand for. In no specific order they are:

Trust means to trust my inner voice, to build trust and to be trustworthy.

Connect goes outwards (connect to more people in real life and virtually, be visible and valuable) as well as inwards (connect to my inner self). I include creating relationships and to collaborate, together we can achieve more.

Grow covers to grow my business and to grow as person. It includes to learn and share. I am a life long learner, sharing knowledge and ideas is fun. I also include nourish, without that nothing will grow.

My words work well as corners in a triangle, they complete each other and none is more important than the other. My words will guide my actions during the year, it’s easy to check back to them and see if I’m aligned with them or not.

Three Words Elsewhere

Chris Brogan posted My 3 Words for 2011 where he also lists words other have sent him. Mich Sineath created a wordle based on that post, it’s interesting to see which words that stand out.

Additional reading

The last part of Happy Holidays 2009 talks about why new year’s resolutions can be dangerous.

Reinventing My Business

James at Men with Pens posted How to Rip Off Your Band-Aid and Reinvent Your Business. I read it, thought it made a lot of sense – to others – and left. The post starts like this:

When you have a business – any kind of business – there are two ways to grow:

* You can tinker away and make changes to accommodate growth in little bits as you go along
* You can shut the whole thing down and start over

Most people do the first. It’s easier to pick away at what you have and make little tweaks and improvements here and there, fixing up your business as you go along. You add a new service.

Something has pulled me back to that post several times today. I’ve been doing the first, some tweaking and adding a service or two. But to be honest I’m not really satisfied with what I have created, it feels like a patchwork. Nice in a way but it could be better.

No one has forever.

I think this is what bothers me – No one has forever. Nothing new about that but in this context it’s a major poke.

So if there’s somewhere you’d like to be with your business, quit picking at the band-aid. Take a few days off and think about what you’d like to do with your business and where you want to be. Plan. Prepare. Decide on your products, your services, your target market, your web image, and your goals.

Then just do it. Stop your world. Rip the band-aid off and put your business on hold for a week, a month, or maybe even two months. Do all the work you have to do to heal up what’s broken, fix what needs fixing and get your whole business set and ready for the next level.

There is somewhere I’d like to be with my business. I guess it’s time to stop procrastinating on this and do the work needed to create the business I really would love to have. See you in the new year with a new and better business…

Are You Using The Wrong Business Model?

In the weekly wrap from Copyblogger was a link to Are You Using The Wrong Business Model? at The Launch Coach. It’s a great post that starts like this:

Your business can be one of two things: A ramp, or a treadmill.

A ramp leads to a bigger and bigger business. A treadmill leads to more of the same, and a plateau of sales. (Or, if you have a fancy treadmill, a gentle incline that doesn’t get you that much farther.)

A ramp gets you to the next level. A treadmill doesn’t.

My current business model falls in the treadmill bracket. I’ll do my best to make my new business model as a ramp.

Three Words Become Five

Chris Brogan has his 3 Words for 2010, with a second level on some of them. Jonathan Fields lists his 10 driving keywords for 2010 in Oh The Places You Will Go.

I list my three key words in Ready for 2010:
Trust means to trust my inner voice, to build trust and to be trustworthy.
Connect goes outwards (connect to more people in real life and virtually, be visible and valuable) as well as inwards (connect to my inner self).
Grow covers to grow my business and to grow as person. It includes to learn and share. I am a life long learner, sharing knowledge and ideas is fun.

Joanna Young has a different approach and picks A Word to Last the Year. Her single word is rhythm and I really like that choice. Some of what rhythm brings to Joanna’s mind are things I like to do too: Walk, Write, Go outside, Go gently, Go with the flow, Trust in the natural cycle of things, Move between different projects I’m working on.

Juliana Finch at write. play. repeat. posts her choice in If you could choose one word…, it’s nourish. I like that too, nourish goes well with my three words above and with what I want to achieve.

I’ve been thinking about how to deal with my words for 2010, shall I stick with my original three or shall I add rhytm and nourish which gives me a full hand? In the end I decided to go for five, to me they integrate very well with my first three words and help me stay on track.

Adding nourish and rhythm actually helped me decide about leaving Inside the Third Tribe. Staying would have helped me grow my blog faster but I risked loosing my rhythm.

Seth Godin and Linchpin

Seth Godin launches his latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? How to Drive Your Career and Create a Remarkable Future in an unusual way. Today he is interviewed or guest post around the blogosphere, a good starting point is his own post The 2.0 media tour. I have followed some of the links and this piece of text from Escape From Cubicle Nation: You are not a cog is great.

if you’re a freelancer and you’re doing what everyone else in your market is doing, why on earth is someone going to hire you? Why will you be able to charge more? Where will your freedom come from?

The need to stand out and be different makes a lot of sense and it’s something I am working on for my own business as coach and mentor.

I have ordered the Linchpin book, it sounds very interesting, but it’s not delivered yet. A linchpin is defined like this:

linchpin = a pin inserted through holes at the end of an axle, so as to secure a wheel; a central cohesive source of stability and security; a person or thing that is critical to a system or organisation

Is it really a good thing to become indispensable? If employed, will your boss let you move on or try to keep you?

What Impact Do You Want To Have?

I am reading “The Tao of Motivation” by Max Landsberg, a great book that makes you think. (See also The Tao of Coaching, another great book by Max Landsberg.) The motivation book made me think about what motivates me and how to keep myself motivated. As selfemployed you need to be able to keep your own fire burning.

Then I came across A Question of Impact by Jonathan Fields. It raises these important questions:

What impact do you want to have? And, on whom?

Making an impact,as in making a difference, is something that motivates me. Seeing things change or ideas spread is motivating for me.

Jonathan Fields writes that:

I’m not yet convinced there is a single, quantifiable group of people I want or need to choose between. But, I’m also not convinced I can have the depth of impact I want when I’m playing too many games at once.

I think there is a risk of spreading oneself too thin (trying to cover too many) and because of that reducing the impact one makes. But I also see another risk, making your focus too narrow and missing out on chances to make an impact. At present I am balancing somewhere in between, I see the horizon of opportunity as 360 degrees and will see what turns up.

A Bigger Game?
In A Bigger Game Jonathan Fields also brings up the topic of making an impact:

It made me want to play a bigger game. Not a bigger money game…a bigger impact game. A bigger footprint game. A bigger life game.

I’m not that into ‘bigger’, I’m more into sustainable games, making impacts that last. My thought is that small scale works too, good changes create ripple effects. Talking about sustainable, I like The Seven Generations Perspective since it makes us consider long term conseqeunces and effects.

Three Key Words.
In Ready for 2010 I mention my three key words (Trust, Connect, Grow). These key words work well in connection with me making an impact. I have to be trusted in order to be able to make an impact. I need to connect with people in order to be able to make an impact. I need to grow (including learn and share) in order to be able to make an impact.

What’s My Own Answers?
My overarching vision is to help make this world a better place. That’s done on different levels, on a one-to-one level through my work as coach and mentor. On a global level it’s done through supporting organizations such as The Hunger Project and WWF. For the more ‘medium’ level I intend to write more. I would also like to make more presentations, both writing and speeches are ways to influence more people.

And You?
What’s YOUR answers to these questions?

What impact do you want to have? And, on whom?

Ready for 2010

Last year I did post My Best Year Yet 2009 based on the book Your Best Year Yet which describes a great way of working with your plans and evaluation. This year I create a different kind of post, showing where my inspiration comes from in different areas of my process to get ready for 2010.

Simplicity and letting go

Write to Done has a post about Are You drowning in Interesting-Things-to-Read-on-the-Net? Here’s how to cope.

My entire life is flagged-for-follow-up. I’m one big backlog of informative material waiting to be attended to. I hang onto articles because I’m scared of what will happen if I need them one day, and they’re not there. This fear binds me to my stuff. Like many people, I buffer myself with my just-in-cases, instead of flying naked, instead of seeing what will happen if I head out into the clamber armed with just my inner-resourcefulness.

Sarah writes in a comment: 2010 is all about letting go!!! That’s part of my plans for 2010, let go of everything that does not really matter. Simplicity rules.

Ditch or follow through

On a similar note Men With Pens writes about How to Accomplish Your Dreams, this piece of advice is great:

Ditch any idea, dream or goal if you know you’ll never follow through. Go on. Chuck it. Be realistic and save brain space. Free your mind for what you will work on, right here, right now. Quit making yourself feel guilty about all those plans that’ll never come to life. Decide once and for all to let go of the dream.

Jedi Master Yoda says “Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.'” Things to do ‘later’ or to ‘try’ are of little use to us. I intend to prune my lists and focus on what takes me where I want to go.

The horizon of opportunity

I came across Today is the day and what really stuck with me is this:

Today is the day that I see in fresh ways that the horizon of opportunity is 360 degrees

A milestone for me last year was my presentation at Øredev 2009. It was not in my plans but it’s a major achievement for me. During 2010 I’ll be even more open to what comes my way.

Key words

Chris Brogan has picked his 3 Words for 2010. In Oh The Places You Will Go Jonathan Fields lists his 10 driving keywords for 2010. I will keep my three key words that I picked for 2009 since I feel that they still are important to me. In no specific order they are:
Trust means to trust my inner voice, to build trust and to be trustworthy.
Connect goes outwards (connect to more people in real life and virtually, be visible and valuable) as well as inwards (connect to my inner self).
Grow covers to grow my business and to grow as person. It includes to learn and share. I am a life long learner, sharing knowledge and ideas is fun.
My key words work well as corners in a triangle, they complete each other and none is more important than the other. These key words make me agile, it is easy to check new things and ideas against those words.

Ganesha symbolism

A year ago I got a small statue of Ganesh or Ganesha, the Hindu Elephant-Deity. He is also called Ganapati (leader of people), Buddhividhata (god of knowledge) or Vighnahara (god to remove obstacles). I like the Ganesha symbolism,there are some that suits as reminders of my intentions and goals.
Big head – think big.
Small eyes – concentrate.
Rope – to pull you nearer to your highest goal.
Trunk – high efficiency and adaptability.
One tusk – retain good, throw away bad.

Goals

In My Best Year Yet 2009 I did list my top ten goals. This year I have cut it down to top three. In no specific order they are:

  • Build a profitable and sustainable business.
  • Network with a purpose, in real life and virtually.
  • Write more, create and follow a blogging schedule.

Summary

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~DaVinci

My key words (trust, connect, grow) makes it easier to stay on track and to be agile.
360 is a reminder that the horizon of opportunity is 360 degrees.

I intend to care for my mind – body – spirit because if I am not well then everything else will falter too.

Happy Holidays 2009

Whichever holidays you celebrate, I wish you Happy Holidays!

It’s the time of the year when we look back at the year that was and look forward at what’s coming. I’ll evaluate the work I did in My Best Year Yet 2009 to see what worked and what did not work.

A milestone for me during 2009 was my presentation at Øredev 2009. It was not in my plans but it’s a major achivement for me.

I will keep my three key words (trust, connect and grow) since I feel that they still are important to me and where I want to go.

Update December 28, 2009.
Dave Navarro at Rock Your Day posts about What No One Will Tell You About The New Year:

New Year’s Day is around the corner, and everyone is talking about goals, plans and resolutions. Everyone is all cheery and optimistic and chatty about how great the new year is going to be, and while that’s all well and good, it’s all very dangerous.

Dangerous to your true goals, your true ambitions … because the new year doesn’t mean anything at all. You’re still carrying the same you from this year into next year. You’re still carrying the same habits and hangups that held you back over the last 12 months into the next twelve months.

My Best Year Yet 2009

I have been working with the book Your Best Year Yet – The 10 questions that will change your life forever and figured I should put my result on my blog. Two reasons for that, putting pressure on myself and hopefully to inspire others to work with that book.

My guidelines

• Trust my heart and inner truth.
• Face the music!
• Do what I love.

New paradigm.

I create my own destiny.

Major focus.

My own business, with focus on coaching.

My top ten goals.

  1. Care for my mind – body – spirit.
  2. Be visible and valuable.
  3. Build a profitable business.
  4. Build friendships.
  5. Network locally – with a purpose, in real life.
  6. Create and follow a blogging schedule.
  7. Network virtually – with a purpose.
  8. Become a certified coach.
  9. Maintain and rebuild family connections.
  10. Be flexible!

I put taking good care of myself as goal one simply since if I am not well then everything else will falter too.

Credit: Photo by JoF.

This was originally posted at Forty Plus Two, another blog of mine.

« Older posts

© 2025

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑