How to Make Sure you Achieve the Goals that you Set for 2012

Happy New Year!

As I was planning out 2012, I took some time to reflect back on 2011 with a sense of gratitude.

2011 was a tough year for me but at the same time it was one of the best years of my life.  If not, THE BEST.

Here are some events that happened that I am thankful for:

– the birth of my first child, Ethan
– formation of my business partnership
– my condo finally sold and closed on Dec. 22, 2011
– the increased investment in myself (I estimate I must have read over 35 books)
– learning more about time management as an entrepreneur

I am sure there are tons of other little ones but those 5 events stand out.

Getting my condo sold was probably the BEST Christmas gift.  I ended up getting more than the asking price but I lost out on tons of “time” and opportunities while worrying over it. I had it on the market for over 1 year!  Tons of financial pain and stress but the bright side is I learned some very valuable lessons.  The more money and time you lose the bigger and more memorable the lesson.

The 3 things that I learned are:
1) when everyone tells you to buy and hold….you sell!
2) making money in real estate is 10,000 times harder and more financially stressful than having a home based business!
3) real estate ties up your cash and severely limits your earning potential in other areas

Bottom line – I learned real estate is NOT for me.  You never say never but I know for sure, I will not consider real estate investing for at least the next 10 years.  There is much better money to made elsewhere with a lot less financial capital and stress.

HOW TO PROPERLY SET GOOD GOALS

Now that 2012 is here, if you have not done so, we need to plan and set our goals.  Remember, if you fail to plan, you are simply planning to fail!

The sad thing is that most people spend more time planning a vacation than planning their days and years and lives.  That is why most people live an entire life and never realized “what happened to them.”

This is a helpful acronym to follow when you set goals.  Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

S – Be specific when you set your goals.  Our subconscious mind works the best when we are specific.  If you are not specific nor focused, then we tend to wander and achieve nothing.  Don’t just say you want to earn a lot of money.  How much money?

M – Your goal must be measurable (for example, you can measure how much money you earn… you can measure how much weight you lose)

A – It must be something that you can achieve.  For example, if I want to fly and visit the planet, Jupiter, that is something that mankind can NOT achieve right now

R – must be realistic.  If the most you have earned in your home business is $100 in a week, then it would be unrealistic to want to earn $10,000 by next week!

T – you must give it a deadline

HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU REACH YOUR GOALS

Looking back in 2011, I saw that I failed to achieve many of my goals… One of the BIGGEST lessons that I learned was HOW to fail at achieving your goals.  If you learn how you are guaranteed to fail to reach your goals, then all you have to do is make sure you don’t do it, and you will reach your goals.  Fortunately, I learned this valuable lesson in 3rd quarter of 2011 and I was able to make 4th quarter 2011, one of the most rewarding.

A lot of what it takes to make sure you reach your goals is all about setting your priorities and time management.

After you think of a goal you want to achieve, write down 3 things you MUST do each day that will help you achieve your goal.

For example… if you want to lose 30 pounds in 2012… you must come up with 3 daily action steps… for example, say you must do the following each day:
1) exercise 30 minutes a day
2) cut your food portions by 1/2
3) eliminate fast food and desserts from your diet

So… in this example, if you want to achieve your goal of losing 30 pounds in 2012, then you MUST do all 3 things EVERY SINGLE DAY!  There is no shortcut and the way you have to mentally approach it is, if I fail to do all 3 things, then the DAY IS A TOTAL FAILURE!  And if you have enough of these “Failure Days”, then your year becomes a failure and it is a guarantee you will NOT reach your goal by Dec. 2012!

Harsh? … yes… but that is reality and reality is harsh.

We can not escape reality!

Most people, just set a goal and then they are lazy and do not enforce and make themselves do the 3 action steps.  The failure in the action step is what leads to failure in goal setting and failure in life.

I am sorry if I am harsh… but my role here is to help you and give you something to think about… not just to write something to “make you feel good.”

Increasing your Income in a Home Business

If you are in a home business and you have income goals, I highly urge you to break down the 3 things you MUST do.  For example, for most people in a home business, if you want to increase your earnings by a specific amount, the 3 things you must do everyday are:

1) go share your opportunity with people you currently know
2) meet new people and expand your contact list
3) invest 30 – 60 minutes a day in self development (learn and refine your skills and expand your thinking)

If you do NOT do these 3 things, then… the day is a TOTAL BUSINESS FAILURE!… and if you have enough of those days, 1 year from now, you will be in same position as you are now.

MY PERSONAL HEALTH GOAL
I will share with you one of my personal goals for 2012.  I want to be healthier and also get under 10% body fat again.  Many of my friends consider me a health freak and I used to do it so that I could feel good and live long.  But the birth of my son, Ethan has changed me in some ways where my goal to be healthy is not just about me but for my son.  I want to see him grow up, see my grandkids… and more importantly, to have the energy to play with my grandkids!  In order for that to happen, I need to refine and improve on my diet again.  Ever since Ethan was born, I have experienced what every parent experiences in terms of lack of sleep.  And lack of sleep makes me crave sweets, overeat and … basically… just eat junk!

So my goal is to be healthier in 2012 and get under 10% body fat again.  10% body fat gets harder and harder as you get older… and in order to accomplish my goal, I must do the following 3 things EVERYDAY:

1) Decrease my portion size by 50%.  I plan to fill up my plate with food and once I finish my plate, I will stop.  There will no such thing as having “seconds” or “thirds” anymore!

2) Cut out sweets and desserts (I love ice cream and chocolate but those days are done… anyway, those things give me short term satisfaction only.  After I eat them, I always regret and mentally I am never “happy”).  I also realize that I can’t cut it out completely so I will limit myself to having it once a month (instead of having it almost everyday!)

3) Eat my smallest meal during dinner and go to bed hungry.  One of the things I learned is that if you want to get by with less sleep, simply eat a smaller meal!  I have been going to bed hungry the last

or so and it works wonders!  I can sleep WAY less but have MORE energy than I used to!  (the biological reason is because digestion is the most energy zapping thing that our body goes through.  Digestion uses up more energy than exercise, working out, etc!)

SELF DEVELOPMENT GOAL LEADS TO DOUBLING YOUR INCOME

One more thing to share… since I am so passionate about self development and even more passionate about it since I have learned so much in the last 8 – 12 weeks.  I have a new self development goal.  I have learned over the years that if you want to double your income, you simply have to spend an hour a day studying your field and business.  Reading teaches you new skills that you can apply to business and life… and most importantly, reading exposes your mind to new ideas and those new ideas help you generate your OWN million dollar ideas.

So I want to double my income for 2012!

These are my daily actions and how I will double my income through self development:

1) Read 52 books in 2012.  I will read 40 – 50 pages a day and that will allow me to read 250 – 300 pages and finish 1 book a week  (most books are that length)

2) Listen to at least 30 minutes of audio books and seminars a day (I spend 30 minutes a day walking my dog, Obi so I will be listening to audios while I walk him.  I also listen to audios when I jog)

3) Spent 10 minutes reading blogs of the leader business people in my industry

For a quarterly goal, I also plan to attend 1 seminar every 12 weeks.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

So as you can see, I have put a lot of time to plan and think out my goals for 2012.

To repeat myself… remember… “If you fail to plan, you are simply planning to fail”

Average people (most people) spend more time planning their vacations and weekends than their lives.  Are you most people and want to live an average life or do you want to be better?

Let’s make 2012 a great year!

Sincerely,