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Setting Your Goals to Work!
Adapted from "Failure is NOT an Option" by Patty Benton,
www.virtualvacoach.com/vaguide.html
www.moretime4u.org
© 2005 JERPAT Virtual
Assistants
I was very fortunate to be included
in the Success Principles
Workshop with Cheryl Callighan
http://www.theentrepreneurstoolbox.com/.
Though I don't go into nearly as much detail and all the steps Cheryl
does, I have adapted some of the methods to work for me (you can
contact her and/or get the Success Principles by Jack Canfield to
expand upon his). I started in May, and have reached some goals that
I had set for a few years ago.
Before I start with the steps to
writing your goals, I want to first strongly encourage you to write
your goals down and then keep them posted where you will see
them daily. Read through them at least once a day, if not 3 or 4
times during the day. This will keep them fresh in your mind and
aware of where you are headed!
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First set 2-4 goals for each of the following areas. If you would
like to do more, that is fine. Be realistic, though, in what you want
to achieve. Note that in the example goals, I am very specific. I set
monetary values, numbers or anything else pertinent to know exactly
what I want to achieve with the specific goal.
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Financial- What would you like to achieve financially with your
business? Some people just want extra spending money, while others
need a set amount to quit their job.
Here is an example goal I set for myself: $125.00 for Anjonae’s
preschool.
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Career- Where would you like to go with your career? Do you want
to quit your job? Do you want to eventually not be working at all and
retire?
Here is an example goal I set: Start coaching 4 students/week (at
this time I was just establishing my coaching program).
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Personal Goals- What would you like to achieve for yourself? This
has nothing to do with your business, but everything to do with
keeping yourself healthy and happy (please note: These are not just
health goals, but any goals you want to accomplish in your personal
life).
Here is an example goal I set: Lose 50 lbs.
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Now that you have your goals set, determine when you will achieve
them by. Be realistic. Don’t say that by next week you will be making
$500 unless you are already working on a perspective client. Below
are the same goals I listed above with their specific achievement
dates. Just for your knowledge in seeing the time frame, these goals
were set approximately May 2, 2005.
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Financial- $125.00 for
Anjonae’s preschool by 8-31-05
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Career- Start coaching
4 students per week by 8-31-05 (I achieved this 6-13-05, so I added
to this goal that by 8-31-05 I would have 8 coaching students. By
8-31-05, I had 13 coaching students.)
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Personal Goals- Lose 50 lbs
by 12-31-05.
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Community Service or
Contribution- Donate services to church for
business book by 11-15-05 (I set this so far out because at that
point, I knew I had a lot going on during the summer and would not
have time to get this project moving.)
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Now that you have established your
goals and when you want to achieve them by, you need a plan of
action. Take each goal and decide the steps you need to take to
achieve them. Include any monetary expenses that will be involved, as
you need to ensure that you have the money to achieve that goal. If
you do not, then go back and change your achievement date to one that
will allow you the time to earn the necessary money. Here are example
plans of action. I did not include all of them, as I know you want to
finish this book in a relatively reasonable time frame.
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Financial- $125.00 for Anjonae’s preschool by 8-31-05
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Send out 100 postcards/month $40 on http://www.expresscopy.com
(This total includes printing, addressing with a list you provide,
stamps, and mailed.)
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Make 20 follow-up calls (or 1 hour’s worth) per week, starting one
week after postcards are mailed.
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Personal Goals- Lose 50 lbs by 12-31-05 (as of 6-31-05 I had lost
5 lbs-looking at that weight loss amount I will be adjusting my goal
to 3-31-06)
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Eat smaller portions and eat slower.
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Eat breakfast (I never did this before).
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Eat 1-2 small snacks during the day-no more than that!
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Do not eat 2 ½ hours to 3 hours before bed.
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Drink healthy drinks. No-sugar-added Kool-Aid and Diet A & W
Root beer are my drinks of choice.
Congratulations! You now have your
goals established. You will keep adding
and adjusting your goals as you go. If you need to adjust your goals
that are already set, go right ahead. It is very possible that you
will come across hitches that will limit you from reaching your goal
so you will need to make adjustments. Do not consider this failure,
consider this life! You won't fail unless you don't try! Sometimes it
takes us longer than we plan or want to reach a goal, and that is
okay. As long as you continue to work toward that goal, and adjust
them as needed.
One other thing I did was to put a picture of a house with mountains
in the background and horses in the front on my goals. My ultimate
goal (which was not listed above as I have many goals I need to reach
to achieve my ultimate goal) is to be able to custom build a house
with at least five acres of land. Since I live in Colorado near the
mountains and absolutely love my mountains, I want to be sure no
matter where I build my house, it is near the mountains and I can
have horses! The date I have set for this to be done is 12-12-12.
Make sure to have the big goals listed to! It is important to know
where you will end up, and what all the other goals are working
towards. Everyone has dreams of things they want to accomplish, so
set your goals to help you achieve your dreams!
Patty Benton runs a
training program for new entrepreneurs interested in venturing into the virtual assistance
industry that is affordable to all, and she has also written an e-book that
takes virtual assistants through the process of setting up their business. Visit
her coaching site at
www.virtualvacoach.com for program details and great business resources.
Additionally, Patty is the owner of JERPAT Virtual Assistants and JERPAT Web
Designs, www.moretime4u.org, which
provides affordable administrative and web design support to coaches, small
businesses, religious organizations, and more. She has also partnered to
establish the ministry Acknowledging Christ Together at Work
www.actatwork.com and is co-owner of
Virtual Business Group
www.virtualbizgroup.com an online networking organization for Virtual
Professionals.
©
2003-2007 JERPAT
You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, as long
as the text and byline remain unedited. A courtesy copy of your publication
would be appreciated.
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