[Today is a guest post by David Moore]

Goal Setting?  

Do a Google search and you’ll find 89,100,000 results.  You’ll find S.M.A.R.T. goals, workbooks, workshops, tips, techniques, and tricks.  All of these CAN work if you DO the work.  Even with 89 million results, I’m about to share something different because it comes directly from my personal experience.

I think I enjoy the goal setting process, the writing, planning and scheduling, nearly as much as the achievement.  Have I achieved every goal I’ve set?  Of course not.  If anyone has ever done that the goals weren’t big enough.

Regardless of the goal setting methods you use, the following thoughts can help you refine and strengthen your process.  Combined, you improve the chances of achieving your goals.

1. RESEARCH

Not that you don’t already know what you want to achieve, but so some research about others who have done the same thing.  You will see a trend in how long, on average, it takes to achieve this goal or something similar.  If the research indicates that most achieve this in 6 months, it doesn’t make much sense to set your goal for 6 weeks.

For example, I recently set a goal to complete a half marathon.  I have run several 5K’s over the last few years and just completed an 8K.  So I started entertaining thoughts of completing a half marathon.  As I did my research,  I found several training programs that lasted 12 weeks.  So now I know what kind of time frame I needed to be properly prepared.

2. CALENDAR

This is my favorite part.  I go to the calendar.  I prefer using the Google monthly calendar and print out each month on a separate page.  I’m able to make notes on it and number the weeks.  I like to use different colored markers.  You can write in vacations or special events that might delay the goals progress.

Now that I knew the average time needed for my half marathon training, I was able to make detailed plans on my calendar.  I found an event that I wanted to run.  It happened to be 32 weeks out.  I took the 12 week training program and modified it for 24 weeks.  This gives me plenty of time to train and has plenty of “margin” for any emergency or injury that might occur.  This level of detail and the “extra” time for contingencies also helps with the positive mindset.  So if a setback occurs, you already know you have that built into your plan.

3. TESTS

As you progress towards your goal, it’s nice to have some checkpoints along the way just to figure out where you are.  Look at it like a ‘mid-term’ exam.  But you need something as close to the ‘real world’ or ‘real-time’ as possible.  You find out where you stand, how far you have come and what it’s gonna take to finish.

For me, this is smaller races like the 5K, 8K, or 10K’s.  I don’t plan on “peaking” for these races.  They will substitute for one of the weekly training runs under “game conditions”.   When I used to play competitive golf, this would be weekend invitationals or even practicing under certain conditions.  You then use this ‘real-time’ feedback to make any needed adjustments in your planning.

4. SUPPORT

Support of a “team” could mean the difference between success or failure.  You’ve got to have a support system.  It makes the process so much more enjoyable.  You don’t feel like you are climbing this mountain of achievement by yourself.

Hopefully, this support will come from your spouse/girlfriend, family and close friends.  Training partners (business partners) understand in an intimate way the struggles you face everyday as you press on.  Supporters can encourage, cheer for you and hold you accountable.  They can be that someone who gets in your face if you get lazy or just need a kick in the ass.

5. HUSTLE

You may not be the smartest.  You may not be the richest.  You may not be the most talented.  But you can bet your sweet ass, that nobody can work harder than you.

Pete Rose was my childhood hero when I played baseball.  So much, in fact, my nickname was “Pete”.  I wasn’t the biggest, fastest or strongest.  But nobody could out hustle me.  And I knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that on THAT day and during THAT workout…nobody was working their ass off harder than I was.  No one was going to out hustle me.  Hustle doesn’t take talent.  And you can’t teach hustle.

6. SACRIFICE

There is a price to pay.  Expect it. Prepare for it.  There will be sacrifice.  Hopefully it won’t be something as important as a marriage or other vital relationships. But many times, you’ve heard the stories, relationships don’t get the necessary attention because that quality time has been diverted toward the pursuit of a goal.

The bigger the goal and the bigger the stretch, the more laser-like focus and tunnel vision required.  For me personally, during the pursuit of a major goal in the mid-80’s my marriage suffered.  It didn’t fail, but it was seriously tested.

Consider all the above…and answer this:

Will you enjoy the journey and the attainment?

What lessons have you learned from success and failure during goal pursuit?

Tim Ferriss talks about the benefits of “transfer”? How can you use this goal to transfer the benefits to other areas?

Lastly, Was it worth it?

 

This is a guest post by David A. Moore from Living a Better Story with davidamoore.com.  He writes about living a more adventurous and inspirational life story…starting today!  You can learn more About David and follow him on Twitter @davidamoore.

 

Photo by Air Combat Command

[Today is a guest post by Chad Ettebrick. He created an iPhone app after reading about my story. I wanted him to share his experience.] 

Let’s face it.  We all have an idea that we think will take us from the ranks of blog readers and wantrepreneurs to the ranks of business owners, entrepreneurs, MILLIONAIRES!

If you have read Benny’s awesome posts about his luck from creating apps, then you may be interested in chasing the dream of mega-app in the app store.  I recently released my first app, and wanted to share a little about the process to hopefully inspire you to chase your dreams.

First, a little about me.  I’ve done a little of everything.  I spent time doing the corporate grind.  I’ve worked in Mom & Pop businesses.  But for me, the real goal has always been to create something.  For a couple of years, I have carried a Moleskine notebook around and recorded ideas.  The first major idea that I thought would work was an online music instrument store.  It taught me a couple things.

Continue Reading…

[Today is a guest post by finance blogger Carrie Smith.]

Some people can weather failure better than others, but I’m not one of them. It takes me a long time to work up the courage to try something new, and if I fail I will be even more careful in the future.

That’s not a good way to approach life, and I’ve been diligently working to change that for several years. It’s been a little over 2 years since my divorce. We were high school sweethearts, and I was madly in love with him from the moment I met him.

We thought we were the perfect dream team, but we didn’t take our relationship seriously, and all the pressures of life caved in on us. The biggest thing I’ve realized, while I may have been very naive, is that I gave up too quickly.

The vows of marriage should not be taken lightly. Many things in life, especially relationships, take work, dedication and trust, all of which I didn’t fully understand. Here are the biggest lessons I’ve learned on my journey.

Take your time

Whether it’s committing to a relationship or new job, or trying to get over a failed one, you have to take your time. You don’t want to make any rash decisions, or commit to something you might regret later. Only now, am I able to think clearly about the whole situation and everything that went on. I’m learning not to let other people’s views tell me what I should or shouldn’t do with my life.

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(Today is a guest post by author and entrepreneur Steve Rice. Thank you Steve!)

“I’ll try” or “I’m trying” is a cop-out as Yoda points out in this succinct insight from Star Wars.

It is a way for us to hedge our bets on life. The problem is that life is an “all in” game.  There are no hedged bets. You have to play through. There is no other option.

Take Action in the Face of Fear

Facing fear head-on can be debilitating. In college, I remember walking to my freshman speech class in a cold sweat, with my legs shaking and heart pounding. I bargained with myself. If I can just get through this, I won’t ever have to speak in public again.

Fate has a cruel sense of humor.

Two years after I graduated, a friend encouraged me to join her Toastmasters club.  I didn’t know very much about the Toastmasters organization.

She described it as a communications and leadership organization focused on personal development. I was intrigued by the “personal development” part, and I guess I kinda glossed over the “communications” part!

Despite my fear of public speaking, I decided to stick it out. My skills improved, and I gained greater confidence in my speech making abilities. I went on to lead the club and represent it in various speech competitions.

Create Positive Experience “Landmarks”

What I found in facing my fear of giving a public presentation is that taking direct action by doing the thing I feared most allowed me to construct positive experience “landmarks” (ie positive feedback and applause) around the feared action.

These positive experience landmarks helped me build a different relationship with my fear. Instead of being paralyzed by it, I could look back and see the progress I had made in spite of it.

These landmarks them motivated me to continue building my skills.  As my skills increased, so did my confidence.  As my confidence increased, my fear in the unknown abated and my general anxiety subsided.

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This is a guest post by Gregory Ciotti

I have had the fortune to meet a lot of successful businessmen (and women) at my time working for First State Innovation, and nearly every time I’ve talked with a successful entrepreneur I feel like I’ve walked away having learned something very valuable about pursuing my passions and making them work as a successful business.

While that may be a lesson in itself (seeking out advice from those with experience), I knew I had to take the bits of insight that I had picked up from being surrounded by successful people and use them to compile a list of my own personal “rules” that I would abide by to find my own success.

I wanted to share them with you today, along with some personal examples that were given in their telling, in hopes that you can be inspired to adopt and create some of your own rules that you will follow on your path to success, wherever it may take you.

1. The Best Investment Is In Yourself: Invest In Training

There are so many things to invest your money, and more importantly, your time into, but none are so valuable as the resources that you invest in yourself.

You are your own product, and just as you must market yourself correctly, you must also improve yourself.

Make sure that the current version of “you” out their on the market is the latest release, and assure others that updates will be coming out regularly, and they will trust in your abilities, and in your ability to deliver down the line.

But investing in yourself does not stop with skills and knowledge, it also means investing in your health, which encompasses both mental and physical.

On entrepreneur who I admire but haven’t met is Noah Kagan of AppSumo. I bring him up because he once mentioned what he considered a few aspects of a potentially good employee were, and one of the traits he came up with was a person who worked out consistently.

I was unsure of what he meant by this at first, but it didn’t take long for me to fully grasp why after he gave his reasoning.

When you take care of yourself, it shows to others many things, but most importantly, it shows you are willing and able to put in consistent effort everyday to make sure things stay as they should.

This is not to discount the work ethic of some people who aren’t too keen on working out, but consider this: if you can make yourself go to the gym everyday, an activity you may or may not enjoy, in order to take care of your health, what does that say about you?

To me, it says you are willing to make a commitment to something for your betterment, despite the fact that it may be something you don’t exactly jump for joy looking forward too (let’s be honest, even those of us that love the gym aren’t looking forward to it every single session, but yet we make ourselves go even on days when we’d rather stay home).

So, taking care of yourself by keeping your body, and mind, up to snuff, says a lot about your commitment to self-improvement, and it speaks volumes to others in ways that you might not think.

Noah says that he always asks his potential employees about whether or not they consistently work out, and while you may not hold those around you or whom you employ to the same standard, I think the idea of bettering yourself as a way to teach good work ethic is something that we can all support.

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(Today is a guest post by Matthew Hooper. I’m still in Las Vegas, so thanks to Matthew for stepping in with a guest post.)

I really appreciate the opportunity to write a guest post here for Benny. The thing that I admire the most about Benny is his get busy living approach to life. There isn’t anyone out there that can argue that Benny doesn’t wait around asking for permission to get busy. He simply gets busy.

There’s an App for That

The most recent example of this is how Benny put his head down and came up with an app for the iTunes App Store. This isn’t an app that just got lost in the depths of the iTunes store, this is an app that quickly became a hit and earned $4,739 in a single weekend! His app later went on to get featured as App of the Week in the iTunes App Store, which turned the app into an even bigger success.

This may appear to have happened overnight but really it didn’t. Benny will be the first one to tell you that he spent seven months getting this app developed. Benny wasn’t an expert in app development when he started. He simply got busy with his idea and turned it into a success because of his willingness to get busy.

Backing Up a Bit

If we backup even further, Benny got to a point in his life where he wanted to set some goals and make a change. He also wanted to get to a point where he was able to earn a living online and live the way he wanted to live. One of the things that he did in the beginning was that he got busy building his internet presence and you can too.

You can start by getting your blog up and running. You don’t even need to be an expert at building websites. The whole process is very simple if you go out and find the right tools for the job. You might be thinking that you can’t build your own website and you might be right. However, let’s rephrase that statement a little. Maybe what you should have said is that you don’t know how to build your own website… right now. Things can change.

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(Today’s guest post is written by language coach Aaron Myers, who shared a story with me of writing and mailing letters to his future self between the ages of 25-50. Blown away by that, I asked him to write to share his story.)

 

Benny’s blog post, What I Would Say to Myself Five Years Ago and Five Years From Now reminded me of my own letter writing adventure.

While Benny’s letters were inspired by a writing project called #trust30 and Corbett Barr’s question, my journey began with fear and has lead to a life filled with receiving letters from myself.  In the beginning though, it began with a conversation.

It was 1995. I was twenty one, a junior in college and preeminently occupied with the idealistic irrationality of youth. But then one night I got scared.  I was enjoying a good talk under an expanse of Kansas stars with a friend. Conversation ranged in and out of dreams and challenges and faith and eventually, our fears.

Chris shared her heartache over a relationship with a father who – while a good man – never really understood her.  They were like two strangers, who after sharing a home for eighteen years, had now parted company.  She cried at the loss.  And I shook with fear.

The proclamation that her father did not know her set me back and I wondered at the overwhelming challenge that one day fatherhood would bring.

That night as I walked through quiet streets to my apartment on the edge of town, I decided that I did not want that lot in life.  I determined to do something to avoid such a fate, to avoid raising a daughter with whom I had no relationship.

And so I did what any reasonable English major would do.

I got out a sheaf of college ruled paper, brewed a pot of coffee and wrote a long letter of challenge and encouragement and warning to myself to be received on the day my first daughter was born.

 

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Today’s guest post is by the brilliant Stuart Mills who writes at Unlock the Door. I used a video for the intro because the concept, the creativity, the music and the traveling, got me excited about life. 

Ever get really excited about something?

I hope you have. The feeling of excitement is an important part of being human. It means we get to generate feelings of joy and happiness and adrenaline. That pumped up sensation courses through our veins, and we truly believe that we can take on the world. We feel that whatever it is that we’re doing, is the very reason why we were born.

What gets us excited? It could be anything in the world. For some, it may be complex things such as tackling a major project at work, or getting ready to live abroad. For others, it may be simple things like spending a romantic meal with your loved one, or reading a good book. No matter what it actually is, the key is that you get excited about it. Everybody gets excited about something, right?

In theory, “yes”, everybody does get excited about ‘something’, but look at the people around the streets and the towns, and you’ll see that this theory hasn’t quite worked out in practice. There are many miserable faces. There are many dejected souls. These people haven’t found excitement, and it’s sad to watch whole lives drift by like this. Changes need to be made.

There Are No Spare Parts

If you asked 100 people what their ‘life-purpose’ was, the majority of them wouldn’t even know what you were talking about. If pushed, they’d probably respond with vague answers involving raising their kids or getting a better job, or even washing the car more often. If you asked me what I believe a ‘life-purpose’ is, I’d respond very differently.

Here’s what I think about life-purposes – everybody has a reason to be here on this planet. There are no spare people who can’t do anything other than drift around and live unfulfilling lives. If you’re living and breathing, then you have a specific reason to be here right now. Whether that reason is a grand one involving building great structures, or a simpler one such as helping your local community to grow, we all have a reason to live for. And do you want to know the useful part? Whatever your reason is, you’re going to get excited about it. Continue Reading…