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Running a Small Business & the Art of Writing Down Goals

Joey Donovan-Guido — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 23:07:56 +0000

So far, in our Running a Small Business series, we took a look at the Art of Balance, as well as five major facets related to goals:

In our final installment, we’re going to be talking about the importance of writing down our goals — the old-fashioned way — with pen (or pencil) and paper.

At first glance, this may seem like an unnecessary step, but writing down your goals can be a very powerful step in accomplishing a goal — in a timely manner.

Enter The Freedom Journal, a goals-centric book by John Lee Dumas, that helps you keep one big goal — front and center — on a daily basis.

Before we go any further, I’d like to mention that I did not receive this book for free, nor was I solicited by the author to review it. I’m including The Freedom Journal in this post because it’s something I’ve been using to write my first full-length book — A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why writing down goals can be so powerful, and how the structure of The Freedom Journal can exponentiate that power …

Why Writing Down Goals Works

Writing it down makes it tangible. No longer a thought in your head, your goal is physically manifested on paper.
It also makes your goal crystal clear. And if it’s not crystal clear, this becomes obvious once you’ve documented and contemplated the goal. If this is the case, you can do the necessary work to make it clear as a bell. For more on this, be sure to check out the Art of Defining Goals.
It makes you accountable IF you’re referring to, and acting upon, your goal on a daily basis. This is where The Freedom Journal can be of assistance …

How The Freedom Journal Works

The journal is exactly what it sounds like — a journal for you to write in. But this isn’t just a journal of blank pages. On the contrary, it’s full of information that’s geared to help you clearly define a single goal, using the S.M.A.R.T. goals methodology (explained in the book), and then work on it daily for 100 days.

The journal is segmented very nicely for goal setting and accomplishment.
For 100 days, it gives you a page to document your goals first thing in the morning, and a page to recap how things went before your go to bed.
To help you accomplish your 100-day goal, the book is also broken down into 10-day sprints, and quarterly reviews to help you accomplish smaller goals, which are all stepping stones to your reaching your big goal on time.
Going back to what I mentioned earlier about accountability, The Freedom Journal helps you stay accountable for your goal because you’re checking in on the goal EVERY DAY.
This also helps you remain MINDFUL of your goal. In fact, it’s impossible to be anything BUT mindful about it. It’s top of mind, which means it’s much more likely you are going to take action on your goal daily!

I’ve set up my journal in a way that allows me to succeed — making the book the 1st project I work on every day. And even though I’m a goals guy, writing my book consistently was an ongoing struggle until I started using the journal. I simply needed a tool to help me stay mindful and accountable of my goal — instead of getting caught up in the minutia of the day.

As you might have guessed, I’ve found The Freedom Journal to be easy to use, and very effective.

The only thing I needed to accomplish outside of the journal was to create a detailed description of my S.M.A.R.T. goal.

I hope this post helps you get in the habit of writing down your goals and working on them every day!

Check out the other installments of the series:

For more info on The Freedom Journal, check out TheFreedomJournal.com.

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Running a Small Business & the Art of Setting Goals

Joey Donovan-Guido — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 17:40:02 +0000

So far, this series has talked about three major topics involved in running a small business: The Art of Balance, The Art of Discovering Goals, and The Art of Defining Goals.

In today’s installment, we’re going to dive into how to set goals in a way that increases your chances of actually accomplishing them.

It All Starts with a Step-by-Step Plan of Action

Once you’ve discovered and clearly defined your goals, the next step is breaking them down into what I like to call “bite-sized” steps. Why bit-sized? Because bite-sized steps can be accomplished on a regular basis — even by people with ridiculously busy schedules.

Think of it like a pizza. How many people do you know who can sit down and eat an entire pizza in one bite? Nobody, right? In order to eat a pizza (or at least part of a pizza) it first needs to be cut into slices. Being from NY, these must be triangular slices — not square!

Once your pizza is cut into slices, it’s a little more manageable, but you still have to take one bite at a time in order to eat the whole slice.

It’s the same with your goals.

Ultimately, if we take steps on a daily basis (no matter how small) we’re moving ourselves closer to goal attainment.

Here’s global view of what my mentor, Zig Ziglar, has to say about the goals process. His fantastic book, See You At The Top, goes into great detail about this subject:

Identify EXACTLY what you desire
Spell out exactly why you’d like to reach these goals
List the obstacles you need to overcome in order to get there
Identify the people, groups and organizations you need to work with to get there
Identify what you need to know (learn) in order to reach these goals
Develop a plan of action
Set a date on it — when do you expect to get there?

Regarding that last point, it’s important to remember that we may not reach a goal on the intended date — but we’ve still got to set an exact deadline. Without an actual date, you may find yourself perpetually on the road to accomplishing a goal “one year from now.”

That being said, it’s important to be kind to ourselves during the process, because things like missed milestones happen — even to the best of us.

Plus, some things are out of our control. And if you’re a parent, lack of time and energy are real obstacles that may hinder rapid accomplishment. Fear not, it’s still possible, as long as you become a master at setting a step-by-step plan that can easily be accomplished.

And if part of a plan simply doesn’t work? This is not only OK, but a healthy part of the process.

If this happens, it may feel like a failure — but it’s NOT! In fact, it’s a mini-success because it’s given us the opportunity to ADJUST THE PLAN. And with proper adjustment, we can realign ourselves more closely with the end goal.

If all of this seems overwhelming, that’s normal. But if you allow yourself to believe that you can do this, you will. If you believe that you can’t, you won’t. In other words, your perception will create your reality.

Goals & the Kindergarten-to-College Analogy

I’d like to take a deeper look into the process by sharing what I call the “kindergarten-to-college analogy.” ANYBODY who tried to look at this scenario as a point A to point B endeavor would be completely overwhelmed. Here’s a way it can be broken down:

THE GOAL: To graduate college
WHERE I’M AT: Kindergarten

Here’s the step-by-step hierarchy to accomplishing my goal:

Section it off by grammar school, middle school, high school and college
Now break it down by grade (year): kindergarten, grade 1, etc.
By semester
By month
By week
By day
By class

You get the idea.

Each step leads us closer to our goal of graduating college, but could you imagine trying to leap past all of those steps at once?

Do you do this to yourself with your business goals?

It’s much easier to complete your goal if you look and act upon it from the “by class” level. Now it’s manageable — a small enough bite that you can actually chew on it, instead of choking.

One Final Note on Setting Goals

You may not have the whole plan in place when you start, and that’s OK. As Zig Ziglar always said, “go as far as you can see, and you will see further.” In other words, lay out as many steps as you can, adjust as necessary, and as you move forward more steps will clarify.

The biggest trick here is making sure each step or action you take is bite-sized.

Thank you for visiting Cuppa SEO! I wish you the best of luck in accomplishing your goals.

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The #1 Book to Read — Whether You’re a Business Owner or Not

Joey Donovan-Guido — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 23:05:11 +0000

It’s the book about you.

You read that right. This book is all about you, and believe it or not — it’s extraordinary.

To begin, write down your story thus far, including some of the major peaks and valleys that have lead you to where you’re currently at. These can be personal, professional or both.

This is the story that’s been written SO FAR, and now comes the truly creative part …

YOU GET TO WRITE THE REST OF YOUR STORY.

Sound scary? Tempted to stop reading (in other words, are you resisting)? That’s OK. But please read on for the sake of your own future.

What we’re really talking about here are goals. And whether your goals are crystal clear, or completely unknown, this article can help move your story forward. Regardless of where you’re at, whether it’s been the most challenging chapter of your life or the most successful, don’t allow someone else to write your story.

Let’s take a look at a process that can help you discover, define, set and accomplish your goals. In other words, what needs to happen — step-by-step — in order to have the story end like you want? If you happen to know exactly what your goals are already, feel free to skip the discovery section and dive right into defining your goals further.

A Practical Plan to Attaining Your Goals

Discovering Your Goals
I wasn’t kidding about writing stuff down, and although there’s no need to literally write an entire book (unless you want to), you’ll need to take out a piece of paper, open a Word doc, or if you’re like me … a Moleskine.

Now, get comfortable in a quiet place where the kids won’t disturb you. Mute your phone, and shut down you email. Close your eyes (or keep them open) and imagine what you’d like your life to look like five years from now — if there were no obstacles in your way. What would you like to be doing with your life or your business? Whatever comes to mind, no matter how outrageous, write it down. And don’t leave out any details!

If you feel stuck, simply ask yourself the following question: what do I love to do the most?

Create your list of goals based on the answer to this question. Let your answer be your focal point, so everything you write down is connected to it in some way. If you focus on doing what you love, you’ll be more apt to do a fantastic job with it. As far as things you “kind-of like to do?” They don’t make the list.

Once your list is complete, set it aside for a couple of days before going back to it and eliminating all but the most interesting things you’re most passionate about. You now have a list of goals to choose from. Which will be the plot points in your story?

Clearly Defining Your Goals
Vagueness leaves us directionless, but goals brimming with details give us a crystal clear view of what our future looks like. Add as many details as you can to each of your goals, making them as vivid as possible. A clearly-defined goal is like an address you type into your GPS. It’s very specific. There’s no doubt about where you’re headed. And if you can’t literally visualize what a goal looks like, just describe it in words.

Setting Your Goals
Next up is setting a step-by-step plan of action. Just remember, you may not have the whole plan in place when you start, but you will be clear on your destination. To begin, document as many preliminary steps as you can. As one of my mentors Zig Ziglar used to say, “go as far as you can see. When you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.”

The most important part of setting goals is to make sure each step (or action) is “bite-sized.” In other words, make sure it’s something you can handle. Five manageable steps get accomplished, while one giant leap often leads to a big fall.

Overcoming Obstacles
Early on, every writer learns about building conflict (obstacles) into their story. And although you won’t intentionally be planning obstacles into your goals, although some of us may be in the habit of getting in our own way, there may be times when you’ll face an obstacle or two on your way to reaching your goals.

I always like to say, an obstacle is like a hurdle, and sometimes it’s just plain easier to walk around it than try to jump over it.

If an obstacle manifests, examine it and turn it into an opportunity. What do you need to do in order to remove the obstacle, crush it into the ground, or simply avoid it? A positive outlook, even in the face of short-term failure, is a major contributor to long-term success. Look at Thomas Edison. Each of his 10,000+ failures to create a workable lightbulb could have been an obstacle that stopped him from continuing. Instead, Edison used failure as a lesson as to what to do differently next time.

Keeping your plan of action flexible, and making revisions as necessary, is a surefire way of increasing your odds for successfully accomplishing your goals.

Put a Date on It!
A goal with a deadline of “one year from now,” is doomed before you start. Why? Because next month your deadline will still be one year from now.

More powerful, and more effective, is to put a specific date on each of your goals. It’s human nature to step it up when a deadline approaches. Make it attainable — and make it specific.

May your story be legendary!

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