Published 2014 by Pure Spirit Creations, a division of ninaamir.com http://www.ninaamir.com Copyright 2014 Nina Amir No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. All inquiries should be addressed to: nina@ninaamir.com. Pure Spirit Creations 15383 Stetson Road Los Gatos, CA 95033 Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the nina@ninaamir.com. How to Create and Achieve Your Goals/Nina Amir. 1st ed.
How to Prepare to Meet Your Goals: Yearly Review With this year almost over, it s time to start thinking about the goals you want to accomplish in the New Year. I suggest using a three-part process to help you actually do more than just think about your goals and actually accomplish them. It involves reviewing the past year, setting new goals and then creating an action plan for accomplishing your new goals. First, tackle the yearly review. If you had a regular job, you might sit down with your boss once a year and have a review. Your boss would look at your performance and possibly even measure it against the goals you set at the beginning of the previous year. You might have created markers to meet before you could earn a raise or a bonus. As a writer, author, speaker, coach, conscious businessperson, or entrepreneur, you serve as your own boss. Therefore, it s important to give yourself the same type of review for the work you did last year.
Take a piece of paper and write down the goals you had for this past year and determine if you accomplished them. If you actually wrote down goals last year, get out the list and see how many of them you can check off. If you didn t write them down, think about what you hoped you might accomplish over the last 12 months. Make an after-the-fact list; then consider how many of these action items you completed or even started. If you never even thought about your goals for this past year, that s something to ponder especially if you don t feel you accomplished much this past year. Now ask yourself some important questions: Did you accomplish your goals? Exceed your goals? (Write down the percentage of goals you accomplished.) How do you measure up based on the goals you set (or didn t set) last year to the year before (2013 vs. 2014)? Did you accomplish more this year or less? The same? Do you deserve a promotion? A raise? A bonus? Or should you be fired? As you plan where you want to go in your career or business in the New Year, consider how you handled the past year s goals. What stopped you from accomplishing them? Are these excuses or problems you need to resolve before the New Year begins so you can get more done and move forward with your career more smoothly? Make a list of the top 3-5 things you can do differently this coming year to help you get more done and move closer to fulfilling your potential. Now and this is important write down your top three accomplishments over the past 12 months. Then go celebrate them.
How to Prepare to Meet Your Goals: Setting Goals To achieve your goals in the New Year you need to spend time actually setting them. Sounds silly, right? Maybe, but many people never bother to think seriously about their goals, write them down and create a timeline for when they want to accomplish them. If you don t bother to go through this exercise, your results likely won t be stellar in the New Year. As mentioned previously, begin the process of writing goals for the New Year with a review of the last year. Once you have a clear picture of what you accomplished in the past and still need and want to accomplish in the future you are ready to move on to goal setting for to upcoming year. You will probably discover you have two types of goals: 1. Goals you feel passionate about or that you feel support your purpose 2. Goals you know you must or should achieve to reach your other goals
It s important to realize that the first type of goal is dependent upon the second type of goal. Yet, it s easier to accomplish the first type of goal. Why? A goal about which you feel passionate will feel easy for you to pursue. It likely also fits into your inner sense of purpose why you write and that makes you want to take action towards achieving it. When you combine your passion and your purpose you feel inspired and tend to take action easily. You feel energized and excited; you want to do what it takes to accomplish your goal. When you simply know you must or should do something, you may not have that same energy or excitement about the tasks at hand. That s why around New Year s Eve it s common to resolve to do something differently. You don t really want to change or take on that activity; you just know you should. And it isn t long before you stop doing whatever you said you would and, therefore, fail to meet your goal. So, find a way to feel as passionate about the second type of goal as the first. Do this by realizing they support the first type of goal. Here s how to set goals and actually achieve them: 1. Make a list of your goals for this coming year and prioritize them. 2. For each goal, create a timetable for exactly when you want to achieve it. 3. Describe what the achievement of each goal will look and feel like in great detail. 4. Make a mark by the goals you feel less passionate about. 5. Get a calendar and mark on it the dates you plan to achieve your writing goals. Vague goals produce vague results. Be very specific. Pursue the goals that are most important to you and about which you feel most passionate.
How to Set Goals for a Successful Year Over the years, there s been debate about whether or not goal setting works. However, I m a firm believer in using goals to help me achieve the success I desire. So have some of the people I admire and whose advice I follow, such as Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield and Michael Hyatt. I ve successfully used goals with my clients as well. That said, you have to know how to set and use goals if you want to achieve them. Use them incorrectly, and you might find they hinder, rather than, help you. To set your goals for the coming year, begin by writing down three major goals you want to accomplish this year and three to five minor goals you d like to achieve. For example, here are my 2014 goals, which all related to writing and publishing:
Primary Goals: 1. Make my new book, The Author Training Manual, an Amazon bestseller in the first month on the market. 2. Write a new book proposal before the end of the year. 3. Write the first draft of my next book by March 30, 2014. Secondary Goals: 1. Combine two of my websites by June 30, 2014. 2. Close down two of my static websites by July 1, 2014. 3. Create an affiliate system for my products by January 15, 2014. 4. Produce two new e-books from blog content by June 1, 2014. How to Write Your Goals Some people like to talk about writing SMART Goals because they have many qualities that help you achieve them, including a clear description or definition (specific), deadlines (timely) and a way to determine if you have achieved them (measurable): Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Time-Bound How to Achieve Your Goals Here are 7 tips for how to achieve your goals. 1. Be sure not to make your goals to large a stretch, even though the idea of doing so can seem positive. In fact, if you fail, you ll be less likely to attempt any goal, let alone a related one, again. Set yourself up for success. Your goals should be attainable and realistic.
2. Be sure your goals line up with your passions. Remember, you are creating your goals; you should be passionate about these since they constitute your career. Develop a career around the work that inspires you. 3. Don t let your goals revolve only around accumulation of things or getting more making more money, having a larger platform or selling more books. All of this might help you succeed, but you will find it easier to achieve your goals if you tie them into your values and your sense of purpose or mission. That is why sometimes you will see SMART goals with the realistic changed to relevant ; both words make a huge difference to actually achieving your goal since it must be both realistic and relevant. 4. Keep in mind the difference between your intentions and your goals. An intention has a huge amount of power once set. It is the direction you want intend to take or the action you intend to pursue. Hopefully you do so with passion, lending even more positive energy to that intention. If you intend to become a professional journalist, for example, because this fits with your values and a sense of purpose, you will find yourself creating goals easily and effortlessly that are always on purpose with your intention. 5. Don t get stuck in the negative sinkhole of focusing on what you don t have right now. This produces negative emotions that make it difficult for you to move toward achievement of your goals. Be grateful for what you do have and for every baby step you make toward your goal. 6. Be kind to yourself. Accept where you are now as you look toward the future. Don t compare yourself to others. You are traveling at your own speed toward your own destination. 7. Be accountable to someone. This can make a huge difference to whether or not you achieve your goals. For this reason, sometimes the realistic in SMART goals is changed to reportable. So, do consider sharing your goals in the comment section below. That s what I d like you to do every Friday anyway share your prompt. This week it s more important to do so than any other week. Let us witness your goals so you can make them reportable.
The New Type of Smart Goal Take this idea a step farther and utilize a new type of smart goal. When you create your goals, make them: Sensational: Your goals should excite and inspire you and possibly be part of a larger goal or bold, audacious plan. Moving: You should feel emotionally attached to your goals; they should move you. Aspirational: Your goals should involve things you strive toward; taking action toward them should creates a sense that you are taking steps to fulfill your purpose and to make a meaningful and positive difference in the world or in other people s lives. Relevant: Your goals should have meaning in your life and to the big picture of what you hope to achieve, the legacy you want to leave, how you want to serve others, and the difference you want to make. Timeless: Your goals should be attached to a big picture, or vision, that extends beyond this moment and into the future. Take time to define your business and career goals using both types of SMART goals. Then read these goals two or three times per day every day for the next four weeks (and onward).
How to Prepare to Meet Your Goals: Action Plan Now that you know how to conduct a yearly review and set your goals, create an action plan to make sure you accomplish your goals. This is the most important step of the three-part process. Once you ve gone through the process described earlier made a list of goals by priority, created a timetable for achieving your goals, described your goals, marked the goals you feel less passionate about, and placed the goals on your calendar by planned date of completion you are ready to develop your action plan. To do this, write down each goal again. Now, for each goal:
List 3-5 things you know you must do to achieve the goal. Maybe you need to make a phone call, write 10 chapters, send out a query letter, etc. You get the idea. Write down 1-3 things that will help you achieve your goal that you would enjoy doing. If you close your eyes and think about what you would do right now to achieve the goal, what would it be? What do you want to do? List 1-3 things that will help you achieve your goal that you feel inspired to do. Again, close your eyes. Do any thoughts float into your mind? Do you get any images? Does your intuition tell you to do something unusual or unexpected? Write these things down and do them, too. Then get out your calendar and start plotting these action steps on your calendar. Make sure you have at least 1-2 of them scheduled per week possibly more. And as for those goals you felt less passionate about, this is where you give them a little extra attention. Place the action steps for those goals early in the week and early in the year. Get them done and over with! If you use these three steps yearly review, written goals and an action plan t0 prepare for the New Year, you are sure to achieve your goals.
How to Succeed in the New Year I ve written often about goal achievement. I ve discussed creating business plans, branding, setting goals, and taking action. To pull all these concepts together here is one piece of advice that makes everything work. It will help you achieve success in any endeavor. Follow this advice to succeed in life. Show Up Here s the advice: Show up. To succeed at anything you do in this world, you must show up. You can t hide in the shadows or off at the corner of the stage, you must come into the light, take center stage. You have to be willing to share your message. Say what you believe. You have to do what you say you want to do. You have to show the world who you are and share your talents and gifts. Unfold Here s another way to think about it: Unfold.
As we grow up, we tend to fold ourselves up like a piece of paper. For many reasons, we become afraid to show the word all the facets of who we are. And so we fold and fold and fold until we become quite small and people can only see one or two sides of what makes up the greater whole of our true self. To succeed, we must unfold, unfold, unfold until the whole paper lies open for all to see. We have to return ourselves to our original form, pure and whole. Become large! Become all of who you are. Authenticity That s what people mean when they talk about authenticity. Be yourself. Allow others to see you the real you. Don t hide any of you. Let the real you come out in your writing, in your speaking and teaching, in the products and services you provide, and in everything you do. Don t pretend to be someone else. Be you. The world doesn t need more people who are like those who have come before. They need more unique souls. As author Louise Hay once wrote, You re great! There is no one like you on the planet. There never has been and there never will be. You are forever a unique, divine creation. Show up as that unique, divine creation you are. Be Brave Don t let anything stop you from showing up. If you do, your success will be hindered. Playing small does not serve you. Play big. Remember the words of author Marianne Williamson, often repeated, even by the late Nelson Mandela (and don t be put of by the use of the word God or the spiritual overtones in this quote just hear the message): Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the World. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. As we let our own Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Play Big I know this isn t an easy task. I work daily at showing up, unfolding and playing big. Often I have to deal with my fear all sorts of fear. As you move into the New Year, know I m there with you as are more people than you know. Take a step out onto the stage and let your light shine. Know, as Williamson said so well above, this is why you and I are here. We are supposed to fulfill our potential. We are supposed to realize our dreams. We are supposed to give to the world the talents and gifts we possess. We are supposed to show our greatness. And when you do this, you inspire others to do so as well. You ll also feel compelled to move daily toward your goals and to achieve them.
Create Your Dream Career You always can think of a reason not to do what you say you want to do. How often do you find reasons to do what is necessary instead? Not often. I ve heard the reasons: You don t have the money. You don t have the time. Your significant other (or your mother or siblings or friends) won t approve. You don t think you re good enough, smart enough, expert enough, old enough, or young enough. You have too many responsibilities. Truthfully, these reasons are excuses. How do I know this? Because the people who really want to do something always do. They find the money. They find the time. They drop their self-doubt and fear. They make realizing their dreams a priority despite other responsibilities. What about you? Are you ready? Will this be the year that you drop the excuses and do whatever it takes to create your dream career or business? Do you really want to become successful? I hope so.
How to Move in the Direction of Your Dreams Henry David Thoreau said, If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. It can be that simple. To begin creating your dream career in 2015, start by taking the two steps mentioned by Thoreau: 1. Take steps toward your dream. 2. Live the life you imagine. First, chunk down your dream career into manageable pieces you work on one by one. Identifying smaller pieces helps you feel less overwhelmed, gives you a starting point and helps you take action. If you want to become a freelance writer, for example, your small steps might include: Brainstorm 10 article ideas Write query letters for each idea Find suitable magazines for each idea Tweak the query letters (and ideas) to fit the magazines Send out the query letters Write the articles If you want to become an author, you might break down your goal into the following steps: Brainstorm a book idea Brainstorm associated spin-off books and products Develop a business plan for the book Build author platform Polish the business plan into a book proposal Write a query letter
Research agents and publishers Write sample chapters Have the proposal, chapters and query professionally edited Send out query letters to agents Or you might want to build a business around your book or books. Your steps might be: Develop a distinct suite of products and services related to each book and/or area of expertise Create a clear funnel from low-end to high-end products and services No matter your goal, once you have identified your small steps, begin moving toward your goals one step at a time. In this way, you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the live which you have imagined. Behave as if you ve already achieved your goal. The more you act as if you already are successful, the more easily you become that. Create a Vision of Success Additionally, to live the life you imagine to create your dream career, envision it. See yourself as successful have a mental picture of yourself already having achieved your goal or manifested your dream. This aligns you with what you desire. Consider creating a vision that details what success looks like for you actually achieved. Or create a vision map, a visual depiction of your goal or dream; this is a bit like a collage. Professional athletes know the value of visualizing success creating a mental picture of crossing the finish line, hitting the ball or finishing a routine. The mind doesn t realize that mental images aren t real; the body fires off the same messages to the muscles and helps athletes train even though they aren t physically moving muscles. The same holds true for you. The more often you visualize yourself achieving success, the easier it will become to do so when the time arises.
Be Prepared to Work Theodore Roosevelt said, Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. Attaining success in any industry is difficult. Many people give up before they achieve their dreams. To achieve your dream of creating a successful career, be prepared to work hard and long if necessary. To ensure you have the stamina and don t become the type of person who gives up on a dream, know why you want to achieve it. Understand your purpose and your passion. Determine if you have a calling or a mission. When you know your big why, you are more likely to continue moving forward no matter what. I hate to say that nothing easy is worth doing; it s nice when you can achieve your dreams with little effort and that doesn t make the achievement of that dream or goal unimportant or meaningless. But you must be ready, willing and prepared to work hard and sometimes long. You ll have more tenacity when your goals are on purpose when you build them upon the reason you want to realize your dreams. And that willingness to persevere will carry you through when the work feels hard. Look for Opportunities that Lead to Your Dreams A dearth of opportunities exists to help you manifest your dream career. You can find a number of coaches and consultants, tools and systems, books and blogs, classes and conferences, and experts and authorities to help you get where you are going. The only question is this: Will you take advantage of these opportunities? Possessing an awareness of opportunities and taking advantage of the right ones and the right time is the last skill you need to develop if you want to manifest your dream career
in the New Year. As you decide how to manifest your dream career this coming year, pay attention to the chances you have to get the support you need. I m not advocating going into debt or stretching your resources beyond you limits, but ask yourself the tough questions: Would taking that class or hiring that coach help you get where you want to go? Is it what you need most right now to realize your dream? And is saying that you don t have the money or the time (or whatever) just an excuse? How badly do you want to succeed? How badly do you want to create your dream career? Imagine what your life would be like if you had that dream career This year, don t let anything stop you from taking the necessary steps to fulfill your potential and realize your dreams. Happy Holiday Super Sale for Writers! Lowest prices of the year on my products and services but only until December 31! I want you to have what you need in 2015 to achieve your goals and dreams as a writer. Take advantage of this opportunity to stock up at big discounts on the resources I have to offer you! CLICK HERE TO SHOP THE SALE!
About the Author Nina Amir, the bestselling author of How to Blog a Book and The Author Training Manual, is a speaker, a blogger, and an author, book, and blog-to-book coach. Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach, she helps creative people combine their passion and purpose so they move from idea to inspired action and gain the ability to positively and meaningfully impact the world as writers, bloggers, authorpreneurs, and blogpreneurs. Some of Nina s clients have sold 300,000+ copies of their books, landed deals with major publishing houses and created thriving businesses around their books. She is the founder of National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge, and the Nonfiction Writers University. Find all of Nina's books at www.booksbyninaamir.com. Find out more about Nina and her products, services and blogs at www.ninaamir.com. Receive a free five-day "Become a Successful Published Author Training Series" when you sign up for Nina's email list. Click here to start receiving the series! If you'd like help achieving more inspired results this coming year, contact Nina about her coaching programs by emailing her at Nina@ninaamir.com.