Seattle Small Business Blog

What do your dreams and goals look like?

Are they so immense that they make your stomach hurt a little? Or are they small, reachable goals that bore you when you think of them?

Dreams and goals can run the gamut from being larger than life to small and humble. Which type of goal is better? There are actually good reasons to have both types of goals.

Having huge goals that “scare” you a little is important. Goals and dreams are supposed to stretch your imagination, your abilities and your character to transform you into someone new. Your goals should help you live the ideal life that you want to live, no matter how far away the goal may seem.

History tells us about individuals who dreamed big, despite people around them who told them to get their head out of the clouds. In fact, most successful people, whether they are politicians, business people, authors, athletes or humanitarians, have been told at some time throughout life that they were dreaming too big.

Don’t be afraid to have big dreams and goals. Set your sights on something that at the present time seems so far out of your reach, that you know you were absolutely successful when you achieved that goal. Thinking of your big goal should make you nervous and excited at the same time.

On the other hand, it is also important to set small reachable goals for yourself. Your success depends heavily on your belief in yourself. If your big goal seems too out of reach, start setting smaller goals. By reaching those smaller goals you prove to yourself that you can achieve more.

Small reachable goals can be something as simple as working out a certain number of times per week, or reading a certain list of books. When you reach any type of goal, it feels good and gives you a boost in your self-esteem. If you start with small goals like these, while keeping your eye on the big goal in the future, you will build the confidence that you need to achieve that big goal.

As you achieve the small goals and check them off your list, your confidence and the belief in yourself will grow to the point where you look at the small goals as stepping stones, that will take you to the top.

Success comes from setting goals of both types. You need the big goals to motivate you toward success, and you need the little goals to help you gain confidence and discipline along the way.

The pain and pleasure principle, also known as the pleasure principal, is universal. It guides us in virtually everything we do, whether we are aware of it or not. Simply put, the pleasure principle states that people are driven to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. In other words, we are willing to do things that will bring us pleasure and we are unwilling to do things that will cause us pain. Sounds pretty obvious doesn’t it?

It seems however that the two forces are out of balance. The avoidance of pain often wins over the desire to seek pleasure. Perhaps in the case of physical pain this seems logical, at least to a certain extent. But in most cases, we’re not talking about physical pain. Most often, people choose to do things — or rather not to do certain things — in order to avoid emotional pain, even at the expense of doing what it takes to gain pleasure.

People may know very well that in order to achieve the results they desire, something needs to be done. They may even have a high degree of certainty that doing that particular “something” will indeed produce the desired result. But if that “something” makes them feel even slightly uncomfortable, they’re out. Of course, logically, this doesn’t make any sense. Rationally, we know that we can get to C if we just put A and B together. But the fact is, we are not as rational as we sometimes claim to be. Human beings are mainly emotional creatures. We make decisions emotionally and then we try to manipulate the logic to support those emotional decisions.

Most people would agree that the drive to avoid pain is stronger than the drive to seek pleasure. One of the reasons why this drive is so strong is because it is built into our biological survival system. Physical pain will cause people to automatically withdraw from what they perceive to be the source of their pain. Rationally, we know that physical and emotional pain are not the same, but since the human brain has difficulty distinguishing real pain from perceived pain, most people react to it in exactly the same way.

“So why is this relevant for my business?” you might say. Well, first of all, if this is true for most people, it’s probably true for you too. You may not realize it, but you’ve probably fallen into this trap more than once. More importantly, if you remain unaware of this, you will continue to do so. And regardless of what business you’re in, that will hurt your bottom line. If you’re in a business where you’re dealing with other people, you should be aware that they are subject to the same exact principle. Understanding this principle and applying it will prove to be crucial to your business success. Some of you may already be using it without even knowing it, as it is the foundation for many successful business books and coaching programs.

Many times, we try to move people into action by getting them to focus on the pleasure they can receive by purchasing our product or service. Although this can be very successful, there are many times when your prospect just doesn’t seem to get excited about the potential rewards. You may have banged your head against the wall a couple of times with people like these. Perhaps you have mentally labeled your prospect as one of those poor unfortunate folks that “just don’t get it”; one of those people that aren’t the least bit interested in improving the quality of their life. Over time, you will probably run into a couple of those, but the majority of people you meet will not fall into that category. Most people really do want a better quality of life; they want more free time, more money, more respect and more success. What’s holding them back is fear. They fear change and associate pain with taking the necessary actions to make it happen. Obviously, they perceive taking action as more painful than staying where they’re at right now. And thus, they choose not to take the necessary actions.

In order to successfully move people into action, you will have to apply the pain and pleasure principle on at least two levels. First, you must apply it to yourself. Look closely at the way you conduct your business and you will inevitably find that there are many things you should begin doing, or do differently. For example, you know you should be prospecting, presenting and duplicating and you also know that you have to be a strong leader to your people (employees and clients). But why aren’t you? Simple answer: You associate pain with either one of those steps. In order to change this, it will help if you start associating pain with not doing all those things. Think of how it will hurt you in the long run if you continue not taking action. You will find that when the pain of not doing it gets worse than the pain of doing it, you will decide to do whatever it is that needs to be done.

The second step is to apply this principle to your people. Help them become aware that it is their fear and perception that is holding them back. Help them see that they are simply trying to avoid pain and that they obviously perceive taking action as painful. Then help them associate even more pain to not taking action, and continue this up to the point where taking action becomes the only alternative.

Ultimately, if you master this concept yourself, you will become a role model for those around you. You will find that your people begin to follow your lead because they subconsciously want to be like you and attain the things you’ve attained. When you later discuss these concepts with them, in their eyes, you will be giving them a great gift — sharing the secrets of your success — not just adding another task to their to do list. They will see you “walking the walk,” and it is much easier to convince someone with action than with words alone.

A lot of people dream of owning their own home-based business. They dream of setting their own hours, working when they want to work and with whom. The reality is that very few of these people ever take the time to ensure that they have the right skill set – the right tools – to make the leap to a home-based enterprise.

The first major pitfall that most new home-based business owners face is a lack of scheduling discipline. They just don’t plan out their work days. This can cause problems in two ways, under-working and overworking.

Let’s look at the first one, “under-working.” It’s very easy to sit at home, on the ol’ PC surfing the web. You might intend on working on your new website or putting up auctions on eBay, but, before you know it, you’ve spent the entire day reading email and surfing for the latest news and gossip. Sure, you were online and you were doing something, but the things you were doing are not the things that will put a dime in your bank account.

Overworking is pretty easy to understand. Some people simply don’t know how to keep business hours. When they work from home, the temptation is there to “work ’til you drop.” That’s not good, especially if you are building your home-based business on the side and still work a day job. If you spend all your time working, you’ll soon feel that you’re never getting any “down time,” and burnout is sure to follow. Believe me, I know all about this one.

Here’s the solution. You must be very disciplined in planning your day. Write down what you need to accomplish every day and how long you will work on each item. Be sure to include downtime in your plan – time for your family, relaxation, exercise, whatever. This is important. after all, you’re building a home-based business to build a lifestyle, not to become the richest person in the cemetery!

Your daily plans and goals need to be very specific. It won’t do you any good to write something like, “work on project x.” What does that mean? How exactly do you “work on something?” Your plan needs to include a definite finishing point, such as “write a new article on dog grooming for page one of the website.” See the difference? You can “work on” a project for years and never reach a point where you’ve had any success. By contrast, when you “write an article on x,” you know you’re done as soon as you’ve typed the final period.

If you’re in a marketing business, try to farm out as much of the non-marketing related work as you can afford to do. For example, if you sell products or services, it might be beneficial for you to hire someone to help build and maintain your website. The money you’ll spend to have someone else do it will be more than offset by the amount of time it will free up. Other areas you can outsource might be bookkeeping, mailing, etc.

Be realistic when planning your day. If you’re still working your day job, schedule that from the time you get up in the morning until you get home from work. Don’t forget to include commute time. Then, plan out your evening accordingly. Don’t schedule a four hour task to be completed in one hour. It won’t happen. If you have huge tasks, break them up as much as possible and schedule your time accurately. This will allow you to have a feeling of accomplishment and you’ll get a lot more done in the long run.

Don’t multi-task. I know that this is the latest buzzword, but in reality, multi-taking is one of the leading killers of productivity for most people. Schedule only one project at a time. You can work on more than one project during the day, but you shouldn’t work on more than one project at a time. It’s very difficult, if not totally impossible, to do two things at the same time and do them both well. Give one task your undivided attention. Once you’ve completed that task, move on to another task in that project, or to a different project.

You should also be a little flexible in your scheduling. In any business, there are bound to be interruptions that you couldn’t possibly have planned for. In home-based businesses, the chance of distraction goes up exponentially. You’ll be working on that hot new project, only to have the toilet overflow or a neighbor ring the doorbell. Plan on it. There will be things that happen that you can’t plan for. That’s why your schedule needs to include a little cushion.

What I like to do is plan out the items I want to get done and overestimate the time it will take to do them, by say 10%. Then, I have other items which are “on deck.” These items aren’t quite on today’s schedule, but I want to do them soon. If I complete all of my scheduled tasks for the day, I simply look to see what’s on deck and start on one of them. It’s a bonus.

Sometimes, no matter how well you plan, you just won’t finish what you schedule. It happens to everyone. That’s when you simply revise your schedule for the next day to include the missed item(s). Don’t get hung up on the fact that an item or two didn’t get done as planned. Just take it in stride and keep on moving forward. Now, if you find yourself routinely missing your deadlines, you’ll need to reevaluate your scheduling. Are you being realistic in your time allotments? Probably not. Adjust accordingly.

These are just a few tips to help you maintain sanity and get your work done. With a little planning and effort, you can balance your home life with your home-based business and literally schedule your way to success.

Despite your best intentions, you will never achieve the success you are looking for if you never set goals for yourself and your business.

Ask yourself, “What goals have I written down for myself and my business?”

Most people never set goals for themselves or their business. One day leads to another and the days continue to disappear without success. How can you get to where you want to be if you never know where you are going?

The biggest roadblock to goal setting is YOU. Setting goals require you actually to write down your dreams and put a date of accomplishment to them. Do not get in the habit of working your business without goals. This leads to apathy and an empty checking account.

Goals are the lifeblood of your business. Statistics have proven over and over that small businesses fail within the first five years. You do not want to become a statistic, you want to become a success.

How do you become successful at setting goals?

The first step you should do is to write down your dreams. What dreams do you have for your life and your business? Write them down. When would you like to achieve these dreams? Put a date of accomplishment to your dreams. Get a pad of paper and start writing. Be bold and write them all down. Your dreams are now your goals.

You now have goals with deadlines. Your first step is accomplished.

Your goals will either be short term or long term. In order for your goals to become a reality you will be required to take steps that will ultimately lead to accomplishment. Look at your list. What actions will you need to take to reach your goals? Write those steps down on your pad of paper.

You now know what steps are required to achieve your goals.

Remember that steps are not huge, but small. Daily steps toward your goals will bring you to the accomplishment of your goals.

Armed with your list of goals and the steps required to achieve them, you can now start each day as a challenge to accomplish those goals. But wait, there is something else you need to be aware of.

“Where did my day go?”

Have you ever reached the end of the day exhausted and asked yourself that question? You look at your goals and realize that you did not accomplish one step toward them.

“Time Wasters” are everywhere. Time wasters have their own agenda: to stop you from achieving your goals. Do not let them win. To achieve your goals you must learn to recognize your “time wasters”.

Keep a log for every hour of your day for an entire month. Write everything down that you do. It is easier if you break your day up into fifteen-minute increments. Do this for one month and you will be able to identify your “time wasters”. Use the information to learn how to better use your time. The better you get at effectively using your time, the better you will become at achieving your goals.

Success doesn’t happen to the uninvolved. Success happens to those who are persistent in reaching their goals. Review your goals daily and modify them as needed.

You should never be without goals. Dream and make goals to reach those dreams. Keep your goals before you. Continue to add goals to you life. Your passion will keep you focused as you accomplish each step toward your goals. Dare to be successful.