People have historically made goals on January 1st and failed to achieve them.  It is almost a given and widely joked about.

When we are in business for ourselves, particularly if we are running a small home based business, we often set goals for ourselves throughout the year.

Our goals include personal and business growth.

It is our intention that we achieve all of our goals.  We are a community of success driven dreamers who fully intend to reach those dreams.

There are those times that we do not reach our goals.

I have just experienced one of those times.

A few months ago I made the commitment to enter the Ezine Articles 100 articles in 100 days.

I was on a roll, then things changed on the homefront and I  didn’t have the time to continue writing.

I didn’t meet the challenge of 100 articles.

What I did do was write 28 more articles than I had before the challenge. 

Most of those articles are ones I wouldn’t have committed myself to writing had I not been in the challenge.

You see, we are better off when we set goals for ourselves, even if we don’t achieve them.

It gives us a personal challenge to grow and practice success.

If we do not meet our goals, it is important that we look at what we did accomplish.

By setting the bar high, as long as we work to reach that goal, we have achieved the goal of trying.

As everybody knows, there are two groups of people:

1.  People who give lip service to success.
2.  People who push towards meeting goals.

So what is the next step?

Evaluate what you did.  Identify what worked, what didn’t, and what you need to do differently next time.

Then, set a new goal.

It really is that simple.

In the world of teaching it is called Review, Reflect, & Revise.  We must always be doing this to ensure that we are being effective.

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com

Most people in MLM have read Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”.

While reading Chapter 7 {Organized Planning—The Chrystallization of Desire into Action} recently, the section on the Self Analysis Questionnaire grabbed my attention.

Hill advises that these 28 questions should be an annual end-of-year self-analysis.

We need to do this BEFORE making our New Year’s Resolutions. (I actually prefer New Year’s Goals.)

The purpose of this Questionnaire is to uncover a decrease in our faults, shortcomings, or weaknesses, and an increase in our virtues, assets, and strengths.

This will give us an honest evaluation of where we need to start with our Goals for 2010.

Below I have listed Hill’s
SELF-ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PERSONAL INVENTORY.

1. Have I attained the goal which I established as my objective for this year?

2. Have I delivered service of the best possible QUALITY of which I was capable, or could I have improved any part of this service?

3. Have I delivered service in the greatest possible QUANTITY of which I was capable?

4. Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious, and cooperative at all times?

5. Have I permitted the habit of PROCRASTINATION to decrease my efficiency, and if so, to what extent?

6. Have I improved my PERSONALITY, and if so, in what ways?

7. Have I been PERSISTENT in following my plans through to completion?

8. Have I reached DECISIONS PROMPTLY AND DEFINITELY on all occasions?

9. Have I permitted any one or more of the six basic fears to decrease my efficiency?

10. Have I been either “over-cautious” or “undercautious”?

11. Has my relationship with my associates in work been pleasant, or unpleasant? If unpleasant, has the fault been partly or wholly mine?

12. Have I dissipated any of my energy through lack of CONCENTRATION of effort?

13. Have I been open minded and tolerant in connection with all subjects?

14. In what way have I improved my ability to render service?

15. Have I been intemperate in any of my Habits?

16. Have I expressed, either openly or secretly, any form of EGOTISM?

17. Has my conduct toward my associates been such that it has induced them to respect me?

18. Have my opinions and DECISIONS been based upon guesswork, or accuracy of analysis and THOUGHT?

19. Have I followed the habit of budgeting my time, my expenses, and my income, and have I been conservative in these budgets?

20. How much time have I devoted to UNPROFITABLE effort which I might have used to better advantage?

21. How may I RE-BUDGET my time, and change my habits so I will be more efficient during the coming year?

22. Have I been guilty of any conduct which was not approved by my conscience?

23. In what ways have I rendered MORE SERVICE AND BETTER SERVICE than I was paid to render?

24. Have I been unfair to anyone, and if so, in what way?

25. If I had been the purchaser of my own services for the year, would I be satisfied with my purchase?

26. Am I in the right vocation, and if not, why?

27. Has the purchaser of my services been satisfied with the service I have rendered, and if not, why not?

28. What is my present rating on the fundamental principles of success?

With Tomorrow being the LAST day of 2009, NOW is the BEST time to complete the questionnaire.  This will prove to be one of the predictors for your business success in 2010. 

Remember to share your answers with your mentor.

Enjoy the end of this year and this decade!

Next step is to work on your goals 2010!

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

“People always tell their goals.

Fine. You need goals.

But your WHY is a big, big, big reason that will keep you going.

Where’s your fire? What do you LOVE? What do you HATE? What is really important to you? What do you really want? What situation in life do you want to get out of so it never, ever, EVER happens again?

It’s not goals. It’s not money, either.

Your real WHY is never money.

It’s about who YOU really are.

Your driving factor must be WAY more than money.

It’s something you want…or something you want to get away from. Better yet, BOTH. If your “WHY” is a 70% and you come up against an obstacle that’s a 72%, you’re gone. You’ll drop out, disappear.

But when your WHY is a 99.9%, then you’re here to stay and be successful.

Why are you on this planet? In one form or another, you’re here to change lives. Touch lives, and help people. What were you meant to do?”

This is the beginning of Michael Dlouhy’s explanation on the importance of you having a strong WHY the ebook, Success In 10 Steps. The entire section can be found on pages 23-29 in the free ebook. (Follow the link in the sidebar to the right.)

Most people in Network Marketing want to know every tip and trick to being successful in their business. Understanding fully about your WHY is one of the most important steps anyone can take.

One of the most common misunderstandings is confusing the difference between a WHY and a GOAL. Think of a WHY as a PURPOSE.

Think of the question: ‘Why Do You Go To Work?’

Your GOAL is to make money.

Your WHY, or your PURPOSE is to pay your bills or provide for your family.

GOALS give you the way to achieve your PURPOSE, or your WHY.

When working on writing out your WHY, you will find it takes time to refine it. At first, it is very common to write down money related GOALS.

As you work through this stage, ask yourself this question: “What is the money going to bring me?”

I may want to make $10K a month (my GOAL), but what will that bring me (my PURPOSE)?

My PURPOSE, or my WHY is to spend more time with my family (e.g. travel)?

See the difference?

If you’d like to learn more about writing out your WHY and your GOALS, you are welcome to download the ebook to read more of what Michael teaches.

After you have finished the section between pages 23-29, email me your WHY and I will assist you in working on it.

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com

I’ve written about setting goals many times.  Most of us already have the idea of how important setting goals is to achieving our success.

Many people actually know how to write them.  Goals have to be specific, measureable, and have a specific timeframe to be met.

Then why do so many of us fail to succeed?

Wrong formula?  Not enough self help tapes?  Not committed enough?  The dog ate your homework?

Well, according to Tom ‘Big Al’ Schreiter, the secret is in our motivation.

No big surprise there!

The real secret is in the kind of motivation…it’s got to be emotional!  It has to grab you in your gut and get you twisted over it!

Tom has written a special report teaching his goal setting techniques.  You can get it here:  “Setting Goals Is Easy.  Achieving Goals is Difficult.”

Following is an excerpt from Tom’s report… 

Dear Friend and Subscriber,
You’ve heard the gurus, the so-called experts, the trainers and the local big mouth after six beers. They all say the same thing:
“You gotta set goals. That’s the key to success.”
Right. Sure.

If setting goals is the key to success, then we’d all be super-successful now, right?
Well, we aren’t.
You see, it’s easy to set goals. Every year we set goals for the new year, to earn more money, to exercise, to lose weight, to be more loving, to win the local tennis tournament, to wake up an hour earlier, to sponsor more people, to spend more time with the kids . . .

Hey wait! These are just a list of some of my goals that I didn’t achieve.
And that’s the story of our lives. We all set goals. That’s easy. That’s no problem.

The problem is that we seldom achieve these goals. Does this sound like you? Like your downline? Like your prospects?
I bet it does. Because failing to achieve our carefully planned goals is just human. We mean well, but we consistently underachieve our goals.

Why is this?

I think that we secretly make a list of all of our
shortcomings and then set goals to fix them. Unfortunately, there is a reason we have shortcomings in our lives.

We have shortcomings because those things
are hard for us to do!

Are you ready to do something REALLY difficult?  This may get scary!

“Fear of loss is always greater than the desire for gain.”

Download Tom’s free report.

If you need some help getting started with your goals, I’m always here to help.

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com

So what?

This is your chance to take part in a world-wide countdown to achieve your dream goal(s) by the end of this year!

Are you up for the challenge?
Are you up to dusting off some of those New Year’s Resolutions?
Are you up for seeing your goals become reality?

Good.  So am I.

So let’s start by writing down exactly what you want to achieve by the end of this year.

• Define the “what”…weight loss, building your business, making a change in your environment.
• Be realistic.  I need to lose 100 pounds, but that is not a realistic goal for the next 100 days.
• Look back at what you have historically been doing successfully, then raise the bar enough so you have to jump to reach it, but don’t need to shoot yourself out of a cannon to get to it.
• Be very specific, like “I will lose 15 pounds”, “I will organize the stuff in the garage and give things I haven’t used in 6 months to charity”, or “I will sign up 1 new affiliate and 2 new customers into my business”.  Your goals have to be measureable.
• Write down the date you will accomplish your goals.  “By Thursday, December 31, 2009 at midnight.”

This is going to be fantastic!

Can you imagine how great your New Year’s Eve Celebration is going to be knowing that you set goals, worked towards accomplishing them, and actually achieved them?

Once done, setting your bigger goals, those for the year, will be much easier.

You will also be able to envision setting smaller goals….those with quarterly deadlines, monthly deadlines, or weekly deadlines.

Let’s get started now!
If you need any help, I’m a phone call away!
1-541-484-5455
Skype ID: karen.j.miller
k.j.miller.777@gmail.com

Your Friend and Mentor,
Karen

In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, I wish to share my most favorite book of his…Oh The Places You’ll Go...and show what he taught about Goal Setting.

He promises us that we have Brains in our Heads and Feet in our Shoes. “You can Steer Yourself in any Direction you Choose.”

Goal setting is used for every facet of life. Lets focus on your main business.

Since “you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street”, you will choose your direction.
This is your main goal.
Mine is “I want to be a four star Diamond in my company by January 2011.”

“You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.”

Oh, so this must mean the going won’t always be that easy.

What will keep you on track to reaching your main goal….the light at the end of the tunnel…the top of the mountain…will be to have mini goals or objectives.

Break down your main goal into small acheivable steps.

1. I will become and maintain level one for five consecutive months by____(date)
2. I will become and maintain level two for four consecutive months by _____(date)
3. etc…..

For each level, you will specify exactly what you need to do in sales “point”, or volume, and sign up bonuses to achieve that level.

“All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you’ll be quite a lot.

But on you will go,
though the weather be foul.

Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.”

What will get you through these frightening times is likely the most critical….

Your Plan, your Game Plan!
This is where Goal Setting gets nitty gritty.

Writing out your Marketing Plan is setting Goals as well.

• Write down what exact activities are you going to do…Facebook, Direct Matches, Adland Pro, etc.
• Decide how often you will spend time on each activity and what you will do. Set a time limit…e.g. Facebook, 6 days a week, 15 new friend requeststs, 5 wall posts with new friends, answer inbox messages; 3 times week post a note or link to my wall, respond to friends’ notes/videos; 1-2 times week post to a group. Set a timer and spend no more than 1 hour on facebook each day.
• Set a goal for each activity for how many of the people you have contact with who will take advantage of your training program and how many of those will join your business opportunity…e.g. In Direct Matches, each month, five people will download my free ebook, and of those, one out of 15 will join me in my opportunity.

Now, these are simple examples. Your specific goals are going to be very individualized according to how much time you spend on your marketing activities and what your approach is.
Everyone’s experience is going to be different!

“You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.”

Goal setting can only work if you review your goals on a regular basis.

On a regular basis, take a look at how your business is growing.
Are the results what you expected?
If less is happening, you need to change your activities. Talk to your mentor and brainstorm on what you should do differently.
If more is happening, raise the bar on your goals.

By setting goals and constantly reviewing your marketing goals and activities, you can see what activities are working and which are not.
Most of us in Network Marketing are part-timers and simply do not have time to waste.
Make the most of your activities. If you can’t get the hang of setting your goals, ask your mentor!
If they don’t know, ask me!

Most women who are making an income from home on the internet, don’t have a lot of money to spend on training or marketing. Mentoring For Free is a great solution.

Click here to download my free ebook, Success In 10 Steps, for the beginning of an awesome free training program that will change your life.

“Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!”

Wishing you the Success of a Lifetime!
Karen
k.j.miller.777@gmail.com