In his classic Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill says: “Whatever you can conceive and believe you can achieve.”
Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Defining clear goals and creating a strong vision for your business helps you become more focused on the daily business actions for success. You must be crystal clear about WHY you are committing time, effort and money to building your business. Having clear goals is what separates successful networkers from people who never achieve their goals.
Clear goals keep you excited and keep you moving forward taking the necessary steps to accomplish your goals. When things are going well as well as when things are not going so good your goals will keep you going through the tougher times keeping you motivated, your goals need to be big enough and clear enough so that challenges you experience along the way seem small in comparison. If your goals are small or not clearly defined, any obstacle becomes a reason to quit. Your success is directly proportional to your ability to handle challenges that arise.
Steps to defining your goals:
Make room for some quiet time when you will not be interrupted. WRITE all the reasons why building your business and taking control of your life is important to you. Write 5 to 10 reasons on your list. Be specific! Write down key words and the date you want to accomplish them by.
Example: I enjoy working from HOME while taking care of my KIDS, by (DATE). I will be driving a (fill in the name of your dream car, or at least
what you’d like to be driving next year) by (DATE). Write down things even if they seem unrealistic to you now. Once your list is done, read it again. Now, can you summarize in one or two sentences your goals for building your business?
If you have difficulty coming up with a list of goals, imagine yourself one year from today. Write a letter to yourself listing all of the positive changes that have taken place for you and your family because you’ve had the strength, vision and determination to build your business. This is a different way to come up with a vision (another word for “clear goals”) of what you are working to achieve.
You’ll be amazed at the results you’ll create by putting your vision in writing and staying focused on it over time.
Read your goals daily.
Keep your goals right in front of you every day.
Write them on a piece of paper. Put the paper where you see it at least three times a day.
Some people do really well creating dream boards. It’s a fun exercise and visual images combined with words really help your mind to focus on the reality of what you’re creating. Collect some old magazine and cut out images that appeal to you or words that are meaningful. Hang it somewhere you can see it every day.
If you’re able, spend some time each day looking at it and then close your eyes for just a few minutes and imagine what you will feel like when you’ve accomplished what you set out to do. Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between that feeling and the reality and the more you can implant and feel those thoughts and feelings, the more likely you are to move toward your goals.