So here it is past the middle of January already, and NOW I’m getting around to talking about goals? Little slow, aren’t you Burke? Well, maybe not. Stick around… I think you’ll like this.

Maybe you still want to set some goals. Fine… that’s easy. Setting goals is the simplest thing in the world. People do it all the time – especially around January first. Except they usually call them resolutions… (but they might as well call them “glop” for all the good most of ‘em do).

On the other hand, let’s say you want to set some goals that’ll actually get done. Well then, that’s different. You’ve set goals before (and resolutions, and targets, and objectives), but most of ‘em never fired you up, never had staying power, never kept you excited for long enough. So they mostly never got done… am I right?

So how’s the BullsEye Club going to make it different this time?

Well, let’s say you had a way to identify goals that you’ll actually WANT to do… Goals that’ll lodge deep inside your gut, won’t let you go, and will drive you crazy and drive you forward through unquenchable excitement until they actually, honest-to-god get done… that kind of goals.

I hope you’ve noticed that I keep using the word “actually.” This word always suggests that something is more reachable, more believable, more achievable – as opposed to the lame-ass stuff we usually attempt.

So in the BullsEye Club, I’ll be taking you through just six questions to enable you to set and reach goals that matter to you. Yeah, only six.

Of course, we could ask many more questions than these six, and no doubt some of those other questions are fascinating. Even useful. But these few are just enough to narrow your focus while not weighing you down with too much detail nor diffusing your concentration. They’ll help you plan your moves and then carry them forward into action.

What are these questions, and why these in particular? Here are your…

6 Empowering Questions You’ll Ask and Answer:

……… 1. What do you want?
……… 2. Why?
……… 3. How will you get it (your plan)?
……… 4. When that hits snags, what are your plans B and C?
……… 5. Who is your model?
……… 6. Who will be your allies?

Question 1: “What do you want?”

This doesn’t mean the stuff you find yourself wishing for in your idle moments or in your nasty fantasies. Nor all the minor little stuff it’d be nice to have if you could pick them up along the way, but you wouldn’t go five paces out of your way for. It’s the stuff that rates a 10 on your scale of “having this’d make me happier than a frog at a bug convention.”

At this point, I was going to mention a couple of jaw-droppingly amazing ways to pick goals, but a couple of weeks ago Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz blog wrote How to Make Unstupid Goals. It’s a great preview of the kind of things we’ll be doing, so go read it now. I’ll wait till you’re finished.

Back already? Or did you skip over it? I’m serious – go see what this incredibly savvy, funny and potty-mouthed lady has to say, because you need these insights even worse than you need a good lay. It’s that important.

Question 2: What Is Your Why?

Most folks don’t have a powerful, driving reason that’ll motivate them through every kind of obstacle till they get what they want. So how about you? If you already have a reason like this, you belong to a very small minority (and you won’t be reading this). Most people have so thoroughly disconnected themselves from their highest feelings that powerful emotional drivers are a dim, distant memory.

It’s vital that you learn how to reconnect to yours, so that’s among the first things we’ll do. We’ll cover ways to do this that are NOT knowledge based. Very little theory or head knowledge here. And they’re effective as all get-out.

Question 3: What’s Your Plan?

Once you’ve picked a goal that you truly care about achieving, and have a burning, glowing reason that won’t LET you be lazy or procrastinate, you’re going to need a plan.

And believe me when I say that all plans are not created equal. In fact, most plans are not even created – at least, not very completely. So as you start putting together a plan to get you from here to where you want to go, you’ll have help identifying the gaps, the holes and the hazards lying in wait for you. You can find many of these simply by thinking things through in some detail. Others are purely a matter of experience.

In any case, you can prevent a lot of problems with careful advance planning. And no, I’m not talking about some humongous 250-page document with charts, spreadsheets and projections, although if you get excited by that kind of thing, I won’t stand in your way.

Question 4: Your Backup Options

You’re cruising along, getting things done, then >blam< something happens, the hit shits the fan, and your Plan A comes to a screeching derailment. Whatcha gonna do? Do you have a Plan B? A Plan C? If not, you’re up the creek with a dirty fan. Nothing moves until you know what to do.

Well, cheer up. You may be thinking that Plan Bs and Plan Cs involve incredibly detailed scenario mapping, like the billion dollar bank robberies you see in the movies. First off, if you believe all the stuff you see in movies, you really need to get out more.

And second, coming up with alternate plans is usually as simple as asking yourself: “Now, if this approach doesn’t work, what else might I try?” And you go through your entire Plan A, one point at a time, asking this very simple question. This is much more effective in a group setting, where several brain storming partners are helping you generate options.

Although this step may seem simple, there’s tremendous power in it. Do this properly, and you’ll almost never again be caught flat-footed or unprepared. Once you’re in motion, this step is often THE difference between succeeding and failing.

Question 5: Who Is Your Model?

In putting together your own plan, you’ll need something to emulate – some kind of model to follow. This may be a personal role model, or it may be an organizational business model. Either way, you’re selecting a template to follow. It will guide your actions, giving you a way to quickly judge whether or not new ideas and options are congruent with what you’re aiming for.

If you have someone special, a high achiever or a canny business person for whom you have great respect, they may serve as your personal role model.

At the same time, most business strategies depend on having a clearly defined business model to serve the same templating purpose.

For example, if you’re starting up an Internet business on a tight budget and want to build it up by specializing in massive free article marketing, then you automatically know that you’ll spend many hours a day on articles. If someone suggests that you also commit big chunks of time to local personal appearances, that simply doesn’t fit what you’re doing. You can spend most of your time either on articles or personal appearances, but not both… not even if you’re schizophrenic.

The use of a business model is useful for eliminating confusion, weeding out strategies that don’t match your business model, and saving you bundles of money and time on education that would lead you off in conflicting directions.

Once you have a clear-cut plan, you lose the frantic sense of running off in all directions at once. You stop feeling like a hound dog that’s been dropped in the middle of a field of rabbits. You’re settled, stable and calm.

And finally, we come to…

Question 6: Who Will Your Allies Be?

It is absolutely impossible to run a successful business without people to back you up. Even a one-man lemonade stand relies on the lemon growers, the truck drivers, the wholesalers and retailers, the glass blower who makes your glasses (or the paper mill if it’s paper cups you’re using), the water company, and a nearly limitless list of people who make it possible for you to run your little one-man stand.

But that’s all kind of general and distant.

What I’m talking about is much more personal, much closer to home. When a problem crops up, who will you turn to for advice? When you need to do some brain storming, you COULD go it alone, but it’s much more effective with two or more heads working on it together.

When you need to take some time off – whether for fun or for health – do you have someone who’ll take it over for a bit until you get back? Or do you just shut it down, choke off the cash flow, and come back to what’ll essentially be a brand new start-up in month or two?

For best results, it’s good to have a community to turn to for ideas, suggestions, alternatives, and even criticism at times. And, as with all things business, the best time to line up your community is ahead of time – before you’re up to your ass in alligators.

Now, you may be accustomed to other kinds of business analysis, and maybe you’re thinking I forgot the “who’s your customer, what’s your niche” question. Nope. That’s a subset of Questions 1 and 5 – you’ll see what I mean when we actually get into it.

These six questions are plenty. They’ll give you the focus and planning you’ll need to get into action. And action is the ultimate goal behind all this goal setting stuff… getting you moving… preferably forward.

But Burke, I Could Do All This Myself

You sure could. Let’s face it – you could actually take everything I’m writing here and do it all yourself. But the question is – would you? You may have the knack of asking probing questions, then bearing down on the task and staying with it till you’ve dug up some new realizations, new insights into yourself, and new connections to your inner resourcefulness.

And you may have the persistence to hold yourself accountable when you decide to do a thing. You may even have the time to work on your goals while also cultivating a mutual support community.

Many people don’t have these abilities yet, however, so that’s why I’m forming the BullsEye Club. To help balance the odds that are often stacked against the little guy – the beginner – the person who wasn’t born with a silver spoon, or doesn’t have the advantage of years of experience.

In the next part, we’ll discuss the seven skills you’ll develop. Fortunately, they’re not all that hard to acquire, and I’ll be handing you several clever little shortcuts to further tilt the advantage your way. Watch for that on Wednesday.

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

Related Posts:

1. BullsEye Club Benefits – Part 1
2. What’s in the BullsEye Club for You
3. Achieve Your Goals – 7 Ways To Kick Your Goals Into Gear Now!
4. BullsEye Club – Bad Habits are a Good Start
5. BullsEye Club – The Seven Skills of Success
6. Achieving Goals – But What Are You Aiming At?
7. Self Motivation Is Super Simple! Part 6
8. Self Motivation Is Super Simple! Part 4