Now that we are in a new year, many people set goals. I need to review my resolutions and make new ones for this year, but there was a goal making technique I used last year that was slightly flawed. I was a lowly stormtrooper under the spell of a Jedi mind trick. Unfortunately for me, I was applying it to myself!

eBook Anyone?

Since the blog was humming along, in the middle of last year, I set the next logical goal, write an eBook. I got as far as jotting down some ideas and making a short outline. I have written a few 1000 word posts, but an eBook became a daunting task and I quickly lost steam. I also ran into a major distraction.

Finance Blogger Conference and BlogWorld LA Speaker Shift

When FinCon11 and BlogWorld LA rolled around, everyone caught fire with amazing content and memorable networking opportunities. I drank the Kool-Aid and pushed myself even harder. However, I also threw out another lofty personal goal. I will speak, somewhere!

Not All Bad

I can’t be too hard on myself as these goal-making techniques did produce some great results. I survived my first year of blogging, hit BlogWorld LA, networked like a demon, teamed up with Incrwd, launched my podcast, and finally selected a new logo. However, I was mentally tricking myself on my bigger goals. Writing an eBook and speaking is not for the faint of heart. It will take more time and energy to tackle them. When I got stuck on my eBook, all I did was jump to another lofty goal. If I didn’t recognize this, I most likely would shift back to writing an eBook when working on a speaking presentation became too hard to swallow. Bad Buck!

Final Thoughts

If you are a talented multi-tasker, good for you and keep doing what you do. Since obviously I am not, I need to focus on a goal, create a step-by-step plan, and execute. All I did last year was shoot for a moon and then shot for another moon when I started spinning my wheels.

This mind trick can also happen in investing, retirement planning, and generating passive income. Let’s say you want to invest in the market and wanted to dabble in mutual funds. Half way through and when you are about to take action, you look into options and decide to jump ship for possible, higher returns. Half way through options, you look into Forex and the process repeats. What happens after a year of this? You get a whole lot of dabbling with no action. Mission Unaccomplished. Good job! For retirement planning swap the previous terms with IRA and 401k. For passive income swap them out for real estate, stocks, and niche websites. You get the picture.

Shooting for the moon is great because in theory you will land amongst the stars. However, without a plan filled with actionable tasks, you will not hit the moon or the stars, you will just be left star gazing. Don’t let this happen to you. Are you shooting for the moon? How are you logically going to get there? If you don’t know, sit down for a moment, write out your tasks, and give yourself a deadline to accomplish the task. Open-ended goals are very easy to push aside. Have you seen my eBook or speaker presentation? I haven’t!

Stay Inspired!
Buck