Here It Is - Hold Me To It!

[Duane]

As the New year begins, I've resolved to do things just a little bit better this year. In order to know what needs work, it's important to take inventory - to assess where you are now and what you've been doing, good and bad.

One thing I always tend to do is, be too hard on myself. I constantly am much more critical of myself than most others would be. That's one of the many things I need to work on this year. Being too much of a perfectionist has often stopped me dead in my tracks.

Without writing a book here, I,m going to give y'all an overview of my goals for 2008. The primary reason I'm doing this is to make myself accountable. I figure if I post this here in the forum, some of you might question me from time to time about how I'm doing in meeting (fulfilling) my goals. Please do!

Anyway - Here goes.


1. Money - Make a minimum of $60,000 gross profit (before taxes) during the year. Be making $5000 per month no later than July. Increase the amount of my income every month starting from now. Dec = $0 (no earnings, just disability income) so I don't have a whole lot to do to accomplish that this month, I will set a small goal for January of $300.00.

2. My Major passion is to become recognized as a Personal Development expert and to spend most of my time writing and speaking on that topic. However, I think that to sound credible, I need to show a record of increasing my personal worth - which is measured in dollars by most people. Therefore, in addition to continuing my blog at http:successmythsuncovered.com, I will develop and monetize a website on fundamentals of Internet Marketing which is my secondary passion.

Initially, I considered combining the two but decided to split them since not everyone wanting to become more successful is interested it Internet Marketing. That's hard to believe, isn't it?

3. I believe that good copywriting is an essential part of Internet Marketing, or any marketing. Therefore, I intend to study copywriting and have enough expertise that I have at least one paid copywriting assignment by the end of the year.

4. I intend to greatly improve my physical condition. This includes stopping smoking cigarettes by the end of February. (I may still smoke a pipe - haven't decided) I will get myself into the habit of working out physically at least three times a week. My ultimate goal is to be able to do twenty pushups, fifty sit-ups, ride a bicycle sixty miles in a day (but not every day), and run a quarter mile by the end of the year. In case that doesn't sound like a lot to some of you, I'm sixty and have been diagnosed with COPD (chronic lung disease).

I welcome your comments. Some of you may think I'm being too optimistic. Others may think I'm not biting off enough. I didn't get this posted until now because I've been deciding whether these are things I truly believe I can accomplish. I do believe I can do all these things and am out to get'er done!

I'm off to do my work-out now.

Duane

P.S. I'm currently on a Veterans disability, so I do have more time than most to devote to this.

[nar321]

I applaud your goals. If you want them bad enough you will reach them. Personally as an ex-smoker I suggest not starting a pipe . It is supposed in most cases to be just as bad as cigarettes. The only good use of tobacco is for bug spray, the high costs associatd with tobacco should in and of itself deter you. It is the same as burning money with possible bad health effects.Just my opinion backed by science

[ijohn]

Duane,

I wish you the best with your goals!!! Take them ONE HOUR at a time.

[Duane]

[Lynn Terry]

[gronesy]

[Duane]

Thanks for the comments guys and girls.
Lynn, as far as the details about how I'm going to earn the income, I'll go into more detail in the Private Forum.
I'd intended to make a post there today but decided that "Static Blogging" would be a lifesaver in building my new website (which I'll try to monetize almost immediately), so you can imagine, I've been busy today learning Static Blogging. I'ts going on One AM here and I'm just calling it quits for tonite. I have it all uploaded now I've got to put it all together and get a header I'm satisfied with etc. It's been a small step backward but I think it will pay off in the long run. I'm sorry now I didn't take advantage of the special you had awhile back. ( did use your link though )
As for the smoking, giving up the cigarettes will be hard enough, give me a break guys. I don't inhale the pipe and there was a study done in the 60's that concluded "Pipe smokers live longer than non-smokers." Don't know if that's true but my grandfather lived to be 91 and smoked a pipe up until the day before he died.

[Gail Harris]

[Duane]

Thanks for the encouragement Gail.
I have to admit that, once again I've become a little sidetracked this month and haven't reached my $300 goal yet - but I still have 11 days.
I've been doing some serious reflection on my Feb goal - the smoking thing.
It's in the way of almost all the others.
Duane

[nar321]

I'm a ex chain smoker approaching 5 years since I had my last cigarette. However it took a bout with puemonia( I know spelled wrong) and hearing that I have COPD to convince me to let go. So I know it isn't easy and wish you luck. I smoked from my early teens to my early sixties.

I would add that even if you don't inhale with a pipe, you are still a candidate for various mouth and lip cancers. Just because some relative didn't get any problems is no guarantee that you won't.

Best wishes for much success in 2008

[karynsolo]

* puts on my psychic cap* I see duane in the next millionaires club

You have a great attitude and a very solid set of goals I wish you the best of luck in achieving them all.

[Lynn Terry]

Stay encouraged, Duane - January has been somewhat of a drag for me too. Oh life is sailing right along, but I just mean personally with motivation and reflection and all that good stuff. Just keep making daily progress, and keep your goals in sight at all times... and push yourself just a little bit each and every day. And if it helps any, February is always a better month for me for some strange reason!

About the smoking habit... I'm with you there. I HAVE to quit. The patch works well for me, though it leaves a nasty mark and causes unsettling nightmares if you accidentally sleep with it on - but it does work great. Have you ever tried it? I say we start a new thread in the off-topic forum, set a date, use the patch, and post daily. Up for that?

[queenofkaos]

Hi Duane, just checking in to see how you've been doing with your 2008 goals?

I've been finding that setting a financial goal for a little higher every month in the area that I would like to work on is working.

I write it on the calender that I keep on the wall beside my desk that also contains my focus tasks for the day/month so that I see it every time I look.

This helps because it keeps me motivated to do the tasks and to keep in mind that I am doing them to increase my earnings.

It's so easy to get sidetracked, especially with the social networking craze going on.

I think that having a monthly focus theme and the calender is the single most effective tool to keep me on track that I've been using the past few months. I'm still refining it and have to work to stay on it, but it does seem to be doing it's job.

Hope to hear from you!