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Now that January’s over and you’re ready to throw away all your new years resolutions, here’s a very simple practice I’ve found REALLY works in getting me to where I want to go without all kind of project planning and spreadsheets.

First, here two things that don’t work for me in goal-setting or changing my habits:

  • New Years resolutions
  • Having more than 7 important goals for the year, because it scatters my energy and I can’t easily keep ’em all in my head & need to go back and review pieces of paper or spreadsheets – and I just can’t make myself do that

And the super simple exercise that does work…

Answer This Question:

“If you can only accomplish 5 things this year, what would they be?”

Do this in a thoughtful way and you will zero in on the few, most important things to focus on (whether consciously or unconsciously) for the year.  I can easily hold five big goals in my head, and having these makes it very simple to prioritize what to work on day by day.

The trick is focusing on a few SIMPLE and MEANINGFUL goals that you believe you can accomplish, even if they’re a bit scarey.  They should not be crazy, like “make a million dollars” if you’ve never made six-figures.  If you keep setting goals that you miss and take this too seriously, you train yourself to mistrust yourself.

Treat goals as happy experiments, rather than life-or-death things.  Be totally committed to what you want, but when a goal doesn’t happen, smile and learn from it as a happy experiment!

2010 Goals & Results

AARON’S 2010 GOALS
1. $250k revenue
2. Become a best-selling author
3. Create three signature products or events
4. Find a full marketing partner
5. Find a full assistant/apprentice

AARON’S 2010 RESULTS
1. Result: I did $190k in revenue, less than my goal but about double 2009
2. Result: I became an author, though not best-selling – yet 🙂
3. Result: I created two, including my “Unique Genius Superhero Program” and my “Call To Adventure” 3-day retreat
4. Result: Not a full-time partner, but found a partner on my www.UniqueGenius.com launch, Jared Krause
5. Result: Yep, Lex!

I feel like I hit about 80% of my goals, which was perfect – they should be a stretch, but not too much of a stretch and become paralyzing.

The best part – THIS IS SIMPLE!  It takes me a couple of weeks to flesh these out, but it is totally worth it.

This Coming Year’s / 2011 Goals

AARON’S 2011 GOALS:

  1. $240k revenue (this time I want to beat it)
  2. Get paid to speak OR be invited to speak at TED
  3. PebbleStorm 2020 vision co-created with the community
  4. Publish a Unique Genius book
  5. “Aaron Life Manual” documented and I’m using it (this is a combination life vision, “Ideal Day”, core values, etc)

See how these are easy to remember?  I don’t need to check some complex excel sheet to know what is important.

Yours might be much bigger or smaller than mine – DO NOT COMPARE yourself to me.  This is about what is important to you.  A big goal for you this year might be to start a blog, learn a language or instrument, hold your first meetup, publish a first ebook – anything.  What is a big goal to you?

LEX’S 2011 GOALS:

  1. Move to bay area
  2. Develop a Personal Success Routine
  3. Start a new project/product every 2-3 months
  4. Make $25-30K
  5. Write television pilot

With Lex having such a short list of key goals, it makes it easy for her to stay on track. AND…it makes it easy for me to support her in achieving them.

A 6-Step Process To Clarify Your “Top 5 Goals For The Year”

  1. Brainstorm: grab a blank piece of paper and take 5 minutes and list out 10 or more goals.
  2. Envision being one year out (say January 2012), looking back on the current year – what goals would be most satisfying & meaningful if accomplished?
  3. Pick out the top 5 that resonate the most with you.
  4. Write them down in a new place. Edit and play with them for a day or couple of weeks, until you feel solid with them. They should feel like a stretch but not too much of a stretch.
  5. Tell people about them! Post them where you & others can see them.
  6. Take a first step: what is one thing you can do to make progress on one goal? (And you can’t take a baby step that is too small)

See?  It’s simple.  You can do a first draft in five to ten minutes.

Is ‘Make More Money Doing What I Love’ In Your “Top 5”?

Did some version of “making money at doing what I love” come up on your Top 5?  If so, I love mentoring people on how to find your passions and turn them into an inspiring business!

If you’re committed to finding your fulfilling work and making a lot more money with it in ways that feel good, reach out and let’s see if you’re a fit for my mentoring and one of the PebbleStorm Mastermind groups.  We have groups both for 1) people who are “all-in” and fully committed, and 2) for people who are still nurturing their Unique Genius as a side-project.

To find out more, reach out:
Mentoring With Aaron

What Are Your 2011 Goals?

Please share and declare your own 2011 goals in the comments!

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