This article is all about simple steps to achieve goals in as little time as possible by automating and shortening the process.
Although many of the points highlighted in this report are specific to those earning a living online,
the 5 P’s of goal setting apply to each and every one of us.
Prioritize: You may have many goals. Prioritize them on your list.
Positive: Be precise. “I will have supper with my family three nights a week” rather than “I will be home earlier”
Performance: Measure your performance. Set time for starting and completing your goal. “May 1 – I will not work past 8pm any night this week”
Practical: Make sure that your goals are practical. Do you have the control to make this work or do you rely on other people to meet your goal?
Personal: Is this goal a personal goal or something someone else wants you to achieve?
Good time management is considerably easier when you can motivate yourself and thus judge the true value of your time. The 5 P’s are designed to make sure that you stay suitably motivated at all times, thus making the task of achieving your goals easier too.
The importance of having an action plan.
Now that you have all your goals and objectives clearly established, it is time to work out how you will achieve them. This is where having a clear action plan comes into play.
When you run an online business, the basis of any action plan is more than likely to be very simple.
I’d guess it would be, ‘Make the business more profitable!’
Everything that you do should be aimed at achieving this, and thus, your short term goals will be tied in very closely with the overall plan.
Now that you have made yourself conscious of where you are headed (long term goal) and have set up your ‘step-by-step’ guide posts (short term goals) it will merely mean implementing an action plan to get your time on track.
Use your short term goals to implement your action plan.
If you are not making radical changes but are just trying to take the stress out of your day you will find the time you took to think about your goals may be enough to keep your priorities in order.
If you find that you need to refocus on your goals you will need to give each short term goal a date to start or complete – write it down.
The action plan combined with a focused long and short term goals will help you appreciate the overall effects of valuing your time.
Part of your action plan should include a summary of the resources you need to meet your goals.
An assistant is a resource, more education is a resource, and a supportive friend or family member is a resource.
List the resources you need to obtain and include them in your action plan – when will you get them and how will they be obtained?
In fact, working online has one huge ‘bonus’ to offer in terms of resources.
That is, whatever job it is that you are doing, there is almost always a ‘tool’ – software, guide books or even instructional videos and audios – that will help you get it done more quickly or efficiently.
We have already highlighted just how much time you can save every day by using one such resource, Statsdash to log on to your important accounts.
But, in almost every area of your business, it is possible to save additional time by using software and technology to ‘cut corners’ and to automate simple, every day tasks.
For example, many people who are operating their own online business have disorganized computers.
Files are routinely lost, placed in the wrong folders and so on.
Finding them is a clear cut timewaster, so make an effort to get organized now!
If you are using either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox as your browser, then there is a Google search bar available for both that will considerably speed up your search capabilities.
Just run a search for ‘free Google toolbar’ and you’ll find it.
If you download a lot of file or folders, then you should consider using a download manager (or download accelerator, as they are sometimes called) as a way of speeding the process up.
For example, if Firefox is your favorite browser, then you will find that a combination of ‘Flash Got’ and ‘Flash Get’ (both are free downloads) will speed up your downloading capacity immensely, especially if you have a slower internet connection.
Again, just run a search for ‘download manager’ in Google or Yahoo and you’ll find a whole heap of free programs that will do this for you.
Even good old Microsoft Outlook has some pretty good organizing tools, so there really is no excuse to be disorganized.
The bottom line is, almost every job that you do on the net can be automated to some extent.
If you are trying to build a mailing list, you must, absolutely must, use an autoresponder to assist you. The best one is called aweber
Even in specific ‘niches’ of internet marketing, there are tools available that will help you cut down dramatically on the time you waste on mundane, trivial tasks.
For example, if your business is based around article marketing, then you should take a look at the Deskpile suite of programs to see how they can help you automate many aspects of your business
Then, of course, you should be looking for programs that will help you earn money with as little ‘hands on’ work as possible.
For example, we have already seen just how much time can be saved by using Statsdash to check your Clickbank, PayPal and AdSense accounts.
Now, all you need to do is sit back and watch these accounts increase every time you log into them, with as little effort as possible.
