Have You Taken Up Residence On Your Couch For December?

Sitting on my couch, among my new set of cushions, reflecting on 2009 and thinking ahead to 2010, I’m struck by how certain times of year lend themselves particularly to this kind of introspective thinking.

Easter, with the promise of spring and new life, September with the start of the new school year (and even us grownups still remember that feeling!) and of course Christmas with the impending New Year.

Funny old days, in early December, are they not?   It’s very, very dark, at both ends of the day, and recently it’s felt like it’s never going to stop raining.  One can hardly remember the sun or the sunny days of Summer and it seems an awfully long way off to next summer, that’s for sure!  The couch seems the best place to be, with Strictly or X-Factor on the TV and the heating on full.

The New Year is coming quicker than lightning but all we want to do is wind down to Christmas!

On the one hand some of the country go into a spending spree and Christmas decorating spasm, and on the other hand, some people are quietly emailing tales of woe, stories of quiet desperation and harsh self-criticism about another year gone by – wasted!  Months of procrastination, prevarication leading to …………….absolutely no results.

Do you secretly feel really cross because your 2009 has not progressed you to where you want to be, financially?  Perhaps you have been one of the pension holders or property investors affected by the credit crunch in some way or other and you rather hopefully had all your eggs in one basket?

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Effective Goal Setting – Or Setting Yourself Up For Disappointment?

Nicola says:  When I was just getting started in personal development and wealth creation, I diligently worked through every exercise in books like Colin Turner’s “Swimming With Pirahna’s Makes You Hungry” and Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” and I ended up setting goals for myself.

I had never set goals before in my life….. oh, sure! I had some vague “wants” but I’d never set goals and when I think about it, there were two main reasons why.

1. I had no idea HOW I was going to achieve those goals – for heaven’s sake, I didn’t even know what the word strategy meant!
2. I was scared to write down a goal, fully expecting to NOT achieve it and then be disappointed with myself when I found the piece of paper later, in a drawer somewhere.

Essentially, I had no idea that you can set a goal, then make a plan to make it happen.  How funny that seems now….although I am now a great believer in setting goals with no idea of how to make them happen at first!

Judith thinks I’m a bit barking when I talk like this, because she’s set goals and achieved them, barring a few unforeseen exocets, all her life.

So all this said, when we launched our Money Gym Silver Elite programme this week as a pilot for the main launch in September, one of our main aims was to encourage the Silver Elite participants to create some goals for themselves, for the programme, and to encourage them to create a strategy (plan) for how they were going to achieve them – specifically how they were going to achieve them within the 90 days of the programme.

We hosted the first webinar and discussed the subject thoroughly (albeit with a frustrated Judith listening in, unable to contribute as much as she would have liked, due to techie issues) and we came up with the following goal setting process which I wanted to share with you.

Marian’s (Shorter Version) Goal Setting Format:

• Set your goal(s)
• Work out your compelling ‘why’
• How will you achieve your goal?  (Think, brainstorm, strategise…)
• What are the obstacles, turn ‘em around and make them challenges and blast through them
• What time will you commit to the goal (& is it more time than you spend watching TV or sitting in pub!)

Nicola’s (Longer Version) Goal Setting Format:

1. Think of between one and three goals you would like to achieve in 90 days
2. Run them through the SMART process – Judith, could you elaborate on that one?
3. Tell us WHY you want to achieve them – what difference will it make in your life?
4. Work out where you will need to be with each of them, to be a third of the way there in 30 days, two thirds of the way there in 60 days.
5. How much time per week do you have to work on your 90 day goals
6. When are you going to work on them?  Saturdays? Sunday mornings?  Tuesday evenings?
7. What steps do you think you need to take to move into action?
8. What is going to stop you?  What are your perceived obstacles?
9. What would be the outcome, if you turned those obstacles around into outcomes?
10. What are you going to do first?  This week? Before the next call (commitment in public via the Google Group to at least one action step please)

Judith’s (SMART) Goal Setting Process

A SMART goal, for what it’s worth, and it won’t suit all, is

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timed/timelined

Thus a goal like S posted yesterday “To attract 1000 Twitter followers within 30 days” is all of the above – if she has a plan to achieve it.

The point about this SMART process is… you know whether you’ve done it or not.

So tell me via the comments box here, do YOU set goals?  How do you do it?  What are your challenges around goal setting?

Love to hear what you think!

Kilts, Coaching Your Coach & Kicking 2009 Into Touch

So we missed the great “recession busting” OrangeBeetle party at the castle in Scotland, but we don’t have to miss out on Alan’s stirring speech for business owners in 2009 which was captured for YouTube of course.

I hope I can persuade him to make sure the next one doesn’t clash with the Internet Marketers Cruise next year, as I love a bit of tartan and scottish country dancing (well, I did go to school in Scotland for a while…).

It’s weird how things work out isn’t it?

While I was on the cruise I decided to put it “out there” that I wanted to speak more on stage, particularly at big multi-speaker events, selling Money Gym products and raising the awareness of The Money Gym.  When it was my turn on the mic, I thought I would use the opportunity to ask the event organisers in the room, what info they would want me to send them, to get a chance at a gig.  That resulted in two offers, while on the cruise, Jennie Armato’s event in April in London, and Robert Puddy’s event with Paulie Sabol and Donna Fox in September.

But the very act of saying it out loud, in public, resulted in ole TUT stirring himself and I got back to an email from someone who I knew of, but didn’t know very well, offering me a trial speaking gig.

Last week I spoke for Darren Winters at his “Build Your Wealth” event in London, and he’s asked me back for London on 14th / 15th February and Manchester on 21st / 22nd February.  Why not come along

And then I got an email from Brett, asking if I’m coming to his Next Level event on the Gold Coast of Australia, also in April.  He also thinks he could fill a room of people interested in membership sites…..and Oh, and by the way, did I want to speak at his “Make Money While You Sleep”event in Sydney too?  How EXCITING is that??

So I’m on a Money Gym Silver & Gold Webinar and we are talking about goal setting and planning for success, and about how the biggest obstacles to achieving your goals are sometimes what Mark Forster calls your “anti-goals”.

For example, I really want to speak more and travel the world doing that, but I’ve realised while thinking about the possibly Australia trip, that one of my “anti-goals” around that are “but I don’t want to be away from home too much”.

I’m imagining that Steve would mind, and the kids would even notice I was gone!  I got coached myself fairly robustly by Judith and the clients and realised that I was probably hallucinating it all, so I spoke to both and they all said “go” it’s a brilliant opportunity!”  You can listen again here >

Duh!  Of course it is.  And of course I will.

While i was actually ON that call, I got a message from Mr OrangeBeetle himself, and Alan’s asked me to speak at an event he’s organising in March.

And THEN, when I finished the webinar and put the phone down to Alan, I get another call and it’s Darren again, booking me for the two other gigs he’s running in February.

Very, very odd.  But great!

All of this makes me realise that I really do have to go back on a diet again, with all these speaking gigs coming up.  The weight’s been creeping back on over the last two years or so – I’m not as big as I was when we all went to New York for T.Herv Ecker’s Millionaire Mind Intensive, but it’s going that way.  Unfortunately I just love good food and wine, the social aspect that comes with all that, and Steve’s good food is better than most.

But I must find a way to resist his spatch-cock’d chicken, his potato dauphinoise and particularly his molton chocolate pudding.  God help me!

The cruise wasnt’t great for that either – the food was so good and the constant partying…oh my goodness.

But you can’t have everything can you?  And I’m getting to the age when, according to popular folklore, you have to choose between your face and your bum, look after one and the other goes haywire apparently.  Thin bum, you get wrinkles.  No wrinkles, you get a fat bum.

Whatever you are dreaming of for 2009, have a good think about the possible anti-goals or reasons why you might NOT want to achieve them.  Get them out in the open, throw some light on them and ask yourself “are they real or just hallucinations?”

If your goals include a website that makes money, why not register for my free Webinar this Wednesday – Membership Club Magic ?  Book your place here >>>

Have fun
We always do!
Nicola

Geysers, Goals, GPS and Going For Gold

I know!  It’s been AGES!  I have to hand my head in shame, as not since the birth of this ezine in 1999 have I missed so many weeks.

How has this happened, when I know that the ezine is the cornerstone, the bedrock of our marketing?  Especially while the world is going mad and the papers are full of doom and gloom….I should have been reassuring you!

Because there are not many people in the Money Gym camp who are not making more money in these uncertain times….our Gold and Silver clients are as ebullient as ever and finding more opportunities to make money, not less! And the supportive environment we create via the private email group is enabling anyone who is struggling to get help, support and resources/recommendations FAST.

Well, the first week’s ezine was missed because it was the week before our Brett McFall event and there was just SO MUCH TO DO.  I had no idea when we said “Hey, let’s do an event with Brett” how much we would be upping our game.

I have to say, he was a delight to work with…organised, professional, fun, calm, supportive, challenging in a nice way.  I would go there again in a second and I hope we can get him back next year.
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