Around this time each year I find myself busy reflecting on my business, analyzing how I’ve done during the year and making plans for the future. I’ll be the first to admit that this is not the easiest thing for me to do because I’m the kind of guy who likes “to go with the flow”, so taking the time to breakdown what I’ve done and make plans for the following 12 months is something that requires much effort on my part.

So having done all this and set my goals and objectives for the year ahead I’d like to share some tips and advice that have served me well in the past and that I’ll be using to make this year the best yet.

 

Tip 1 – Make Big Goals
So when you’re sitting down with your pen and paper at the ready I want you to make at least one really big goal for the year ahead. Make it big, make it bold and make it something that excites you enough that it will keep you motivated and willing to work throughout the coming months to achieve it.

There is no point in setting the bar too low here because all that will happen is you’ll get lazy, you’ll let things slide and before you know it you’ll be 6 months down the line and no closer to achieving your Goal.

Now if your interested in setting goals for your business, perhaps you want to turnover X amount of dollars over the coming year what I’d suggest you do is take whatever figure you’re thinking of….and DOUBLE it!

That’s right, double whatever your goal is and make it as big as possible. For example if you dreamed of making $100k then upgrade it to $200k. Without setting the bar so high it’s hard to get motivated, well that’s the case in my experience, and don’t be afraid to aim big and work hard because if you get anywhere near that big goal you’ll be after having an amazing year!

 

Tip 2 – Create Your Plan of Attack
When you have your goal in mind the next logical step is to plan out how you are going to achieve it. The way I like to think about this is if I’m setting off on a long car journey and I don’t really know how to get from Point A to Point B I’m going to sit down and figure out my route before I set off.

That’s exactly what I’d advise you to do with your Big Goal. At the moment you are at the starting Point A and you need to navigate to Point B. The only way you’re gonna get there in the fastest possible time (and avoid getting lost in the process) is if you have a well thought out plan, your route to get you there.

I’ll give you my own personal example of this to give you an idea of what I mean here. When I sat down and made my goals for this year I cleaned off my whiteboard in my office and got to work. I started working backwards from my big goal and broke it down into smaller goals, like steps if you will, that will each bring me closer and closer to achieving my big aims for the year ahead.

I put up absolutely everything I had in my brain on the whiteboard and started to join up the dots of my plan.

Then when I was starting to see it come together I took another important step and one I hope you don’t overlook…. I simplified everything!

Simplify Your Plan : what I mean by this is take out any unnecessary steps that you’ve included that will only hold you back. Sometimes we like to make things harder on ourselves by adding in little things here and there, but when you really look at the bigger picture they are not very important so feel free to get rid of them.

What you need to do is to make your plan as easy to follow as possible. Make it easy to start achieving each step along your path to success, remove any hurdles or unnecessary tasks that you don’t need and streamline the process as much as possible.

This will allow you to get from Point A to Point B in the fastest possible time and avoid taking any unwanted detours along the way!

 

Tip 3 – Prioritize Your Tasks
Each week you should try and make a list of tasks that you want to get done over the course of the next 5 days. Put them in order of importance and organize each day around the most important things on the list.

Now when you have a task finished create a “Done List” and write it down there. Then look back at the end of the week and see how much you have achieved. These sort of little achievements all fuel your big goal and by seeing them get done every week you’ll remain very motivated and focused on achieving even more each and every week.

The big danger if you don’t keep yourself accountable is that you’ll waste a lot of time procrastinating. You’ll log into Facebook for far too long each day or spend hours on Skype messaging your friends. Sure you may be doing some important networking but at the expense of a lot more important tasks that should be taking priority.

So be ruthless, make your list, organize your tasks and be hard on yourself and start getting them done. You’ll be amazed how much your productivity increases when you organize your time in this way.

 

Tip 4 – Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
This one is a big one and I’m sure a lot of you may not like it but it’s important that it’s said – don’t be afraid to fail. I know that I will fail at some of the things I’ve set out to achieve this year but you know what? It’s ok, because it’s only from these failures that we learn and become better, stronger and smarter as a result.

The important thing is to take lessons from each failure. Use them to your advantage and build your experience. The most successful people in the world have all failed but the thing that makes them who they are is the fact that they learn from their mistakes and come back stronger for them.

So don’t be afraid to fail, just make sure you learn along the way and use it to your advantage.

 

Tip 5 – Take Action Every Single Day
You know what they say “there is no time like the present”…. And that’s why I’d like you to begin your journey to achieving all your goals and objectives for the year right here, right now. And once you have begun by taking that first step keep it going and take action each and every day. Don’t be one of those people who waste hours each day procrastinating and putting things off.

Take charge, make your plan and prioritize your time. Start ticking all your little tasks off your list and keep moving forward, moving towards your big goals. But the main thing is to keep going and even you stumble along the way to get back up and go again.

For the people reading this who take action (and keep taking action) I know you’ll make awesome progress this year and I wish you all the best and every success along the way!

I hope you’ve found a few of these tips useful and if you have any of your own that you’d like to share then I’d love to hear them, so leave a comment below and let me know how you are going to make this year your best one yet!

Thanks for reading,

Noel.

P.S. Please click a little monster below and share you reaction with others…

[loveclaw_buttons]


Noel
Noel

Easy going guy and founder of CunMark.com who enjoys traveling, live music and good coffee - as well as sharing tips and strategies on this blog to help others navigate the world of online marketing!

    18 replies to "5 Tips to Make This Year Your Best Ever"

    • richard butler

      Noel

      Excellent post, and I like the way you have broken it down to just 5 points

      Will be taking note, and keeping an eye on you and your progress 🙂

      Have a great 2014!

      • Noel

        Thanks Richard, I’m sure I could have made 10 Tips but for me they are the main ones that keep popping up 😉

        Have a great 2014 too! (And BTW your landing page is looking brilliant)

        Cheers,

        Noel.

    • Liliana Marsden

      Hi Mark you’ve managed to summarise what we need to do, love the bit about doubling the goals and I have included in my Plans to take action each day. That’s the most important thing. I know, through experience, when you stop doing something it is so difficult to get back in track. Last year I did that with this blog, just because I was stuck on product creation.

      Good luck for 2014, although luck doesn’t have anything to do with it but ACTION, GOALS and BELIEF DO. I have a block sometimes with BELIEF but I am working hard at it 😉
      Liliana Marsden recently posted…Develop a Marketing PlanMy Profile

      • Noel

        Thanks Liliana and all the best for 2014!

    • Patrick Todd

      Will definitely be working on this year’s goals.

      Thanks,
      Patrick
      Patrick Todd recently posted…What Does it Take to Become an Affiliate Marketer?My Profile

      • Noel

        Fantastic Patrick, that’s good to hear! 🙂

    • Gary Chesnut

      Hi Noel,

      You’re right, #4 is a big one. Don’t be afraid to fail. Too often people fail then give up. Every successful person has failed many times.
      It’s from failure that we learn and those failures build character.
      When failure happens, you just have to pick yourself up and continue
      onward toward your goals. Never ever give up!
      Gary Chesnut recently posted…Staying Motivated & On Track – 5 Easy RemindersMy Profile

      • Noel

        Exactly Gary! You nailed it;)

        I used to be very scared of failing and it often stopped me from giving things a shot, taking a chance on something. So what if it doesn’t go to plan the first, second or third time around…. Just keeping going, keep learning and eventually you’ll get to where you want to go.

        Every single successful person I know all have failing many, many times. You don’t always hear about it online but it’s true. Once I embraced the fact that I was going to mess up every now and again I started doing things that I would normally be too scared to attempt before and ever since then I’ve been seeing lots of great results and achieving different milestones in my business. I don’t always get it right but I’m not afraid to give something a shot…

        Thanks for stopping by,

        Noel.

    • Ted

      Hi Noel,
      You made some great points here, but number 5 really resonates with me. I have to do something every day that moves my business forward, whatever that thing might be, run a solo ad to build a list, create a piece of content, etc.

      And number 4 as well, I forget who I heard it from first, it might have been Mario Brown, but the message is “Take Imperfect Action”. I always thought that was a great saying, but if we’re afraid to fail we’ll never take any action at all.

      Well done, I enjoyed reading this.

      Ted
      Ted recently posted…Reach Your Customers Through Social MediaMy Profile

      • Noel

        Thanks Ted,

        Yes it’s a great saying, I heard someone else say before always “Take MASSIVE Imperfect Action”
        So basically go all out and give it your best shot each and every day.

        Never be afraid to fail because you learn massive lessons from them. Only last week I had some
        major setbacks (which cost me quite a few $$$$s – more than I’d like to admit) but now that I
        figured out where I went wrong I know how to avoid it in the future.

        The main thing is the learn from your mistakes and always keep moving forward.

        Cheers,

        Noel.

    • Guy Martin

      Hi Noel,

      Thanks for your motivating post.

      I’m off to a slow start so far and what I need is to make some business goals.

      Without goals, it’s easy to just drift through life and the end result becomes a lack of accomplishments.

      Going with the flow is cool but for me, it usually leads to procrastination.

      Keep up the good work, Noel.

      Guy
      Guy Martin recently posted…3 Key Elements To Excite Your ReadersMy Profile

      • Noel

        Thanks Guy,

        It all comes down to setting goals man and then keeping yourself accountable.

        Because as you rightly say without them it’s far too easy just to drift along.

        Hopefully you get back on track ASAP 😉

        Cheers,

        Noel.

    • Gill Potter

      Thanks for the great tips Noel.

      I have always had a problem with setting goals but I’ve decided to make a Goals mindmap to help me with this in the hope that it will help me to focus on the steps.

      As for ‘fear of failure’, I, like many people, have a lack of self confidence but, after reading your post, I’m thinking what the hell, you’ve got to be in it to win it!! I’m going to take a leaf out of Thomas Edison’s book and say:

      I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
      Thomas A. Edison

      Wishing you every success for 2014

      • Noel

        Thanks Gill,

        I have a similar problem and it takes a lot to make me sit down and actually put on paper what I want to achieve. But whenever I do it I always feel a lot more confident of hitting those goals and it gives me something to work towards.

        Thanks and all the best for 2014!

    • Dave Thomas

      Hi Noel

      As always I try and set my goals at the start of each year and then allow them to drift even this soon in a new year. I think I need to “man up” and be more forceful in looking after my own future.

      At least one goal this year was to find and work with a top mentor in IM to achieve a $20k income and I think I have done that!

      Now to follow through and work my way through steps 2 to 5 and achieve success so thanks for the reminders in your posting.

      DaveT
      Dave Thomas recently posted…OptimizePressMy Profile

      • Noel

        Hi Dave,

        Your goal is very achievable, especially if you have the advice of your mentor to help you on your way.

        It’s just a case of consistently working towards your goals and staying focused so you drift away or get distracted by something else.

        Thanks for stopping by,

        Noel.

    • Nigel Griffiths

      Hi Noel,
      I liked this post so much I have just printed it off & will read it quite a few times over the coming week or so.
      I agree with one of the points made above, 5 is a great number of points…any more & it would have diluted it a bit.
      Point 1 hit home pretty hard; I just realised that I only have a ‘general goal’ that is blurry & buzzing around in my head i.e ‘be a success in IM’…it just dawned on me how crap that is! I then just started to think of ‘release my 1st product within 6Mo (I started at 12 & then took your point of ‘doubling’ it) and just doing that I sh*t myself a bit….then got a bit excited!
      I have read a lot of posts like this on my IM journey, but for some reason yours has really hit home.
      Thanks pal!
      Nigel
      Nigel Griffiths recently posted…How To Make It In Affiliate Marketing – Charles Ngo: 12 Lessons I Wish I Was Taught – Part 2My Profile

      • Noel

        Hi Nigel,

        That’s great mate I’m happy you “get” what I’m talking about. I was actually listening to a speaker recently at an event who spoke about how important it is to have that end goal in mind and really create your plan of attack so that you can follow it like a map, until you hit that big goal.

        I really do believe that is the way to go and if you’re doing the right thing, have your goal of releasing your 1st product in 6 months and then make your plan of attack and go for it! The worse thing that can happen is that you may miss your deadline but I guarantee you’ll be way further down the line to achieving it than if you didn’t have your plan and end goal firmly in sight.

        Keep me updated on how you’re doing over the coming months 😉

        Cheers,

        Noel.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

CommentLuv badge