Small Business Blog

If you set a goal and really want to achieve it you should be able to, right?

Okay, maybe it takes a little bit more than that.

Recently I’ve been working on some pretty lofty goals for my business and could not understand why I was not making traction. After all, I had a plan, defined tasks to get there, an accountability partner, a supportive family, etc. What could be standing in my way?

And then last week I realized it was me. Negative self-talk kept me from fully engaging in my plan, and I skirted the issue with my accountability partner until she called me on it.

Since then I’ve made a lot of progress in a remarkably short time, and I keep coming back to the card I bought a few weeks ago from The Blessing Project. It says “The words we speak become the house we live in.” At first I thought it was about family dynamics and how people speak to each other. Then it hit me - the words I speak to myself become my belief system in myself.

Think about your words to yourself and how they lift you up or keep you too grounded to reach for your dreams. It was a big wakeup call for me, and just being aware of the problem was a huge step in the right direction.

UpstartSmart has a great series of posts going about Law of Attraction and business success. Amber is a smart cookie - she knows that giving not only makes her feel good, it increases her bottom line. And she has a great followup post on the practical side of giving to others in business that you should check out.

The thing I like best about UpstartSmart (and Amber) is that she can take an abstract idea/need/desire and boil it down into reasonable steps so you can actually envision achieving it.

I’m inspired to send a few cards today after reading this!

Editor’s Note: As many of you know, I have been working with an accountability partner for over a year now. She has made a huge impact on my business and personal life, and she has now systemized that approach as part of her coaching services at Upstart Smart. Below is a guest post from the most important person in my business life - Amber Riviere - as well as special deal for Small Business Blog readers for her accountability partner program.

10 Ways an Accountability Partner Can Improve Your Life and Business

1. An accountability partner is objective. S/he doesn’t have a vested interest in the decisions you make, so the advice you receive is not biased or slanted. The goal of your accountability partner is to help you achieve your goals - period.
2. An accountability partner can help you identify the most probable road to success.
3. An accountability partner serves as a sounding board for your ideas. S/he will help you resolve problems and formulate solutions in your life and business.
4. An accountability partner can help you achieve balance in your life by keeping you aligned with your priorities and life’s purpose.
5. An accountability partner can help you achieve greater focus and clarity. S/he can help you stay on track by concentrating on what’s important and by eliminating the clutter and distractions that get in the way of your success.
6. An accountability partner can help you fine-tune your ideas, plans, and strategies.
7. An accountability partner can help you identify your life’s purpose and align your life and business goals to help you achieve it.
8. An accountability partner can help you create a road map for accomplishing your goals.
9. An accountability partner can inspire and motivate you to go after your dreams.
10. An accountability partner can help you find the people, systems, and tools needed to reach your goals quickly and effectively.

If you are starting or running a small business, you need someone who can help keep you on track to achieve your business goals.

Sign up today for the UpstartSmart Accountability Partner Program and receive 2 BONUS WEEKS FREE!*

*This offer expires March 31, 2008. To take advantage of this offer, you must sign up through the link below.

Sign up for the UpstartSmart Accountability Partner Program and receive 2 BONUS WEEKS FREE!

After March 31, 2008, you can sign up here.

RescueTime is really working! If you haven’t already, check out my original post on this time-management application. It tracks your total computer usage and lets you know where you are spending the most time. From there you can set goals to spend more or less time on certain projects.

For me, the biggest time hog was email. I spent 33% of my time the first week on email. I generally work about 45-50 hours per week with more than half that time spent on the computer. I was easily spending 10 hours a week on email. Email! Some weeks I don’t even spend that much time WRITING and that is a core piece of my business (another surprise to myself - no wonder the book is making such slow progress).

After seeing that 33% the first week, I analyzed my usage and found that notifications from networking sites and informational emails were heavy distractions for me. I set up a folder called “Internet Reading” for all of that and set up rules for my Inbox to automatically process them. As new emails of this type came in, I added them to the rule. It will probably take me a month or so to get everything set this way, but I can already tell a difference in how I’m using email (instead of letting it use me).

Once or twice a day I click on the folder, scan it to see what is appealing, and read those entries. Then I do a group delete of all the items I have read or do not wish to read. This has substantially cut down on my email reading time because it is done at one time and when I am ready to do it, not when the little alert shows me I have an email waiting.

Another thing I did was start unsubscribing from emails I do not have time to read. Yes, it is all important, but I am only one person and can only take in so much information at a time. So instead of subscribing to every guru I want to follow, I only subscribe to those I have actually been following. I put a lot of my “good intentions” on my ever-growing “not to do” list. It is okay to not take advantage of every good thing out there.

My latest figures show my email time down to 24%, which is pretty good in such a short period of time. I plan to get it down to 10% by summer. And all that rescued time will go back into the book that has been on the backburner lately.

Try RescueTime yourself and see what changes you can make to streamline your day and get some of your time back.

Last night I attended a seminar on “acting as if” I had already reached my 5-year goals. Each of the participants was asked to dress as if they were at their goal or bring a prop to demonstrate.

Since I’m writing a book, I came with a mock-up of my book cover taped to an existing book, complete with quotes from famous people (Michael Port and Seth Godin recommend my little old book - can you believe it!?) and a little star that indicated it was a bestseller.

There were a few speakers who talked about fear, determination, and eliminating the naysayers from life, but the part that really helped me was the “as if” networking portion. For 30 minutes we were instructed to imagine it was 2013 and we were at a networking event. This means I would introduce myself to people as a successful author and speaker. It sounds a little corny, but the amazing thing is that it clarifies goals in a way that broad thinking about the future cannot.

For example, instead of just saying that I wrote a book on the power of networking for women, I was able to talk about why I did it, what women tell me when I speak about the book to their organizations, and even how I fit writing into my new travel schedule. Of course none of this has happened yet, but by having a conversation with someone and imagining I had reached my goal, it made it more real to me. The details are what make it stick.

My friend Betsy Moore is writing a book about finding passion in life and work and has begun speaking on motivational topics when she is not advising homebuyers on a mortgage. She showed up with a mock book cover as well as a card announcing her next speaking engagement - on February 1, 2013 at the Seattle Convention Center!

I also spoke to an event planner who organizes music festivals around the world when she’s not on safari, a successful actor, and the owner of an NFL team. A pretty impressive group, huh?

Even though the exercise was all in fun, the intention of each person was serious. I encourage you to practice “as if” in your life - whether it is a meditation by yourself every day, out loud with your friends as a means to encourage each other, or even to adopt the attitude of that person you know you will be in 5 years. Why wait?

Most of us find it easy to state goals, dream of new ideas, and plan for the future. After all, that’s the fun part. The much harder part is in the execution of those intentions, and below are 3 ways to help you do that through visualization.

• Make a visual representation of your finished goal. For instance, I’m writing a book this year and have designed a cover for it, which I printed and taped over an existing book. With this sitting on my desk for motivation, it will be hard to skip my daily writing sessions. If your goal is to lose weight, a picture of a healthy person with your face on top would be a good reminder, as would a goal size of clothing hanging on the back of your bedroom door (if you go so far as to tape a bikini to your refrigerator you may need more motivation than a visual reminder!)
• Take 5 minutes each day to visualize how you will look/feel/act when you reach your goal. You can even set this as a daily reminder in your calendar program if you can’t remember to do it upon waking. If your goal is to work less, imagine leaving each day at 5 pm and enjoying relaxing times with your family and friends. If physical fitness is your goal, imagine how you will feel after a good workout, or hearing your doctor tell you that your blood pressure and cholesterol are normal. Studies show the brain has a hard time telling what is real and what is imagined to be real, so visualization can help you “trick” your mind into believing your goals even before you get there.
• Give yourself a constant reminder of your goal in the form of a bracelet, ring, or marble in your pocket - something you will wear daily and see/touch often. Associate that item with your goal and when you see it or touch it you will be reminded of your promise to yourself.

I’ve met some wonderful people this year who have taught me a lot about living intentionally and reaching for loftier goals - many thanks especially to Sylvia Taylor, Karen Rosenzweig, Debbie Rosemont, Melissa Wadsworth, and Amber Riviere.

Have a wonderful New Year’s celebration, and I’ll be back in 2008 with our first guest blogger. Happy New Year!