Goal setting
It is a good idea to set yourself some Internet Marketing goals, even if they are as simple as “I want to earn $150 every day”. These goals are effectively your Internet Marketing business plan. They give you something to work towards and a target to measure your performance against.
Once you have been in the business for some time, you may wish to develop your goals into a more formal business plan. Whatever you do it should be something that works for you; do not believe everything you hear.
It seems to be widely accepted that the definitive study on goal setting was the one carried out by Yale University starting in 1953. I have summarised it below:
In 1953, researchers studying goal setting surveyed the graduating seniors from Yale University on their goals and aspirations for the future. They discovered that only 3% of the graduating class had specific, written goals and objectives.
Twenty years later, when they tracked down the same graduates, the researchers discovered that the same 3% who engaged in goal setting activity and had clearly written goals when they graduated in 1953 were more successful, and worth more in terms of wealth than the other 97% put together. The same 3% also tended to have better health and relationships than the other 97%.
The Yale study is quoted widely, including by many in the Internet Marketing field. Of course, there are some people who, having heard of the study, really believe that writing down a goal will result in them achieving it. It won’t – you still need to work to achieve your goals.
The funny side to all this is that the Yale Study is an urban legend - the study never took place. Despite this many people take its “results” very seriously.
But the “results” are almost certainly not wrong. Remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
I will come back to planning again in a future post.
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