When failure is not an option
April 16, 2008
The #1 reason people fail is they have no clear direction. They chase one idea after another, and they never see anything through to completion.
You’ll NEVER achieve success if you spend your time going off in all directions, chasing every single opportunity that comes your way.
On the other hand… if you set measurable goals with specific timelines for yourself – you’ll achieve success faster than you would have thought possible.
Here is my recipe for success, distilled into six simple steps. It’s the exact same goal-setting system I’ve used to get where I am today. (And guess what: I went from a debt-ridden college grad with a computer programming certificate to CEO of a 100 person company in just 7 years. So this plan certainly worked for me!)
Step #1: Set your "Ultimate 3-5 Year Goals"
Ask yourself this: In 3-5 years, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want your finances to look like? What do you want your business to look like?
Think big — but stay within reason! Rome wasn’t built in a day… or in five years, for that matter.
Your goals need to be measurable. Rather than setting a goal like, "I want to be rich!" — come up with an actual dollar value. How much money do you want your business to be making in 3-5 years’ time? THAT’S the goal you should be aiming for.
Step #2: Set "Annual Goals"
Ask yourself: "What do I need to accomplish in the next 365 days in order to achieve my ultimate 3-5 year goals?"
Write down as many goals as possible. Chances are, you’ll come up with a big list! But when you’re done, you need to pare it that list down to the top 5 "must-do" items.
What are the top 5 things you absolutely MUST do in order to achieve your ultimate goals? Once you’ve answered this question, you’ll have your top five goals for the year.
Step #3: Set your "Quarterly Goals"
Those yearly goals seem pretty big, don’t they? In order to achieve them, you’ve got to break them down into more realistic milestones: your quarterly goals.
This is something you should do every three months — so if you’re working on a regular calendar year, you should be setting new quarterly goals for yourself every January, April, July, and October.
At the beginning of each quarter, take a step back and look at how well you managed to reach your last quarterly goals. Based on that, decide what you need to do during the next three months to keep moving toward those annual goals.
Remember: Keep your goals specific and measurable!
Step #4 - Set your "Monthly Goals"
Are you starting to see a pattern yet? 
Now you need to determine the top 5 goals you have to achieve every month in order to hit your quarterly goals.
But do you stop here? Nope!
Step #5 - Set your "Weekly Goals"
Ask yourself: What are the top things that have to happen this week in order for you to hit those monthly goals?
Don’t limit yourself to five weekly goals. Sometimes you’ll have fewer than five — sometimes you’ll have more. When I set my own weekly goals, I find there are numerous small tasks that need to be accomplished — or just a couple of big ones. But at the start of each week, I always make sure I know what tasks are most important.
Wait — you’re still not done!
Step #6 - Set your "Daily Goals"
Each morning — before you even check your email — you need to create a list of things that have to happen before you go to sleep that night.
Once again, these tasks should be driving you toward your weekly goals.
It doesn’t matter if you have only an hour a day to spend on your business. By setting goals and focusing on the really important things you need to achieve, you’ll be shocked at how much you can get accomplished in a really short period of time.
But the fact remains: you still need to MAKE THE TIME. Even if you’re able to spend only two hours a week on building or growing your business, it ill make a huge difference!
Once you have all your goals down on paper, don’t file them away in your desk somewhere! Make sure you can see them in a number of different places.
Tack them to the wall of your office. Put them on your fridge… beside your TV… even beside your toilet!
You need that constant reminder.
Remember: the only person holding you accountable for hitting those goals is YOU.
So turn off your email, shut out all distraction, throw procrastination out the window, and start setting those goals NOW. If you follow this system, I guarantee that 30 days from now you’ll surprise yourself at how much progress you’ve made!
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Hello Derek,
I am really excited with your goal setting plan. It is extremely reasonable. I am already on my DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY AND ANNUAL MASTER GOAL SCHEDULLE. But what I lack is the specific long goal like you. I am going to re-organise my goal according to your methods.
Please how can I get the best of your internet business training from Malaysia. I am a student and can not afford travelling to CANADA. But I very much ready to do all it takes to get your best training. Infact I donot even have a website at the moment.
Please give me all the materials and online coaching I need to be successful internet business person.
Hope to here from you very soon.
Abubakar
My name is Peter and i am about to start my online business adventure. I live in Sweden at the moment and have a background in performing arts.
I have been looking around the net and so far i havent seen any other place that compares to the Internet Marketin Center so i am very exited. But i dont quite know where to start. I dont know wich product or service that you provide would be most suitable to start with.
Any tips ??
I am 100% dedicated to make it BIG and need the best training available.
Many thanks
Peter , Sweden
In response to Abubakar and Peter:
Let me first state that I am in no way affiliated and nor do I work for the IMC, but I think the best place for you to start would be with the Insider Secrets Course. I purchased a version some years ago and it contains absolutely everything you’ll need (information wise) to get your internet business up and running. The new package probably offers even more value than when I bought it. Forget about looking at other websites and buy the course. Avoid getting distracted by thinking there are other things out there that you need to look for … you don’t need anything else.
With the right attitude and motivation, and by following the information continually updated on this site, and within the course you will go far.
All the best
Ross
Hey Derrick I don’t know if I am on the right trek or not I am doing two things that is affiliate marketing and import & export mainly import as a both my work from home businesses both are internet based but both are not taking off for the last 12 months I have not earned a cent what is it that I am not doing wright because both businesses I view as trying to achieve the same goals because as an affiliate I advertise most shops in the usa for their goods to be sold world wide and with he import business i am trying to get goods at cheap prices to sell to the goverment here in swaziland.
52 year old newbie with no computer skills; former inside sales; now Realtor and also a general contractor getting too old to do some of the work and hopeing to develope another avenue of income. The real estate market is dead . I have an idea for a christian web community but… How do I plug this into “how”– I have the domain name”hisway.info” which i purchased from another company but never developed into any thing . Can you help? Is this a big hole in a little balloon? Please get back to me
Hi,
I agree with your point “Each morning — before you even check your email — you need to create a list of things that have to happen before you go to sleep that night.” In the morning I write the 3 highest priorities -with the highest return on investment- on a sheet of paper. To speed up results, I read it to an accountability partner to get support and a fresh perspective.
I’m so interested about the goal plan,but at the same time I’m so confused about the website, affiliatejunktion webdesigner.til now mywebsite is blank waiting for free webdesign,they promised me!I’m so excited to do my first business online but still don’t know how to start.Please give me some simple steps to do business.
Thank you.
Samuri.
in response to Samuri’s post, affiliatejunktion is just fooling us sign up for his affiliate program. This guy promise to give $75 for free website if you signup for for a website hosting company using your credit card first and he will credit $75 after signing up for a website. Actually he will receive $10 as a commision when you signed up in website. After that he will give you instructions on how to download your ready-made webpage and how to upload it to your domain. Your ready made webpage which is the same webpage that you signed up except that it bears your affiliate link, will encourage your visitor to sign up for affiliatejunktion program. You will receive $2 for every referal to affiliatejunktion, however he will receive $10 for every referal that will sign up for the web hosting company because the instruction when you sign up is to type in his referal code so that he will get the $10 commision. I doubt if you will receive the $75 he promised you as reinbursement for your signing up for the website hosting company. Very clever idea. Just follow his instruction from his email and your webpage will be up and running and you’ll receive $2 commision for every referal to his affiliate program.
I am glad I found this web site. I have been spending countless hours reading everything I can to try and understand how to not only drive more traffic to my web site, but to convert the traffic to sales.
My hope is to learn what I can through the honesty that appears to be shared here.
Thanks John for the insight.
I am still waiting for updates to the Internet Marketing program. I was one of those people who bought the product shortly before the new version came out. I was told people like me would receive some of the new information. I’m still waiting. I cant afford to buy the new course, so that makes this more important to me. Little ol”me.
Fran Gratton
I am glad to visit the site,I am sure my interaction with you will certainly give unfurl new horizon in front of me .