100 Subscribers, and a Small Lesson about Goals

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So, I was on my way to bed, and I just happened to notice a three digit number in the RSS counter at the top of my blog…I reached 100 subscribers! You’ve helped me meet my goal, which I mentioned in my November earnings report, of reaching 100 subscribers by January 1st – with time to spare! I can’t thank you enough for your support.

Here’s a screenshot for proof, because I know the numbers of readers fluctuate up and down each day. Also, I could photoshop this to say I have 100k readers, so I guess it’s not totally foolproof, but hey – this is probably more for my own amusement:

The reason I’m so juiced about this, is not because I have more readers. It’s also not because I can tell my blog is getting more exposure in the blogosphere. Really, the reason I’m so excited is because I set a goal and I achieved it. It’s that simple.

Mind Tricks for Goals

There are a few little mind tricks that you can play on yourself using goals. As a result of the games you play with your brain, you will become more enthused and motivated to work even harder, which will in turn get you to your goals even faster. Here is what you can do.

I’ve spoken about this before, but you should take your big goals, and chop them up into little goals that you can achieve in a shorter period of time. Let’s review how I used this trick.

Again, I mentioned that my goal was to have 100 subscribers by January 1st, but what you didn’t know is that this is part of a grand scheme of mine to reach 1,000,000 subscribers by 2010…I’m kidding. This is where a reality check has to come into play sometimes and you have to ask yourself, “what do I want to achieve that is not impossible, but would be really freaking cool.” For me, this was to reach 1,000 subscribers by July of 2009. This is a “reasonable” goal, one that will take some work, but is not out of reach.

I could have said that my goal was to reach 1,000 readers by July of ’09, but it’s much better for me to break each month down into smaller goals, so that I can get motivated along the way.

If you reach your mini-goal, you’re amp’d and you feel great that you’ve accomplished what you did, knowing you’re right on track for your bigger goal. If you don’t reach your mini-goal, you’ll know exactly how far you’ve fallen short, and you can make it up in the next time period. You’d still be motivated because you’d know exactly how much you’re behind, so you’ll work a little bit harder the next time around. It’s a win-win situation.

Other Ways to Use This Technique

If you want to earn a certain dollar amount by a certain time, break it down into smaller goals. This will help tremendously in guiding you along the way in your decision making and money making methods.

If you write articles for eHow, give your self a managable, yet tough goal that you can apply this trick to. So you want to write 50 articles next month? That seems like a lot, but when you think about it, it’s less than 13 articles per week. You can easily crank out 13 articles a week, or better yet, think about it as only 2 per day. Wake up, write 2 articles in the morning, and you’ll be happy to know you’re on track to write more than 50 articles each month. Awesome.

If you want to lose weight, if you want to drink more water, if you want to control spending – really, this can be done with anything. Try it out!

In Conclusion, A Note From Pat

I would just like to mention one thing. I blog about reaching my goals and how much I earn because I want to motivate you and inspire you to do the same. I pray that in no way am I coming across as being arrogant or boastful about who I am, what I do, and how I live. If you feel this is the case, please know that this is not my intention.

Again, thank you all for your support, and if you have yet to subscribe (to keep me above 100!), I’d be honored if you did by clicking here. An email subscription option will be implemented soon.

And as always, comments are always welcomed. May you and your family have a wonderful and safe holiday.

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