Freelance Apple

Many freelancers will have set up goals this year and by now will be feeling the pressure of following these goals through to an adequate result.  The most successful people in the world set goals and follow them through which means that the only difference is that the successful people know how to keep to close to their aims and have unlocked ways of not abandoning a plan midway.

This article discusses six ways in which senior freelancers keep to their goals.

1. Set Goal

Look back at the previous year and weigh up what you could have done better and what you achieved. This may be a financial achievement or you may have just managed to really get your name well known and are slowly seeing the fruits of your marketing efforts. Write down at least ten achievement which you have had over the last year.

Now that you have looked at what the last year was like, you have in front of you a good outline of what it is likely for the coming year to look like. There is a great possibility that you will probably only do slightly better than last year in terms of getting toward your life-goal. This is why now you must set yourself an absolute goal…for life!

2. Bite-size

If you have set yourself a goal such as “clear the mortgage”, then there it is unlikely that this will just happen by taking one or two steps. You need to assess the path you must take in order to achieve your aims in life and this will lead to more aims. The secondary aims which help you achieve your main aim are called “objectives”.

It is best to take a piece of paper and write down your main aim in life. Draw yourself at the bottom (or just write your name) and draw arrows leading to every single objective along the way. Don’t worry about being neat as you can just do it again neatly once you are finished.

An example is an aim which I set myself when . I was much younger and my financial situation was very different, so my aim was to purchase a 4×4. I printed a picture of the Jeep I liked and wrote the car value next to it. I drew my penniless self at the bottom and drew my first arrow which lead to “Email potential clients” which lead to “Agree on $x per hour” and slowly it became a list of ways of getting to my main goal of owning a Jeep. If you need to brush up your skill or purchase software then this ought to be your first step.

3. Friends and Family

Whenever I wish to achieve something I always tell my wife. Not only does it jog my memory, but then she gives me the support necessary to push me along and gives constant reminders which ensure that I keep on task. Friends (freelancers or not) can be a big help as well, which can come as a shock to some as they may not use their friends to help achieve their goals.

When I socialise with the closest of my friends, I tell them what my goals are and this causes them to give their input and discussing ideas leads to the perfection of an idea. A common reply I get from many of my friends is “Oh, I know a guy who…” which can help with the project. Just a small example, recently when I was setting up a web project I told Taiyab about my ideas for this project and he replied “Oh, I know a reliable guy who could code that for you” and all of a sudden I was achieving the first of my objectives “Find a reliable coder”.

4. The benefits

Some psychologists believe that humans are motivated by two things: Happiness and Fear. I will write an article on this soon, but I will try to summarise. You must think to yourself of the benefits which doing this will bring to you. When I was younger my friends had excellent cars and I had a banger! My motivation was to look down on their cars from my Jeep and be able to kick ass in all of our races etc. Being mature I couldn’t give two frog’s legs about what “people” may think of what I drive, wear or anything, but when I was younger my motivation was to wow my friends.

Fear is a great player in motivation. A friend of mine recently had a heart-attack at such a young age. The joy of being able to run for long distances, the joy he would bring to his family and himself, the joy of living an easy and healthy life did not motivate him to change his lifestyle. After the heart-attack he is a totally different person and eats healthy, regularly jogs and is losing the pounds. Fear of having another heart-attack and the fear of dying so young motivated him to lead a healthy lifestyle.

5. Reward

I give myself a treat every time I achieve one of my objectives. This doesn’t mean that my friend should think “I had a healthy meal, let me reward myself with this chocolate”! Rather, reward yourself truly and with something that will keep you going and not slow you down. Work hard, play hard.

6. Mapping

Keep crossing out every objective you achieve and keep a tab on your progress in a diary or a notice board. Personally I have a notice board where I pen down what I want and then I cross things out and rearrange objectives or add or remove some. This is particularly good since my notice board is where I look a lot and it not only keeps me motivated by showing me my goal but it also shows me my progress and exactly what I need to do next.

Action Point

Think of two tasks which you have wanted to do for a long time which help you achieve your goal. Write these two tasks down and do not sleep tonight until you have done both tasks or at least done as much as is humanly possible with the time you have and write in the comment box how you achieved your goals and what motivates you.

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