The Roadmap

To me this information is priceless and definitely worth my investment. Let’s begin with a simple business model. You’ve just created your product and setup your marketing goals. While drawing the roadmap of your goals divide it into 4 steps. Here is the Step 1, involves looking at the big picture.

Step 1: The Big Picture

Step 2: Milestones

Step 2 is where you set your milestones. Set as many milestones as you like. The more you have the more it will aid you in reaching your goals.

Step 3: The Zones

Step 3 is the part where you identify your zones. You will later use these zones to draw a path that connects you to your milestones.

Step 4: The short term / daily goals

Step 4 is where you need to plan all the small steps you need to complete your goals or projects.

The Method

Okay, let me explain what you’ve just seen.

Step 1 is all about getting yourself the BIG picture of what you want to achieve. When you are setting your goals, it is important that you put in as many details as possible.

Let’s say you are setting goals for your online business, you’ll then want to include what kind of achievement you want for your business. For example, you might want to build a list of at least 10,000 subscribers. And that you want your business to be more automated whereby you have at least one worker handling the small stuff for you. Or if you are just starting out, you might add that you want to make at east 3k every single month via Clickbank.

The more details you can list, the easier it is to maintain your motivation to achieve that particular goal. A common mistake people make in setting goals is that their goals are neither clear nor precise. You’ll need more than a picture of what you want to do to achieve it. Which is why you need the remaining steps.

Step 2 is where you set your milestones. From where you are at currently to the point where your goal is achieved, you should set milestones otherwise known as sub-goals.

Milestones are used to remind yourself that whatever you are doing is showing you positive results. When you see these results, then you know that you are headed in the right direction. You will not be easily distracted and steered away from your chosen path.

I sometimes like to imagine these mile stones as signboards by the roadside that say “20 miles to the next gas station”. When you see these sign boards you know you are getting there and you will not feel lost.

Use them well and they will guide you towards your final destination. You can set as many milestones as you like. The more road signs you have the smoother the journey.

If your goal is to build a 10,000 subscribers list, you can set milestones like first 100 subscribers must be reached within the next 3 months. And the next milestone would be to build the next 1000 subscribers in the following 3 months and so on.

Step 3 explains the zones that exist between each milestone. The important message you need to grasp here is that you must deal with Zone 1 first before you move on to Zone 2, and Zone 3 and so forth.

Step 4 is where you start setting daily goals with your ‘to do’ list so that you can finally get things done. Let’s say your first milestone is to obtain 100 subscribers within the next 3 months. So you’d have roughly 90 days to achieve this.

Pull out a sheet of paper and start listing all the things you need to do to achieve this milestone.

For example you may list actions such as writing a free report to attract opt-ins, choosing an autoresponder service, plan where you would get your traffic from, etc. Armed with that list, you now wake up each day and make a daily ‘to do’ list where you must absolutely get them done within that day.

If you follow this and keep doing it, you will find yourself progressing with ease each passing day.
But of course if you are new to list building, expect times where you will make mistakes and times when you will need to do more research on the topic to successfully achieve the milestone. Only when you achieve the first milestone can you proceed to the next zone.

Realistic Goal Setting with Time Frame

Whenever you are setting your goals, there are two things you must keep in mind. First is a definitive time frame and the second is whether the goal is achievable.

An example of a goal that has a time frame and a realistic factor to it would be “I want to complete my first website within 3 weeks.”

As you can see, with a time frame you know that you don’t have the time to slack off and three weeks is enough time for even a beginner to build his first website. Having that time frame makes your goal achievable.

Do not set an overly exaggerated goal that is very hard to achieve, like “I am going to build a list of 50,000 subscribers within a week.” Not only are goals like this unrealistic, it can often kill your motivation when you fail to achieve it.

Adjusting Your Goals and Milestones

As you progress towards your goals you will find some flaws in the goals you have originally set. When you identify such flaws, do not hesitate to adjust them accordingly so that you can move on. How I set my goals (mid-term)

Every year on New Year’s Eve, I would take my girlfriend to some place quiet so that we can sit down and think about our yearly goals. These yearly goals are mainly mid-term goals.

Long Term Goals – General (I set these a few years back – Stuff like what kind of life we want, what kind of car we want, and what kind of house, and family we would like to have.)

Mid Term Goals – Detailed (I set these yearly together with the milestones.)

Short Term Goals – Very Detailed (I set these daily using a ‘to do’ list)

The first thing we do is to divide the goals into 4 separate categories.

1) Financial Goals
2) Family & Relationship Goals
3) Health Related Goals
4) Miscellaneous Goals

After that we would give ourselves 5-10 minutes to think and write down whatever we want to achieve in the coming year for each category. After writing down our goals we leave at least 2 lines of space after them.

Once we are done writing our goals, we will take turn asking each other what our goals are.

The one listening will ask the question “How do you plan to achieve it?” And we will discuss and write the answers on the space that we’ve left available earlier.

After that, we will label each of the goals with Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4 and they stand for …

Q1 – Quarter 1 (1st January – 31st March)
Q2 – Quarter 2 (1st April – 30th June)
Q3 – Quarter 3 (1st July – 30th September)
Q4 – Quarter 4 (1st October – 31st December)

If we put Q1 next to our goal, that means we plan to achieve that in the first quarter of the year and subsequently for Q2, Q3, and Q4.

Here’s how the goals would look like. (Replace X with 1, 2, 3, 4)

Financial Goals

QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goal here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
Family and Relationship Goals
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here

Health Related Goals

QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here

MISC Goals

QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here
QX – Write your goals here
- Write how you plan to achieve this goal here

When we finish with that, we would highlight the goals that are critical to us and we would put a small challenge to it. Normally, I would put a $100 penalty if we fail to achieve the critical goals by the end of the year.

In some cases, we would even give ourselves a reward if we complete the critical goals. This usually motivates us to take the goals seriously and do whatever we can to achieve it successfully.

Right after that, I will write a short promise at the end of the page that we will do a quarterly assessment (at the end of Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4) of our progress and make necessary adjustments if we have to.

We will make a silent promise to read this list of goals every single morning before we start our day and work towards it. Finally we would leave our signature there as a seal of our own promise and commitment we pledge to the goals we have written.

There you have it, that’s how I write my goals together with my girlfriend. You don’t have to follow this exactly. Use your creativity when setting your goals. One thing though… you need to be serious when you are setting your goals and be committed to achieving them. The part where we use a punishment and reward system works like a charm every single time.

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