I think success can be measured in so many ways by everyone, but success to me involves reaching goals that I set for myself daily. I’m a dreamer for sure, I see something I want and I tend to go all out until I reach it. I’m a goal setter and a list maker, which I think helps me stay focused on all I need to do to achieve my dreams.
When I began this blog I had a goal to make it as big as I could get it. I toiled for a year before I figured how HOW to get it there (hint: consistent posting, reading and commenting on blogs, and sponsoring other blogs to get your name out there!) I made a list one January and vowed to double my readership each month, and then set up exactly what I needed to do to get there. I signed up for sponsorships for the entire year, wrote some posts for other blogs that I hoped would share who I was and draw people to me, and by the time I was done with this plan I found that I had surpassed my original goal. It was never about being the biggest for me, but for being the best I could be. I knew I want to share my experience with others and create a community, so I worked daily to reinforce that. I found that I couldn’t just say, “I want to make an income blogging,” I had to make daily sub goals and lists that would help me achieve this ultimate dream. None of it was easy, and took years to get where I wanted to be (and I’m still working on it!), but looking back I see that it wasn’t just about the dream, it was the focus that brought me there.
You have to dream big by focusing small.
I find that this works in so many areas of my life. I have a fitness goal of being as healthy and fit as I can be. I love being able to lift weights and run fast and eat well. So I break it down. I focus on entering my daily food intake into Fitness Pal each day. Then I set a new goal to add miles to my run (even if it is a half mile at a time), or saying that I will only go to the gym for 10 minutes if I really don’t want to work out on a particular day (though I always stay the whole time, so the trick works!)
It’s never the end result that really pushes me, it’s the consistent nature of pushing through daily to do what I said I would do. (This could also mean I am really stubborn and hate not doing what I said I would do!) Blogging when I don’t feel like it, eating a salad when I really want the burger and fries, running five more minutes when I want to quit, these are the little decisions that add up. These small choices all add up and create the life I have always dreamed about. They push me to be the best me I can be, and in the end I reap the rewards of reaching goals that I never thought possible.
Tell me, are you a goal setter? How do you make your dreams come true?
