It’s New Year – Time for Goal Setting & Resolutions?

Happy New Year Caroline. There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting another blog specific to what you want to do. You will find that in time your own desires/passion will kind of dictate how a multiple blog approach goes…ie what you really love to do, you will undoubtedly spend a bit more time and energy on it…nothing wrong with that. You may also be surprised. One of my longest running blogs I tended to always deal with last…always pushing it to the background, but it’s still around and viable today even though I ignored it for the longest time. You actually give your readers more options by starting another blog. Maybe you’ll attract others that would necessarily read here, but would kill to see this law of attraction stuff! Ya never know. Lastly (the crowd says it’s about time), I’m not a terrible supporter of free blogs and the like (I think ya get what ya pay for), but the blog I referred to earlier is just that…a blogger blog…so….it could always start as an option and get the domain stuff later if it looks worthwhile…sorry for rambling…

T

I have 1 question!
OK maybe 238 questions:-)

Is LOA something you can monetise? Is it a business or is it a nice idea, passion, or worthwhile cause? Where are you metrics to prove that the money is there? Not just searches, but the money…

If there is a “market” that YOU can get a sufficient share of and monetise as a business, then off you go. Perfect solution. Because this blog is about the “process” you use to create your successful business, not the thing. LOA would be the thing.

As your actual business it would have its own dedicated web presence, which may, or may not, include a blog (probably would in this case).

Only you can answer if you think there is a market YOU can obtain for LOA.

My feeling is that there is not. You will not have the kick start you had with IM, plus you have few competitors with “your style” of IM “honesty”, which is not so with the more saturated LOA market

So it’s a great idea. A very worthwhile cause and you should do it! But I suspect it will be a “hobby”. A “leisure time” activity. One that may help you in other areas, i.e. raw marketing experience, but not one that will pay your rent.

Of course only you have all the facts. Maybe you have developed a style of LOA that will be an instant hit. Maybe you have truly called universal energy and are thus empowered to do so. Only you know your true state of karma.

Success and failure of any business is in its market research and in its branding. They come before you can start (yet another) a new venture.

JM0CW

BTW AFAIK this is the real (human empowerment of universal energy) LOA Caroline is talking about here, not the MLM and IM “ABUSE” of the term applied to marketing.

Happy New Year everybody!
Peter

What’s the saying… “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket”, I remember you telling me a story about 2 guys that made their big bucks on google adwords, only to then have it taken away from them because apparently they were abusing it.

Starting a new blog could be just what you need. Were you contemplating changing the theme of this one or starting a new one from scratch? I wouldn’t change this blog because it might take your subscribers by surprise and well I think this blog has potential and I’d hate to see it abandoned.

Good luck with the LoA blog, choosing something you are passionate about will be evident to those reading than doing something because it’s a niche that is untapped.

Enjoy the New Year Partying, Good Luck for 2008.

Dear Caroline,
You are going through one of those few major stages in life when one has to resolve and redefine a number of important things at the same time.
It takes time and consumes an awful lot of thinking and energy, because you have to do several things simultaneously: support yourself financially, find your real passion, assess and re-assess choices constantly. It’s painful, it’s tiring, but once you’ve done it all, you’ll feel much better and more grown up still.
There are several ways of dealing with it, but no sure recipe, alas! It really depends on you, what you feel you really want to do, or simply what you are curious to try for a while and see how it develops (or doesn’t).
Start a blog on the Law of Attraction if that’s what you want to do. I’m sure you’ll find lots of readers.
Best wishes for a Happy New (constructive) Year.

I too am VERY interested in the Law of Attraction – so, going off a comment that I posted earlier today on your “A Collection of Money Making Ideas by YOU” post – what ebook about the Law of Attraction would you LOVE to read but you haven’t found it yet ??? if you wrote it and it wasn’t too expensive I would buy it just to read what you have to say (seriously!) ~megan

Caroline, you’re absolutely correct on the “RSS” topic. When the counter raises higher for my blog, it tends to boost up my confidence. When it drops, I tend to give up. It’s a 50/50 thing when it comes to blogging for me :)

-Mike

Happy New Year! I hope 2008 proves to be an amazing year for everyone!

I fully agree that creating just goals isn’t terribly helpful (especially if they are unrealistic and most people do overestimate what they can achieve in a year). Those sort of goals don’t create any guidance and only serve as a reminder of failure if you review them.

Maki from Dosh Dosh also pointed to another risk of goal setting – you might hold yourself to the wrong goals and not appreciate and get value from the process.

But I think the problem with goals is more how they are created and implemented. I think that most people (me included – I’m currently trying to redress this) don’t make smart enough goals and they aren’t objective enough in the review process.

For goals to be powerful they need to tied to core values, they need to be SMART (specific, measurable, attractive, realistic and timed) and (this is the crucial step that is often left out) broken down into small milestones and an action list.

All this needs to be reviewed on a regular basis. Ideally if I’m not hitting my monthly/quarterly milestones then I have to look at changing my goals or my action steps. If things change or new opportunities arise or alternatively I get “bad vibes” from what I’m doing, an objective review should pick this up.

Anyway that’s my plan for my 2008 and why I’m taking this week off to create a roadmap for my goals rather than just a wishlist that has few ties to reality.

I AM a big fan of creating habits (resolutions) to achieve goals – because it is often consistent action not any one step that produces results. And as you said, this is even more powerful when it’s tied to a goal you care about.

Again, all the best to everyone for a wonderful 2008! And thanks Caroline for all your work on this blog!

:-) Kitty

Caroline, you are right. I am publishing my list of “goals and resolutions” on my blog tomorrow, and this article has helped me evaluate a bit more. So instead of only publishing my resulting goals, I will also publish the smaller things I’ll have to complete to reach those larger goals.

As for your other interests, just start another blog! I’m actually planning on starting a Sims 2 blog, because I’m getting into making custom content for it. Whether or not I’ll be able to make money doing that doesn’t matter to me, it’s just the fact that I’m enjoying myself. I can have money-making website ventures, and then I can have others just for fun.

Hi Caroline,

I find goal setting can be useful to help prioritise and to decide what to do next. And some kind of measure of progress can be useful (but only once I have some realistic ideas about what is going on and what I can achieve). After this I think goal setting is mostly a waste of time.

As to passions: it may be that one thing represents another. Like that new car might get me all these available women. So it may be that this blog and the law of attraction represent something deeper for you. Or it may be that these are a simple expression of who you are. But I do find it worthwhile to ask ourselves the question.

Hoping you have a great new year.

Hi Caroline,

I just came across your website a couple of weeks ago and love it. You have an easy way of conveying what you’re thinking to all of us. I like your analysis of resolutions and goals. I’ve always considered them one and the same. A sort of word samantics if you will. I think the breakdown comes in that people don’t want to put in the effort to truly make their goals a reality. All goals/resolutions need a commitment and will to be successful. Have a great New Year. I look forward to following which ever adventure you choose!

With a new year ahead I’m setting my goals to be more focused to move my business forward each day.

These strategies were discussed on our local tv network….

1. Decide what your goal is and commit to success;
2. Write down as many reasons as you can why you want to succeed:
3. Pencil your goal as if you’ve already achieved it;
4. Imagine yourself succeeding;
5.Make a daily plan;
6. Devise coping strategies;
7. And, most importantly never give up.

This was a another great idea of assessing the past year and helping to move onto the new year.

http://lifestylediscoveries.com/blog/misc/best-new-year-resolutions/

nice post – very insightful. if your example of writing pillar articles once a week *is* one of your real resolutions, i think you’re done for this week…now start thinking about next week :)

i guess all my resolutions for this year are “resolutions” and not “goals”. thankfully, i’ve chosen resolutions that have pretty obvious goals, so i don’t think i’ll get disillusioned a few months down the line.

wish you and your family a happy new year too…all the best for 2008. looking forward to more great stuff from you :)

Hi Caroline,

there sure is a difference between your goal and the necessary steps that will lead to your goal.

I know a lot of people who set a goal, write it down on a card, read it every hour and then will be disappointed that nothing has happend after 3 months.

The Law of Attraction does not tell people to keep on sitting on their sofas and everything will be fine just by pure magic (and I sure know what I am talking about, as I am working as a mental trainer). LoA can help us achieve our goals but we still have to get going ourselves.

Anyhow, it sure is a very interesting subject and I can understand that you are fascinated and want to dig deeper into it. So why don’t you just start a 2nd blog about this new subject and just find out how it will develop. So you don’t have to give up what you have already achieved here.

Whatever you will decide – I wish you all the best for 2008!

Regards
Kirsten

Simple: turn your passion into a hobby; just like lots of people who have a day-time job. Do you work 9 to 5 on this blog? Maybe not, but you should have a set schedule for your working hours and spend the rest on eating, sleeping, friends, family, hobby (if you want to start a new blog, do it but try not to do it in your working hours) and whatever else you do.
Keep a notebook with you all the time and if you find yourself thinking of “the laws of attraction” (whatever that is) while you are working on your blog, just write down quickly what you think. If you think of new ideas for your blog while you are doing something else, write it down too.
Well, I know, it is easy to say and I must admit I am not the queen of organization myself, but try you best.
Happy New Year!

@Peter, No I don’t think LoA is something that can be monetized, well I guess it can but as you say, I think it’s more likely to be more of a hobby blog.

@Nadine, yep I seem to be coming to new conclusions almost daily about what it is that I want to do with myself.

@Kitty, there’s a saying by Steve Pavlina that most people over-estimate what they can achieve in a year, but they UNDER-estimate what they can do in 5 years!

I used to set ’smart’ goals but now that is what I find annoying – I just don’t want to be measuring my progress all the time and reminding myself that I’m not there yet.

@Tay, one of my most successful websites from years ago was called The Sims Hangout, and I seriously considered doing one for the Sims 2 recently. Good luck with that :-)

@Cindy, yes you’re right. It’s so easy to set a goal and then not commit to doing what is necessary to achieve it and that’s when the inevitable failure kicks in.

@Kirsten, I think the part of LoA that people forget is to take the inspired action! I don’t think we can get our goals by thinking alone – thinking is the precursor but there must still be action!

Another very good quality post. However I do have one suggestion for your new layout. Can you add something to goto the comments section at the bottom of the post. At the moment it’s at the top and although yes it only takes a few seconds to scroll back up it’s not quite as straight forward to comment as it used to be!

Hi Caroline!

First, Happy New Year to you and everyone!

The Law of Attraction is like the Law of Gravity: you don’t manipulate it, monetize it or worship it.

However, just as with the law of gravity, if you understand it, you CAN put it to work for you.

I am excited to see so many of your readers expressing an interest in the LOA. As I have recently begun learning about this awesome force, I have seen it manifest in the most cool ways.

One of those is your blog, Caroline. Every time I read your articles, I see the teacher in you. It helps me understand LOA.
Get this, I’ve been ASKING for more discussion and your blog and Yaro’s blog have been providing it!

So, you’re actually attracting your LOA audience, perhaps without even realizing it!!!

Here’s to a breakout year for Ms. Caroline!

Cheers,

Mitch

Hi Caroline. I understand your dilemma. IMO if you want to succeed online you have to do something you have a lot of passion because if we don’t have that our efforts will easily be questioned when there is no return. I’m sorry to say that i got the feeling you are not happy with internet marketing stuff.

Don’t worry about others worry about you first. People read your blog because of the way you write so maybe if you write
about “The law of attraction” your reader will follow you. You need to specialize on things because that is the only way to survive on the net. Moderation won’t last because the competition is so fierce online.

You can change the theme of your blog if you like for example you can name it to Caroline’s Law of Attraction. Just take a look at what Courtney Court do. For your information law of attraction keyword phrase searched around 450 times daily. Your blog is already has a high rank so you might have a good chance to rank well for that phrase. You have to ask seo expert for more helps.

So you can give guide with anything you know about attraction. I will read your blog because i love the topic too. I have a lot of a passion. i want to write about sport but i love internet marketing more at the moment. I been learning how to make money online average 10 hours per day continuously including sunday since the beginning late last year. My desire still strong although the money is not coming in that much yet.

My 2007 is my learning year. I know a lot now so 2008 will be my year to put all the thing i know into words on my site although my site is already more than 200 pages. I think i can put 200 pages more with my own words about internet marketing. My concept is not “money is in the list” like other internet marketer are preaching. I don’t buy that. That concept make people lose money more than earn. so i won’t go for it.

We got to make a stand on our action online. Don’t have to please everybody because we all different and we can have our own target market that belief the same principal with us. So please do what you love the most otherwise you will feel tired doing in.

Well Caroline sorry for the long comment spam. Happy New Year. All the best to you in 2008.

Hi Caroline, I hear ya on the goals, it’s been my experience as well so I’m looking at it differently this year.

I blogged about it as well (see link below).

Why not develop a category about the law of attraction on this blog? Maybe you can tie it into internet marketing, it is all about attracting traffic and sales after all.

Or make another blog that is fairly seamless with this one, I am doing that myself with my home and wahm blogs. They are not targeted enough to keep together but they can appeal to both readers so I’ve made them the same template etc and will join them with a link and will be putting a plugin on each to show some posts so that they are joined but separate :0)

http://queenofkaos.com/WAHMblog/
http://www.queenofkaos.com/home/

Becoming scattered is a real danger to look out for, but with a little thought, you may be able to make it work. Maybe this is the direction that you have been looking for. I’d be very interested to hear what you have to say about the law of attraction.