For Those Who Love Mind-Maps

Study Matrix Art has some gorgeous Mind-map posters that cover a wide range of subjects from weight loss, to Shakespearean Plays.

One of their newer offerings is the Stumbleupon Stumblerush mindmap. I’m so jealous, I wish the ones I drew stood a chance of coming out like these things.

Did I mention they are free?   Large, High-Def ones suitable for making a poster are only $5.00.

The 30 Day Challenge - Goal and Plan

The 30 Day Challenge kicks off tomorrow night at 7:00pm here in Texas. Now I know that’s not August 1st, but there’s a perfectly good explanation.  You see Ed Dale, who’s MCing this thing lives in Australia - and when he kicks it off Friday Morning, it’ll be 7:00pm Thursday, locally.

They highly recommend having a team, but that’s still a bit iffy. There was a Dallas thread under the Team forum at the 30DC site, but only one other guy’s been posting there since mid last month. Karl Johnson , so we’re currently slated to meetup at the Corner Bakery tomorrow at 7:00pm. Don’t know if anyone else is going to show up - although there were about 9 people on the original thread, and 4 of them Karl and I have Twittered to no avail so far.

There’s another team at 30DCSwatTeam.com that I might be working with - still in discussion.

With that said, here’s my 30 Day Challenge Goal:

Complete the 30 Day Challenge and Earn $5,000 online in the Month of August

I know that’s a lot more aggressive than the stated goal of $10.00, but what the heck. If I can do that, I stand a fairly good chance of being able to make this my full time job. It’s still a far cry from the 4 hour work-week, but It’s a step in the right direction.

- So, following my previous entry about How We Accomplish Anything , I have a pretty clear goal, and it’s SMART.

Specific : Earn $5,000 profit before Midnight, August 31st.

Measurable : Amount, $5,000

Attainable : Follow the plan, work the process, and it should be achievable.

Reasonable : Aggressive but reasonable IMHO

Time : Deadline, Midnight August 31st

So with my goal in hand, what is my specific plan?

1. Follow the 30 Day Challenge
2. Participate with a team
3. Commit at least 4 hours a day to the plan
4. As part of my Hour of Power - review my progress each morning
5. As part of my Hour of Wealth - blog my progress each evening
   
6. Network heavily within the program: Goal 20 good friends by 8/31

As the plan unfolds, I may need to modify my plan, since I’m somewhat at the mercy of the program, and the whole Team thing is still somewhat in the air. Still, it’s a pretty basic plan that I can follow and update/modify as needed.

I’d like to commit to earning $100 by the end of the second week, but I don’t know the program specifics, so I’ll wait a little longer before writing that one in stone.

How Do We Accomplish Anything?

Let’s start with the basics. Like Alice in Wonderland, it’s important that we know where we want to go.

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.

`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

1 - Have a Clear Goal

You need to have a goal. The clearer, the better.

I admit it, I’m an info junkie. I’ve done the Tony Robbins’ Personal Power, read Steve Pavlina’s stuff for years. I have stacks of books, all of which I’ve diligently read, telling me how to do things better. I’ve tried "Getting Things Done" , I’ve used state of the art Goal setting software such as GoalPro, and modified Action Item lists such as ActionOutline from Green Parrot. I’ve spend countless hours creating goal lists, making mind-maps, editing Mind-Movies, and more.

I’m not going to go through the entire process of finding your life’s meaning, determining the areas of life that you must attend to, and creating 10 year, 5 year, 1 year, 6 month, and 30 day goals. If you want to go through that process, I can heartily recommend Tony’s Personal Power . Following his program a couple of years back, I learned Mandarin, wrote a book, created my first profitable website, traveled to China and Tibet, and exercised every day for a month. It works.

So for this program, I’ve selected three short term goals, which fit into my long term goal plans. These goals are short and to the point. They are very clear. They are SMART goals, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. I will be posting my goals as separate posts, so I can follow through on them as individual threads through this blog.

2 - Have a Clear Plan

A goal is great. However to achieve any goal, you absolutely have to have a plan to follow.  I can say my goal is to be in New York City on Friday, but that’s not going to move me one inch from Dallas. There are a lot of ways to get there. I could walk east until I hit the ocean, then head north until I see the Statue of Liberty. I could plan a trip using AAA, and drive there. I could buy an airplane ticket, and fly to Laguardia. Take a bus. Hitch-hike. Ride my bicycle (the recumbent, or the Cannondale?). I need to decide on a plan, and follow through on that one plan.

To achieve my goals, I need very clear, explicit plans that I can follow through on, confident that if I do stick to the plan, I will get where I want to.  I like very detailed plans, that make it easy to know when you’re on track, or need some adjusting.

It’s 1:00am on the morning of the 30th. By Midnight tomorrow, I need to have my plans in place. Each plan will we posted separately, so I can follow each of the programs individually, from beginning to end.

3 - Follow Through

Let me tell you, having your goal firmly in mind is good. But then you need to follow through. Really follow through. Day-after-day, ignore-the-nay-sayers, fall-down-and-get-back-up, get-detoured-and-fight-your-way-through-the-underbrush-back-to-your-path follow through. And that’s the hard part.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on’ has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race." Calvin Coolidge

Following through is the hard part. At least for me. Especially when working online, where it’s so easy to get distracted. Tony Robbin’s has a program called Get The Edge. I love the basic premise that it starts with. Get up in the morning, and immediately focus on your goals for the day, and give gratitude for what you have. Then exercise and eat right. I’m not sure I agree with his whole dietary, exercise and nutrition plan, but I love the "Hour of Power" in the morning. So I’ll take that part and run with it.

Spend an hour in the morning, focused on your goals, your progress, and your fitness.

Spend another hour at midday, reexamining your progress, and working towards your goals

Spend a final hour at night, lining up what you’ll do in the morning, thinking about all your accomplished, and giving gratitude.

4 - Celebrate Your Success

I’ve got some plans for this as well - but you’ll have to stick around to hear these.
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