How to Make a Book Series - Setting Realistic Goals

Goal setting is a powerful tool that, when used effectively, becomes an extraordinary way to increase your self confidence and help turn your ideas into reality. Setting realistic goals gives you a sense of accomplishment of which, in turn, motivates you to achieve more goals. Carelessly creating unrealistic goals is like saying, "My goal is to travel to the moon for dinner tonight." Although a beautiful thought, it may serve you well to set a goal to first, research which airline has flights departing to the moon. Tip: make sure you have an extra $25 to pay for your checked baggage!

Let's look at a few key things to get you started.

"Realistic" Goal Setting
It is good to be ambitious, but keep your goals realistic. Being realistic means to find a way to practically measure your progress. Think of something you would like to accomplish. Then apply a practical way or unit of measure to gauge your success. Ex: "Complete the Targeting Your Audience exercise by this Friday." Now you have an actual DAY to keep yourself accountable to. Including these practical elements are an effective way to not only see your progress but also lower your frustration levels along the way.

Learn to Love Revision
I know "change" might be a scary word, but in this context, changing or revising your goals can be an asset and work to your own advantage. Talk to any hit songwriter and they'll say, "You have to learn to love to rewrite." That is because when you initially start down the path of achieving a goal, you may find other things you may need to do before you can check it off. Additionally, if you think your goals are set in stone, they are not. Just because you wrote them down once doesn't mean you have to stick to your initial way of achieving them. Keep the long term goal in mind and don't worry about how you initially thought you would get there. Be patient with yourself and keep on revising until you hit your goal. Your sense of accomplishment will be well worth your time!

The next two things I will discuss are the hidden secrets behind creating powerful goals.

Accountability
Accountability simply means being willing to accept the responsibility for your actions. In regard to goal setting, you could tell a trusted friend about your goals and ask them to hold you accountable to accomplish them. They in turn could call or email you about how your progress is coming along. This does two things: (1) having a friend keep you accountable informs them of your idea/direction and demonstrates your commitment to them and (2) promotes the motivation within you to achieve more goals. There is a reason why health/fitness personal training is a multi-million dollar industry. People want to be held accountable to help keep themselves on target.

WRITE OUT YOUR GOALS
Did you get that...in all CAPITAL letters? If you don't get anything else from this posting, get this...WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. It may seem silly at first, but once you start seeing your progress you will soon realize the hidden gems within this exercise. Write down your goals anywhere, on a notepad, a napkin, a post-it note and...here's the second piece of this powerful technique...place it somewhere you will look everyday (preferably multiple times a day). Places you could post these notes are on your bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator door, on the dash of your car, or my favorite-type your goals into your computer's screensaver. By doing this, you will be subliminally saying to your brain "accomplish this task" and it will start directing your thoughts and your actions towards accomplishing your goals. This is a powerful technique and I guarantee you will see results.

Keep the goal setting process in mind throughout your entire project. Again, goals are not set in stone and if you should start out too ambitious, don't worry, learn to love to revise and adjust accordingly. Soon you will experience the joy of accomplishing your goals and you will have a created a strong foundation for your book to become a reality!

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Tom Sabella has graciously contributed many of the ideas found in this post. For information on speaking engagements, consultations, podcasts, and/or other media inquiries, visit www.page2radio.com or contact Tom at: tom@page2management.com.

Tom Sabella has been a performer, agent, manager, and recording studio owner. In fact, his vocal group, the Acts, was together for over 20 years - they performed around the country and recorded six albums. Tom designed and taught an Entertainment Marketing/Internship Program and is currently working with Dove and Grammy award winning artists like Phil Keaggy, Terry Blackwood, and other music professionals in Nashville, TN. Tom is reaching beyond the classroom with Music Business and Goal Setting Seminars. His book, “Don’t Get Taken, Take Control; Twelve Things Musicians Need to Know” and now the Page 2 Radio Network of Internet Radio programs are designed to help talented people, wherever they are, employ practical steps toward success.