What are your goals for your freelance work? Whether you are freelancing part-time to earn some extra money, or dreaming of working from home in your pajamas, it’s important to have a clear picture of what you’re aiming for. The brain can only act upon that which it is fed, so creating a clear image of your goals is crucial to achieving success! Adopting the following habits will help you stay focused on your vision for your freelancing life and motivated when the going gets tough.
- Write your goals down. Not only does this keep your goals in the forefront of your mind, but writing things down also programs them into your subconscious. Your subconscious mind will then start looking for ways to bring your goals to fruition. Take a few minutes every day to write down your top ten goals, without looking back at what you wrote the day before. This will allow you to see how your goals change over time.
- State your goals in the present tense. For example: “I earn $1000 a month in freelance income.” Your subconscious mind will accept this as a command and begin to look for ways to make it happen.
- Be specific. Saying “I am a successful writer” doesn’t give your subconscious anything concrete to work with. What does being successful mean to you? Be as precise and detailed as you can.
- Set both short-term and long-term goals. What can you accomplish this week? This month? This year? It’s important to have a clear image of the bigger picture and to identify the smaller things that will take you further on the path towards achieving your goals.
- State your goals positively. It is more empowering to write “I work from home full-time as a self-employed writer” rather than “I no longer work at my mind-numbing, soul-sucking 9-to-5 job.”
- Give yourself due dates. These can always be changed if they turn out to be unrealistic, but it’s important to have a time frame to work with.
- Take a few minutes every day to visualize the life you want to be living. See yourself working from home — how would you start your day, how would you feel, what would your energy level be like? Allow yourself to experience these things as if they were really happening.
Embarking on a career change or making the switch to self-employed may seem daunting at first, but by breaking your goals down into attainable steps, you’ll soon be making progress.
Do you have any goal-setting success stories or tips of your own? Please share your comments!
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great column! I have been writing down daily goals and it has really helped.
Excellent suggestions. I think these approaches apply to nearly everything your ambitions might drive you to pursue in life. The hardest part is, in my opinion, combining your inspiration with the determination to start the difficult path you’ve chosen. Setting realistic goals and building a routine that supports that journey is the best and only way to go.
Great advice! I have a long-term plan and then I write in my planner my goals for each week. It helps me stay on track and looking towards the future. I also practice visualization many times a day. It keeps me very motivated and working towards my goals.
Sympathique !