It’s my first Member Update of the New Year, and I thought I’d jump on the content bandwagon and write about goals and resolutions.
You’ve probably had a dozen or more articles on the topic land in your inbox already, but hopefully I can offer something a little different from traditional goal-setting advice or explanations about why our good intentions seem to evaporate by February.
Train for Something
Two goals pop up again and again: weight loss goals and income goals. Nothing wrong with either of those. They can easily be measurable and specific.
But what if, instead of saying you want to lose xx number of pounds this year, you gave yourself something to train for? You could decide you want to be able to run an eight-minute mile by the end of the year… or run a marathon… or hike to the top of a local peak… or be able to swim five miles at a go.
There’s a different sense of excitement… a different journey… a different feeling of accomplishment with this kind of goal.
I’m going to put this into practice and train to run to the top of Table Rock — just shy of two miles with 900 feet of elevation gain.
You can apply this to business goals, too. Instead of aiming for a specific number of dollars in earnings, you could train to be the best local SEO professional in your city… or to put together and launch a course on a topic you’re passionate about… or to become a public speaker.
By giving yourself something to train for, you’ll be gaining something more material. Something you can keep using going forward. And the happy side effect will be a healthier body, or bank account, or both.
Less and More
During last month’s Monthly Member Update webinar, I encouraged you to think about what you wanted more of and what you wanted less of in your life… and to come up with ways to make that happen.
You can also use this approach for growth and progress this year. Health wise, what do you want more of? And less? For example, I want more water and less sugar.
Business wise, what do you want more and less of this year? I want more UX projects and less procrastination.
You can apply this to family and friends, learning, and creativity… just to name a few possibilities.
Get Visual
Whatever goals (or not-goals) you set this year, you can help yourself along by creating a visual element to cheer you on or to track your progress.
This could be as simple as your ‘more and less’ statements printed in poster size and hung on your wall. If you’re training for something, you could make a schedule and cross off each session when you complete it.
You could adapt a bullet journal, hanging a grid on your wall and filling in your progress for each week.
You could make a monthly chart… a vision board… a mind-map display… a challenge statement… a single word… a don’t-break-the-chain calendar.
Whatever it is, make it big. Put it somewhere it can’t be missed. And look at it with intention every day.
There are lots of ways to grow and achieve more. You can make resolutions. You can set goals. Or you can make up your own approach to success this year. I’d love to hear about your plans in the comments!
New on Digital Copywriter
Sure, it was the holidays, but we still added some great new stuff to Digital Copywriter in the last two weeks.
Suzanna Fitzgerald penned her final Reality Blog, sharing the most important things she’s learned from publicly sharing her journey these past two years. Give it a read to see how you can use what she’s learned to help your own business grow.
It’s easy to say that writing should be user focused. But it’s harder to deliver. As a writer, you might stray from providing a good user experience without even realizing it. In my most recent UX/CX Copywriting column, I share five common UX mistakes that sneak into copy, along with tips for avoiding each one.
One of the most powerful things about paid social media advertising is the ability to target your audience and connect with people who are genuinely interested in what you offer. In her latest PPC & Advertising column, Zoe Blarowski walks you through the process of defining your audience.
Coming Up on Digital Copywriter
January 11: Next Wednesday, join me for our first Monthly Member Update of the year. In keeping with January’s overriding theme, we’ll look at the benefits of setting a really big, kinda scary goal. I hope to see you there!
3 Things You Might Enjoy…
Thinking about starting a side hustle in 2023? Jeff Bullas shares five principles for success.
Planning a content strategy can feel like a baffling process… there’s so much possibility… how do you know where to focus and when? This guide to building a content marketing strategy from Content Marketing Institute will help you move forward with more certainty.
And, then I found this read on sensory marketing for intangible products to be really interesting.
That’s all for now. Enjoy the weekend!
