Dream Big & Work Hard — Part # 2 — 6 Tips to Pursuing Your Dreams

Here is part 2 of the Dream Big & Work Hard series.

Uncontrollable things may come into your life, but it’s you who will overall control the outcome. If you set goals, focus on achieving them, and don’t quit no matter what. Your life should be lived with no regrets.

By setting goals and measuring your achievements, you are able to see what you have done and what you are capable of doing.

Goal setting is easy. Following through on the goals is what’s hard, but only if you make it hard.

1. Make a Plan — Set Realistic Goals

Set goals both big and small. Big goals are where you want to be; the small goals are the steps you take to get there.

I use sites like 43things.com to set and share my goals or tasks. Once a goal is completed, you check it off your list and share your experience of what you did to achieve that goal.

Don’t set yourself up for failure by expecting too much at first.

Example:

Not realistic goal for this site: Get one million views to this site this year.
Realistic goal for this site: Get 150K visitors this year. That’s 50K more than last year.

So this is something I can possibly do because it’s not terribly far from what I have done before.

2. Find Some Role Models

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be unique, but you must have seen someone do something you admired in the field of your choice to make you want to do what you are currently doing. So find some role models and use their road to success as a model to get where you want to be. I’m sure their journey was full of hard work.

Example: Ryan Leslie — I admire him because he is a music artist who has a strong work ethic and has a good understanding of today’s social market. There are tons of music artists’ albums that aren’t coming out because of lack of promotion, and Ryan Leslie takes advantage of all online tools available, such as Myspace, YouTube, blogging, and more to make himself known. Other artists can learn from him. I’m not trying to be a singer or anything like that. But I admire his hard work.

3. Set a Timeline

You need to be able to measure your progress, so you need to set a timeline. Set the big goals.

Example: You want to be a music producer. There are many different ways to achieve this goal. But we are setting mini goals to get there. So here are small goals and tasks to help get to where you want to be.

Mini Goals

• Create five to 10 beats per week
• Find new sounds — one day per week
• Learn to play piano — dedicate one hour per week to practicing
• Network with rappers and songwriters
• Promote beats — post on Myspace, Roc Battles, and music forums

Bigger Goals: All of This in Three Months

• Have 100 beats
• Learn to play five songs on the piano
• Have phone numbers to 10 rappers and 10 songwriters
• Have 1,000 friends on Myspace, participate in six beat battles on Roc Battles, have 100 posts in music forums

See, the little steps are easy. With in three months, everything has grown to bigger numbers.

4. Commit to Achieving — Ignore Bumps in the Road

It’s easier to give up than it is to work hard. But just think about that WHAT IF? No one else will make your life’s dreams happen for you. So QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION!

5. Invest in Learning

This is very important. We are living in the time of so much information being available on the Internet, and research is the key. You can’t expect information to come to you. Go out and find everything.

Example: I worked on this site for two months before it launched. I researched how to write articles, how to promote the site, tips to making it user friendly, how to network, and the pros and cons of ads. I read sooooo much information. I wasn’t going to just put out something without a plan and no knowledge at all about what I am doing.

Researching gives you insight about others’ knowledge so you can avoid the same mistakes they have made. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. GO RESEARCH YOUR CRAFT!

6. Review Your Overall Progress Regularly

No plan is ever set in stone. Always work on modifying it, but that doesn’t mean allowing the goals to just fade away. It just means it may take a little longer than expected.

Example: As of March 25, I have had 30,159 visitors this year. That’s about 10K per month. I need to boost that to 13K per month for me to hit my goal, so I’ll need to work on that.

Last Words

Nothing in life that is worth having will come easy. So go fight for it and get it, and hold no one but yourself accountable if you don’t try.

Part #3 coming soon.

5 Articles I think you should check out:

1. 6 Things I Was Reminded of by Lance Armstrong
2. A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose
3. 5 Reasons Why Dreamers Can Be Leaders
4. 22 Secrets to Discovering Your Dream and Living It
5. 25 Simple Steps to Becoming Successful

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