Whether it’s for class, work, or anything else, here’s the key to achieving your goals.
Do you listen to podcasts?
You should!
One of my favorite podcasts is Louder Than Words by John Bonini. John’s a conversion copywriter who interviews some of the most interesting, successful, and passionate thought leaders doing creative work.
Even better for us, many of his guests started by studying English.
Take, for instance, his most recent guest, Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi (who also runs a great podcast). In the interview, Joe mentions one thing that he says is the key to his success.
When I heard it, I reflected the times in my life I’d been the most successful. And during each of those times, I did the same thing Joe does.
That secret to Joe’s (and my) success is writing down your goals.
It may sound trite, or overly cute. I mean, who writes down goals (besides that roommate who posts motivational quotes and “uplifting” signs all over the apartment)?
If you can get over that sense of “this is dorky,” you’ll quickly realizing how powerful writing down goals is. There’s just some profound impression goals make on your decisions, thoughts, and actions if you take the time to put them in writing.
A few days ago, Lifehacker shared Fast Company’s “How the Most Successful People Keep Track of Their Best Ideas.” Here’s the TLDR version:
Sometimes ideas seem useless until they’re connected with other ideas. Revisiting all of the idea notes every month gives you a chance to connect the dots and turn average ideas into great ones.
You may have a “Eureka!” moment every once in a while, but more often than not, great ideas start small. They trickle out and need time to ferment. That’s why Robi Ganguly, the CEO of Apptentive, suggests you go through all of them once a month…
Having a monthly idea rundown not only reminds you what you came up with, but it may also lead to solutions you would never have pieced together otherwise. Of course, you have to be consistently writing down all of your ideas in order for this method to work.
Do you have any tips for writing down and keeping track of goals? Share them with us in a comment below.
PS: In the last few days, I’ve had some pretty awesome networking experiences on LinkedIn. I actually recorded a screencast about this to give you a look at what a “live” networking opportunity actually means. Check the Member’s Area of the site to view the video later today. Not a member yet? Get instant access when you pre-order The English Major’s Guide to Getting a Job, launching next week.