The Good News Journal, Volume XLVI: The Sensei-Sean all Sunday Edition – The Value of Goal Setting

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Sensei-Sean all Sunday Edition of The Good News Journal – thank You for being here!

On Monday I was tall King about why My Monday’s are Magical; I do what I Love, and Monday is the beginning of a new week and the perfect time for setting new goals.  What were they?

1. To Write as often as possible until I am Publishing daily.
2. To reach 10,000 Twitter followers as soon as possible (currently 5,159)
3. To actively manage My Twitter account (something I have neglected for a while)
4. To read at least one hour daily
5. To watch one motivational video daily (usually TEDx)
6. To exercise daily (push ups) with a Goal of 500 consecutive push ups

I was also tall King about the benefit of Keeping a Journal, and Putting One’s Goals on Paper.  There is a Secret Magic in doing this, and this Blog is an example of it.  Although Our Journal may be private and confidential, the Writer knows what was Writ.  In fact, I am thing King that this is why We sometimes neglect to revisit Our Journal, especially if We know We didn’t Keep the commitments We’ve made – I certainly know this was once true for Me.  To revisit Our Journal and be reminded of the commitments and resolutions We didn’t Keep, is to remind Us We are not being true to Our Self.

I don’t really use My Journal for that anymore, now My Journal is used for making Notes of My research and to remind Me of important things I Wish to Write about.  The reason I now make My commitments here is to Show the world that there is nothing We cannot achieve, so long as We Keep Our Focus on the Prize.  As ambitious as some of My Goals may seem, the only Way I could possibly fail, is if I fail to maintain My Focus.  Because My determination is to demonstrate what We are capable of, I am more accountable and committed to My audience than I am to My own ego.  I could easily make a million excuses to skip a day of exercise, not do My research, not maintain My Twitter account and/or abandon Writing My Blog.  I once had a Friend who believed I am genetically ‘gifted’ and I want the world to know this isn’t true, I accomplish My Goals because I remain committed to them.  The only Goals I won’t accomplish, Will be the Goals I abandon – and that wouldn’t make for a very Good Blog.

As ambitious as My Goals may seem, they are realistic because You Will notice that I have not committed to any timeline.  Time is the One thing We don’t have control over.  A man with a high IQ may learn things faster than others but a man with more determination and less ‘natural’ intelligence may still get there faster if she is committed to the material.  It is all relative to effort.  I have also afforded My Self some Grace with respect to Writing.  The Goal is to Write as often as possible, aiming to Write daily.  I won’t commit to Writing everyday because I believe that could be detrimental to the Writing process and quality content.  In fact, I came across a Blog Post in My reading this week that addresses this point specifically.

Should a Writer Write Everyday?

I think it is a fabulous Blog Post and I agree with it whole heartedly.  I have heard that Stephen King Writes 8 Pages everyday, and it’s easy to believe when One considers the number of Books the man has Published.  But what is war King for Stephen King Will not work for everyone.  And although this may be (or maybe not I don’t really know) Stephen King’s daily ritual, I’m sure even he takes time off now and then – We all need a break once in a while, or We Will run Our Self ragged.

How have I made out with the Goals I set on Monday?  Well, Fabulously, thank You very much!  (I’m not sure how to do the little blushing emoji but insert one here).  This Will be My seventh Blog Post in Seven days and I’m very proud of that, and that is why I am tall King about it today.  Not only does setting Goals Keep Me motivated, but it also feels Fantastic when One accomplishes them!  Do I have 10,000 Twitter followers?  No.  Can I do 500 consecutive push ups?  No.  But did I actively manage My Twitter account this week?  Yes.  And did I Keep My workout routine?  Yes.  Did I gain more Twitter followers?  Yes.  Can I do more push ups now than I could on Monday?  Yes.  Do I feel better and stronger than I did on Monday?  Yes.  Did I read for at least one hour every day this week?  Yes.  Did I watch at least one TEDx or motivational video every day this week?  Yes.

And why did I commit to (at least) an hour of reading everyday and one motivational video?  To Keep Me motivated to accomplish My Goals, and to learn how to monetize this Blog.  How is My effort paying off?  Well, I’m going to let You decide.

I disappeared from My Blog for…  I am thing King it was actually a little more than three weeks in December, and You can see how quickly My stats plummeted.  Now, please do Keep in Mind that these are still very modest statistics by most standards, so I’m not doing this to showboat or anything.  In fact, One of the links I included in My little Blog start up guide was tall King about her first Blog having over 600,000 Views a year, which works out to somewhere between 1500 and 1600 views per day!  I Keep My Goals relative to Me, and My Goal is to continue to build upon the foundation I have already established.  But I am thing King it’s pretty clear that My efforts are already paying off.

Wow, 1000 Words already.  My Posts are averaging a few hundred more Words this year, too.  Just a couple more things I want to share with You all before I go.

My ‘Dream’ when I started this Blog was that One day I might have an international audience, a Voice that could be heard anywhere in the world.  I haven’t actually counted to find out how many different countries have read My Blog to date, but We’re only 20 days into January and this is well beyond typical for this modest man, and I only anticipate it Will continue to grow.

Finally, I had said that for almost 8 years it was as if no one was reading My Blog.  Until April of 2017, I had 11 followers and most of them had been with Me for a while.  But something else very auspicious happened in April of 2017.  Stats I had never seen before were suddenly revealed to Me.  I realized I had thousands of Views in the first couple of years of Writing My Blog.  Again, still very modest by most standards, but considerably better than no readership at all, which is how it had previously appeared.  The most beautiful thing about that Story, is that I can still Show My readers this phenomenon today.

This screenshot might not mean much to those who don’t Blog or know WordPress, but the darker inside margin is the number of visitors, the outer, larger columns are the number of Page Views.  In 2010, 2011, and until December 12th, of 2012, I had People Viewing My Blog without actually visiting any of My Posts.  If You are wondering how that might be possible, Your guess is as Good as mine.  And I didn’t get to see any of this until sometime in April of 2017.  Before then, I believed virtually no one but My 11 loyal followers was reading this Blog.

Anyway, I’m averaging 24 push ups a day now (and today is actually the first day I’m not in pain since having started), which was the same number I completed in the original fitness test at the beginning.  But whatever, I’m just following what the app tells Me to do and Trust that it’s going to adjust and adapt as time goes on.  I encourage anyone to join Me in My 500 push up challenge and share Your results and progress if You feel so inclined.

Don’t underestimate the Power of setting Goals and remaining True to them, especially if they are important to You.

I hope You’ve all had a fabulous week, I’ve got lots of great Ideas for new material I’ll be sharing with You tomorrow.

Love and Blessings,