Category Archives: E-Book Writing

Planning 2019: Set process orientated goals

Career, E-Book Writing, Planning

In the last blog post I talked of keeping it simple and just having 3 goals maximum when planning 2019. I also talked of quarterly planning. Break your three annual goals down into quarterly goals and have 3 quarterly goals.  From there you plan each week and then each day. In this post I want to talk about the importance of setting process orientated goals in 2019.

Planning 2019

What is a process orientated goal?

A process orientated goal is one that focuses on what you are doing and not on what the end result will be. You trust the process to get you where you want to go. If you want to lose 10 kg in weight you can set a process orientated goal of going to the gym 4 times a week or walking for 30 minutes every day etc. This is easily measurable and doable; you are totally in charge of whether or not your reach your goal. The process will lead you to your eventual goal.

Right now after the Christmas indulgences I do need to lose some weight. I do know for a fact that I could run a half marathon by April if I started training today. That is because I can set process orientated goals which will lead me to the big goal of the half marathon. In other words focus on what I need to do this week.  The focus is only on each week and each day – what do I have to do today. How many minutes do I have to run today. Focus on the process will take me to the big goal of the half marathon.

Want to write a book in 2019?

Another example of a process goal is developing an online course or writing a book. These are big goals. They are challenging goals. In this case don’t just say “I will have published my book by December 31st 2019”. Set a process orientated goal which might go like: “I will work on my book for one hour per day from 6am – 7am, six days per week during 2019”. I can assure you that if you focus on the process and achieve your daily goals that your book will get written (I have written 4 books and published 2 online course so I know this works!).

Life Long Learning & planning 2019

Can I suggest a process orientated goal for you in 2019. Set yourself a goal around learning. Life Long Learning is a key skill/attribute for the coming decades of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Technology is driving change in our jobs/working lives and we all need to keep learning and growing or our skills and knowledge will become obsolete. Set yourself a goal of learning something for an hour a day, six days a week in 2019. Take online or offline courses, listen to audio books and podcasts and read. You can do this during your commute time, early in the morning or whatever time suits. Each week you will have 6 hours of learning and by the end of 2019 you will have spent about 312 hours learning new things. That works out at a month and a half of learning in 2019 – all from one process goal!  What new skills will you have learned by the end of 2019?

Best wishes,

Tom

PS Why not start your learning habit for 2019 by taking my online course: Transform your Life: 30 Experiments in personal change.  Get the course at the special price of $9.99 for readers of this blog (course also includes a free copy of my ebook).

Online Business: Winners Take All?

Blogging, E-Book Writing, Money, Online

In today’s  world of online business we see ‘out-sized rewards for a small number of stars’.  This is a line from the book ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’ by Klaus Schwab (2016).  It sums up for me what I have come to understand about the internet and businesses online.  There are a relatively small number of online businesses which do very very well while the majority fight over the crumbs.  Perhaps the ‘Pareto Principal’ on steroids is at play (80% of the benefits go to the top 20%).  The vast majority of online businesses will fail to make a dent while some enjoy untold success.  This seems to me to be a key rule of the internet and why if you write a book, start a blog, develop an online course etc. you will likely fail to make money.  I have heard it described as ‘life in the tail’.  There is a very long trail. If you are in the tail you will sell a very few copies of your book, course or product. Since the tail is very big with thousands and thousands of products then it is very profitable to own a tail but very unprofitable to be in the tail!  Amazon own a tail of thousands upon thousands of products and make lots of money but if you are in the tail you will make pennies.  I live in the tail online and this blog lives in the tail!  If you start an online business you will likely join me to live in the tail as well.

Lets look at online business examples

Look at online social platforms for example.  Take Facebook – who is the nearest competitor to Facebook? Well I just Googled this and below is the list of Facebook competitors according to Google:

  • Vero
  • Mastodon
  • Ello
  • Digg
  • Steemit
  • Raftr
  • Diaspora

I have never hear of any of these!  Facebook, worth somewhere in the region of $600 billion in 2018, is the winner and the winner takes all.  The competitors live in the tail.  This is due to Metcalfe’s Law about the value of a network.  If there are few people on the competitors network then they have little value.  Who would want to be on an alternative to Facebook if few people and none of your friends are there?  Take another example of tech companies.  Apple is now a $1 trillion dollar company.  How many big phone companies are there? Apple, Samsung, Huawei etc. the big brands dominate the market and take the lions share of revenue.  It’s winner take all again.

Inequality in the world

The online world reflects the world at large.  Half of all the assets in the world are owned by the top 1% of the population while the lowest half of the population collectively own less than 1% of global wealth (Credit Suisse – Global Health Report 2015).

Maybe the tail isn’t that bad?

I live in the tail.  This website lives in the tail.  My books and courses live in the tail.  I don’t make much money online.  Does that mean I should give up and stop writing?  If my only objective was to make money then I certainly should have quit by now.  But my objective is much bigger than making money.  My objective is to learn as well as to teach.  At the end of the day I am only ever writing for an audience of two people.  The first person is myself and the second person is you.  I sincerely hope that you benefit from what I write but I do know with certainty that I benefit.  That is enough to make my efforts worthwhile.  If your great great grandfather or great great grandmother had written a book and you were the only reader would that book be worthwhile?  I would say yes and I would love to be able to read such a book.  Who knows my great great grandchildren may read what I am writing now.

In conclusion

In summary what I am saying is that the online world is unbalanced and there are a few winners while the vast majority will make no money.  This reflects the inequality of the world at large.  However apart from money there are still many great reasons to write your book or blog or record your course, podcast or song.  Go on be creative you will learn and grow as a person.  Write for an audience of at least one and perhaps two – that is enough!

Best wishes,

Tom