Prepare for Massive Success
One of the takeaways I got from Blogworld LA was that we should prepare for massive success. That’s not specific just to blogging either, but to whatever endeavors we try.
To me, preparing for massive success involves picturing what that might really look and feel like — envisioning it as a real possibility, not just in the “oh yeah, wouldn’t that be great” sense. And there is a difference.
When something’s a real possibility, you’re more likely to think things through in detail, which means you’ll probably be better prepared to actually take advantage of your successes. You’ll be aware of potential pitfalls, and of little things you might want to take advantage of. You’re also more likely to act.
After all, there’s no need to prepare if you’re just daydreaming. But move beyond the daydreams, and things start happening.
On that note, I’d like to hear from you. What’s something you’re going to prepare for massive success in? What would you like to look up a year from now and be doing great at?
Remember, you define success.
I agree about thinking big as part of the goal setting process.
We have to be careful though about where we keep our focus. Research in the cognitive sciences has found that if you continually visualize and fantasize about a future outcome, you are less likely to succeed. People are much more successful when they keep their focus on the very near term, i.e., what to do next. That helps us to keep things moving in the right direction.
I’m not advocating fantasizing about future success though. Rather I think it can be useful to get clear in your mind what that success would look like, so that you can prepare for it and plan out what it will take to get there. It’s just a part of the process though; you’ve got to act and carry out the steps along the way too. Doing the next thing comes I’m very handy there.
Let’s go with massive success at my day job – it’s a good time, and I mostly understand the path to improve.
On the web site side? I’d love for it to become more successful over the next year as I concentrate more on the social aspect of building a site. content is king, but not if only search users reach your traffic.
Here’s to hoping those possibilities become reality.
How will you know when you’ve reached massive success in those areas?
I don’t really know, actually. I don’t really know how you measure ‘influence’, but I think that’s what I’m aiming to achieve. Not creepy brainwash type influence, but I want my site to be one where you go to think – whether it provokes an argument or a “I’ve never thought of it that way before” type comment. Any ideas how I would know that “people are talking”? That’s what I’m really aiming for with the site, not so much as a huge income stream (but I wouldn’t object).
The Day Job is simpler for now – the ladder is well defined so I will just keep moving up for now. The technical track hasn’t topped out for me yet, so that’s where I’ll be in the mid-term, heh.
Long term I haven’t decided if I should flip to a more business-like track or stay technical – game time decision (with lots of soul searching, I’m sure)?
Hm, as far as knowing that people are talking, you could track things like social media mentions, comments, subscribers, and links to your articles. There are probably lots of companies that measure their influence — you could do some searching to see what metrics they use and see if any of those seem to be what you’re looking for.
I realized a year back that my web host would not be able to handle traffic form all my websites. So I moved all my website to my own server. That gave me flexibilty to do other things as well.
Nice. How many web sites do you have altogether?
You’re right about preparing for massive success vs just dreaming about it. Our brain has a funny way of finding the answers if we just tell it what we want.
“A goal is a dream with a deadline”
Oh I like that quote! And it’s so true…
18 months ago, I got the offer for my current job. It came with a 33% increase in compensation. I define that as massive success. We did have a plan for that money- to allow us to pay all of our bills and even be able to have some fun once unemployment ran out for C.
Now, the success I want to plan for is the next book I intend to edit and publish (combination of artwork and flash fiction). Not only would that be great for me, it would be great for the artist I’m working with.
What defines massive success? Maybe it’s not massive, but turning a profit, any profit, sure would be nice.
What would happen if you came up with a number for the profit you would like to see? I’m thinking that may get you figuring out ways to make it happen.
My first book of this nature was a pure vanity project, but it taught me how to make a book like this.
I do have steps defined to help us reach a profit- the goal is to have an overriding theme to the project that will allow the artist to sell it at a number of conventions she already attends and that sell prints of her work.
I will also pay to have the book available via amazon and other nationally known book resellers so that it can be easily found and purchased. This step also allows brick and mortar stores to purchase the book for sale.
Once it’s ready, we’ll be approaching local book stores to see about carrying a couple copies in their “local” section.
Because I’ve done this before, I have a rough idea of how much money I’ll need to make to make a profit, but how that translates to number of books will end up being based on the margins we set, and the financial arrangement that gets finalized between myself and the artist.
Sounds like you already know what’s involved to figure out your goal, and are moving toward the final stages.
I haven’t thought about it that way. I’m always conservative with my estimate of success.
Thanks for sharing a different viewpoint. I’ll have to learn to think like that more.
Well, I think that asking what you’d need to take into account if things go really, really well (basically how to leverage success and make sure you’ve got all the bases covered) can be a good thing to do in addition to taking into account the worst that could happen.
I’m preparing for the next year of massive success at work. I’m also hoping to have massive success in being a homeowner soon.
What would that look like for you at work? And have you started the process toward buying a home? That can be a little scary but also fun!
I think I’ll stick to small incremental steps. Short term works best for me.
Small incremental steps toward what though? How can you head where you want to go without knowing what that is?
Depends on what the objective is. I take the same approach with different projects. First, define success. And then, work gradually to obtain it, with milestones along the way.
I think we’re on the same page here…
No, success is accomplishing anything you set out to do.:) My blogging numbers are improving measurably since I put more into my content. It almost grows geometrically!
Which is why you’re the one that defines success :)
I guess I hadn’t really ever thought about preparing for massive success but it sure sounds nice! I’d love to be a massively successful writer as I’ve been trying to improve on my blogging lately. -Sydney
What would that look like for you? And what have you been doing to improve your blogging? Sounds like you’re taking steps in the right direction :)
I always prepare for massive success – hasn’t really happened. Best experience so far has been hitting on both Reddit and StumbleUpon. It is so fun seeing THOUSANDS of visitors visiting your site!
But when it does, you’ll be ready, right?
I think that preparing for success can include visualizing success. It can also include visualizing failure. If you think about what different outcomes might look like, it can be motivating to choose a path toward the better one:)
Yeah I think doing both is important. That way you can give make sure everything is taken care of, and give yourself the best shot at success.
What a great takeaway from Blogworld. I’m going to make it to one of these blog conferences sometime soon, they sound inspirational!
There was definitely a lot of good info there :)
I think thinking big is great but I don’t want to think beyond where I am willing to go.
At this time, I wouldn’t want to aim to be a CEO because I know I don’t want to take the extra time required to do that kind of job away from my family.
It is definitely a balance. If you reach higher than what your willing to give to get there, I can see how that may be discouraging, but on the other hand, if you don’t have a stretch target, you may not know what you are really capable of.
That’s why it’s important that you define massive success. One person’s success might be another person’s nightmare. I do think stretch goals are a good idea :)