SMART, PURE and CLEAR goals for 2007

2007 , Goal setting , Steven Covey

Goal setting for 2007

I spent the first 24 hours of the new year formulating my personal and business goals for the new year. It's always good to start the new year on a high and positive note.

In order to set my financial goals, I have also worked out my personal expense budget for 2007 so that I determine the amount to save and invest. I am not in the millionaire category yet where money is not an issue (I wish I was!). In any case, if you don't believe in preparing a personal budget, please realise that even big corporations (and all Countries) have to plan and budget their expenditure; so budgeting is a necessary evil.

My small contribution for those who want to work on setting their goals (personal and business goals) for the new year.. Think SMART, PURE and CLEAR.

SMART Goals are those which are
SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RESULT-ORIENTED and within a TIME FRAME

PURE Goals are those goals which are
POSITIVELY STATED, UNDERSTOOD, RELEVANT and ETHICAL

CLEAR Goals are those which are
CHALLENGING, LEGAL, ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND, APPROPRIATE and are RECORDED

What is my goal for 2007 for the internet business?
By end 2007, I should be able to generate a consistent monthly income equivalent to 4 times the monthly expenses, by working a few hours each day.

What do I have to DO to achieve the goal?
This means that I have to learn at much faster pace than now! As a start, I have signed up for a hands-on-coaching session in January which should speed up the learning curve. More about it after the session.

How do I know I am on the right track?
When I have earned my first US$100.00 from the internet!
And I shall celebrate by buying the latest 3G phone!


Want to share some SMS messages received for the New Year:

A new year
A new start
A new chapter
A new beginning

Forget the BAD
Cherish the GOOD
Wish you a happy new year 2007

I also liked this message from another friend:

A relaxed MIND
A healthy BODY
A heart full of LOVE
and a pocket full of $$$
These are my New year wishes to you and family

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Spam

Spam
9 out of 10 email messages sent worldwide are spam (Source : Reuters )

On a personal note, today I cleared all (100%)of the mails in my private email inbox. Everytime the spammers come out with new spam attacks, I update the message rules to trash the messages that include those keywords. The emails filled my inbox with offers to buy drugs and other medicinal aids. I am also advised to buy cheap, penny stocks which I have not heard of. Of late I get the 'Hi' messages.

What is Spam?
Spam is commercial email or unsolicited bulk email, including “junk mail”, which has not been requested by the recipient. It is intrusive and often irrelevant or offensive, and it wastes valuable resources.

Spam messages are the opposite of permission-based email, which are normally anticipated, personal, relevant and/or associated with a pre-existing business or personal relationship. Inappropriate newsgroup activities, consisting of excessive posting of the same materials to several newsgroups, are also deemed to be spam.

I'm not sure whether the recent advise from the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society to Malaysians buy drugs online at your own risk, has anything to do with the deluge of spam emails that Malaysian internet users receive over the last few months. I guess, if you receive many mails on the same topic, one will be sucked into being interested in what they have to offer.

According to an EU Commission, some EU countries have sucessfully reduced spam mails. Examples are Netherlands which has cut locally generated spam by 85 percent since 2003; and Finland which has reduced spam to 30 percent of emails received, down from 80 percent in 2003.

More effort need to be done to combat this menace!

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Phishing : advise

Emails that are better off deleted than opened

Emails, presumably from the bank, asking you for (confirmation of) your name, bank account number, credit card information, password and Personal identity number (PIN), are better off being deleted. Ignore the request and delete the email.

There has been a series of email and phone scams that our local paper ran a story in the main section warning readers "Don't be hooked by phishers"

This is because banks DO NOT send such a notification via email asking for the details. Even if the email "instructs' you to call a number, or ask you to click on a link in the email, do not be fooled. The link could trigger a spy program being installed on your computer that will activate when you next visit a banking or pay site. The spy program will record your keystrokes when you type the passwords.

If you really want to confirm the message in the email, call the number from the phone book, or the number which you normally use. Don't call the number stated in the email - because the person over the phone may be phoney!

Lodge a report if you are a target for phishing.

Prevention is better than cure. Do not reveal finacial details to anyone over the phone or email. You wouldn't want to find your money being transferred out for payment for bogus online purchases, or payment for pornographic sites.

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Advice to Newbies : Analyse your time

NLP model in learning a new skill

Again, I found this piece of information in Rich Schefren's blog that's very pertinent to all newbies who are learning a totally new skill. Great piece of work!

Learning a new skills is divided into four stages

Stage 1 - Unconscious Incompetence. This is where you don’t
know how to do something and you don’t even know that you don’t know.

Stage 2 - Conscious Incompetence. This is where you now
know all the different things you don’t know and
you begin to work on learning them.

Stage 3 - Conscious Competence. This is where you now know
what you need to know, you can do the skills
necessary, but it takes all of your concentration.

Stage 4 - Unconscious Competence. This is where you can now
do the skills necessary without thinking about it, it’s now a habit


So what you need to do is
-- to know which stage you are in and then focus on what you
need to do to move to the next stage.

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