{"id":733,"date":"2008-05-19T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2008-05-19T17:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/19\/be-ambitious-with-goals-not-deadlines\/"},"modified":"2018-04-04T03:07:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T10:07:19","slug":"be-ambitious-with-goals-not-deadlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/19\/be-ambitious-with-goals-not-deadlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Ambitious With Goals, Not Deadlines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stopwatch.png\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Every once in awhile I get an email from someone who is starting a new blog. This person is enthusiastic to get started and is hoping to become the next Darren Rowse or Steve Pavlina. In sending a few emails back and forth, however, I find that almost everyone underestimates how long it will take.<\/p>\n

Typically I hear expectations that they will be cashing big paychecks in six months. I think I made less than $50 in my sixth month. Don\u2019t get me wrong, ambition is good. If I didn\u2019t have big ambitions I wouldn\u2019t have started this website to begin with. But I think it can be dangerous to be ambitious with the deadline.<\/p>\n

If You Want to Know How Long, Ask an Expert<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve always found that if you want to know how long something will take, ask someone who has already done it. Sounds obvious, but few people do it. When you\u2019re motivated, it\u2019s easy to think that somehow you can beat the odds and compress the years of work from someone else into a few months.<\/p>\n

Setting unrealistic deadlines is a recipe for stress. If you quit your job with the expectation that you can become a professional blogger in three months, you\u2019ll probably be living on the street. Motivation is good. Blind overconfidence isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

When I first got interested in the idea of owning my own online business, I was told that the average time it took to become financially independent was 3-5 years. At the time, this seemed ridiculously long. Clearly, I, with all my motivation and ideas could do it in less time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been running this website for 2 years and it seems to be right on schedule with that initial 3-5 year timeline.<\/p>\n

Be Ambitious With Your Goals, Patient With Your Deadlines<\/h2>\n

One of my biggest mistakes I made a few years ago was to get frustrated when things wouldn\u2019t manifest as quickly as I\u2019d like. I\u2019d be working incredibly hard, and few results would come. So, I\u2019d work even harder and results would still trickle in. I\u2019d burn myself out trying to speed up a timeline that already had it\u2019s own pace.<\/p>\n

I realized that my mistake was that I was trying to run a marathon as if it were a sprint. When you run a marathon, you need the motivation to get started and go the distance. But you need to have the patience to not burn yourself out early on. Sprinters won\u2019t last three miles, never mind the full twenty-six.<\/p>\n

Ask the People that Come Before You<\/h2>\n

When I used to do software projects, I frequently heard the mantra, \u201cFigure out how much time the project will take in the worst conditions. Now double<\/em> that. That is your expected finishing time.\u201d The experts had the battle scars that come with trying to accelerate projects that needed more time.<\/p>\n

My new rule for setting goals is to find someone who has accomplished what I want to do (or something similar). Then, I try to ask them to give me an estimate of how long it will take. That number will be far more accurate than any estimate I can make up.<\/p>\n

The Path is Long, Learn to Enjoy It<\/h2>\n

If you can\u2019t enjoy the process leading up to a goal, it probably isn\u2019t worth starting. The time spent enjoying a win is far shorter than the work leading up to it. If reaching the end is your only motivation to keep going, you probably won\u2019t make it very far.<\/p>\n

I enjoy writing. I enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy taking classes in school. I enjoy reading. If I don\u2019t enjoy something intrinsically, I can\u2019t push through more than a few weeks. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not alone in this case.<\/p>\n

If you want to reach a goal, ask an expert. If they tell you 2, 4 or 10 years, ask yourself whether you can enjoy doing something for that long. Don\u2019t just reject the number because you feel you can do it faster. Find a way to enjoy it for that entire time, because it\u2019s the most realistic estimate you\u2019re going to get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every once in awhile I get an email from someone who is starting a new blog. This person is enthusiastic to get started and is hoping to become the next Darren Rowse or Steve Pavlina. In sending a few emails back and forth, however, I find that almost everyone underestimates how long it will take. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[657,4,680],"tags":[26,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-creativity","7":"category-goal-setting","8":"category-nc-productivity","9":"tag-goals","10":"tag-strategy","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBe Ambitious With Goals, Not Deadlines - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/19\/be-ambitious-with-goals-not-deadlines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Be Ambitious With Goals, Not Deadlines - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every once in awhile I get an email from someone who is starting a new blog. 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