Setting Goals - How To Start

Setting goals doesnt have to become a task you dread, as most success and achievement occurs when you experience motivation in obtaining the things you want out of life. If you feel forced to come to conclusions regarding your life, you may set goals that hinder your personal development.

When it comes to goal setting, each and every person possesses their own notion of what their prime objective should be. While one person may have always wanted to act on Broadway, another may simply wish to learn how to knit.

It is important to clearly state your goals before moving on to attain your desires and making your dreams come true. This act will increase your chances in reaping the benefits of success. Depending on the goals you settle upon, the path you choose may or may not become riddled with obstacles. In order to take hold of the things you wish to achieve motivation and patience will become your best friends. Below are a few suggestions on how to successfully start setting goals:

1) Give It Sincere Thought

The different components within your life will affect the goals you set for yourself and help determine the correct approach to take. Your current place of employment or school, level of education, finances, family, friends, and career all come into play.

For example, if you want to start your own business immediate income and financing become an issue. Do you have a nest egg to fall back on? Will you need to take out a loan? Do you have enough time to wholeheartedly devote to your goal? It is important to give sincere thought to your goals, as it helps paint a better picture of your future.

2) Think About the Future

It is suggested to ask yourself questions that pertain to the future and how other goals in your life may become affected. You should plan ahead when achievement in one area of your life will influence the things you have already established. In many cases, it is wise to think about how your goals will affect the people around you, including parents, husbands, wives, and children.

For instance, the mother of three who dreams of making it big in Nashville may achieve success in the recording industry, but must later make the decision on whether or not to leave behind her young children while hitting the road for a tour. The importance and clear-headed brainstorming of goals will help make decisions like this much easier. Obstacles do not mean the dream is unobtainable, as it only encourages your determination and motivation (combined with outside factors) to align.

3) Prioritize

The constant reviewing and re-prioritizing of goals is expected in those who are truly serious about changing their lives and succeeding in achieving their objectives. The world is an ever-changing roller coaster that has a knack for throwing a curve ball at you every once in a while making it impossible not to roll with the punches.

4) Plan for the Future

People who set lifetime goals not only create a clearer picture of their life, but also enjoy a higher success rate in achievement. This doesn't mean that all the things you plan for the future will come true or will even stay the same, but it is helpful to plan ahead for 5-, 10 -, and sometimes 20 years from the present time. Yearly, monthly, and weekly goals should receive your highest level of attention.

How can you possibly achieve more this year than the last 5 years combined? You'll find answers to your personal goal setting and business goal setting questions by visiting --> http://www.personalstrategicplan.com today.

Growing Rare Fruits for Fun or Profit

Gardeners, small farmers and boutique backyard nurseries can attract customers with unusual tree, vine and bush fruit crops that offer customers a taste of the exotic, of history, or of their native bioregion that they can find nowhere else. The rare product can be their main crop, or a sideline.

A secret to attracting customers with unfamiliar crops (or with familiar exotics, such as olives, grown and processed in unfamiliar ways) seems to be letting the taste do the selling, and then generating repeat customers from that foundation. Letting customers in on the farms high quality growing and processing techniques is also a selling tool.

For example, a small organic olive farmer in California said he got his best results by getting the potential customer to taste the product. He explained that the quality is then so apparent that the higher price is usually a non-issue. This farmer also explained that they teach clients about how much differently they operate than mass produced growers creating cheap food. They explain their organic farming, rare heritage varieties, dry farming, hand picking, and manufacturing in small batches. This farmer and his family organically grow unusual olives such as Ascolano, Nicoise, Mission, Cornezuelo, Manzanillo, Sevillano, Barouni, Columella, Frantoio, Cornicabra, Rubra, French Picholine, and Saracena, and sell them as value-added products, including organic olive oil soap, and flavored organic extra virgin olive oils with names like Magical Mandarin, Rosemary Garlic, Meyer Lemon and Italian Stallion. Olives are cold pressed within hours of hand picking with a granite stone press. Very unusual. Plus, organically grown herbs, fruits and seasonings are added to produce the flavors. They sell mainly via their online catalogue and farmers market.

Other rare or unusually-produced fruit farmers allow u-picks or farm tours to allow potential customers to see the unusual fruits and experience them on a deeper level. And while "Mayhaws," "Paw-paws," and "Sea Buckthorn" are unusual fruits that are attracting customers, once again, so are the more ordinary fruits when processed in new ways. On my own Pacific Northwest island where apricots are not grown often, a family has developed a home business of making and selling regionally grown apricot syrup. They sell from their home, and to several local gift shops.

When selling unusual fruits at roadside stands or farmers markets, a description of its history and land of origin can draw much attention and interest. Community supported agriculture (CSA) farms offer surprise samples in their regular shares, describing the fruit in their newsletter. This serves as a novelty and makes the CSA farm feel special to the customers. If the fruit becomes very popular, it may eventually become a staple for which the CSA is known. Nurseries offer the fruit trees or shrubs as is, or will create grafted fruit cocktail trees with several varieties of fruit on one tree. They also offer dwarf tropical or subtropical patio and indoor fruit trees. Farms that create value-added products from their crops create jams, jellies, syrups, fruit flavored baked and dairy goods, wines, and gift samplers with their exotic and unusual fruits. Growing an exotic fruit exclusively for a local independent restaurant or juice bar can establish an ongoing, guaranteed cash-paying customer, giving the food establishment a locally grown specialty.

(c) 2006 Barbara Adams

Barbara Adams Author: Micro Eco-Farming: Prospering from Backyard to Small Acreage in Partnership with the Earth (New World Publishing) http://www.MicroEcoFarming.com