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Are you insane?

Most everyone has seen the following definition of insanity, accurately described by Albert Einstein -

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Are you doing the same things with your business repeatedly and expecting different results?

If you look back at 2005, and don't see significant progress in your business, you may be stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results.

Diagnosis: You may be "insane" in your business marketing.

Now, if you were completely insane in your marketing, you'd keep doing the same thing throughout this year - and then in 2007 and 2008. Each year, you'd still be thinking "Why can't I succeed?" You'd see other people passing you by, while you scratched your head - left in the dust.

Lack of success is not necessarily a reflection on how hard or how long you are working. You can be a very hard-working person, but also suffer from chronic 'business insanity'.

What we're going to talk about today is how to learn from experience - to figure out what works and what is a waste of your time and energy.

At the start of a new year, comes a fresh start. How will you break free from your business insanity?

First, let's take some time to see how to improve upon what we are already doing -- and achieve amazing results because of it.

Find your Ruts

We all have them. RUTS and time wasters. Can you identify yours? There's one way to find out. For several days, keep track of your time. It'll seem like a pain, but, you can't recognize your ruts unless you know where your time and energy is currently going. Otherwise, you're just guessing.

Place a notepad by your computer and track what you are spending time on, especially forums, checking email, Instant Messenger, the telephone, and research. These things can feed the procrastinator in all of us and prevent us from focusing on the activities that actually make money. Treat this log like a diary by being extremely honest and not showing it to anyone else.

Once you have your time logged in your notepad, you'll easily spot the biggest time wasters when they're staring you in the face. It's a little scary, isn't it?! Who knew so much time could slip by while reading your email? What feels like 5 minutes is actually 20. What seems like 20 minutes is actually an hour. It's no wonder the days fly by.

From here, I want you to ask yourself some questions:

* "If I only had ONE hour a day to devote to my business, how would I spend it?" * "If I had 30 days to make $5,000 extra dollars, how would I attempt it?" * "If I were to tell a new WAHM the one thing that has made me the most money, what would I tell her?"

This is where you need to focus your time and energy. Now ask yourself these questions: * "What have I learned in 2005 that does NOT work?" * "If I could go back and have another chance at last year, what would I change?"

Now that you skimmed over those questions, go back and really think about them. It's easy to dismiss the questions, but this step is an important investment into your business.

Type out your answers and staple the paper to the last page of your 2006 calendar so you can go back next year and see if you've conquered your business insanity.

Once your priorities and time wasters are clear in your head, you can move on to setting your goals.

Goal setting

I know that goal-setting is not fun, but you can't assess your progress unless you are able to view it in black and white.

"A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Zig Ziglar

So, how do you set realistic goals?

Your goals must be measurable and broken down into tasks that you can accomplish. Make them achievable, but also tangible. Goals like "do better this year" are much harder to track than goals that are tangible. Set your goals to be measurable.

Sample goals may be

* Make 10 phone calls this week * Sign up for two craft fairs * Make 20 bottles of lotion * Graduate from College * Add 10 new pages to my website per week * Eat at home 5 nights each week instead of spending money at restaurants * Submit 2 articles this month

Set a deadline and be accountable. Write your goals down. Tell a friend or post your goals on a forum. Make yourself accountable to your goals.

Now that you have your goals in writing, and you know how to achieve them, you can track your progress and celebrate your successes. Best wishes to you in 2006. I hope it's your best year yet.

About the author:

Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom behind http://www.ShowMomtheMoney.com - a fun and informative resource for Work at Home Moms. She invites you to sign up for her free ShowMomtheMoney 101 Tutorial at http://www.showmomthemoney.com/free-tutorial.htm * This article was originally published in the WC http://www.showmomthemoney.com/wc.htm *