Don’t set yourself targets you can’t achieve
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As the new year starts there is a plethora of posts and tweets announcing and sharing targets and goals. But I do worry that people who are creating their targets/goals are not actually focusing on goals but actually their dream. If this is the case, then I would suggest that they are actually doomed from the start!
I’m not big!
I’m not big at all. I don’t want you think that I am one of this high flying bloggers or streamers who have loads of viewers and subscriber. I’m not a partner on Twitch and I have just managed to click over 500 subs on YouTube. Many ‘big’ content creators look back on their growth and recommend that we should not focus on numbers, despite the fact that numbers are what actually got them to where they are today.
But I am coming from a position where I am still wanting to grow and reach the dizzy heights of monetisation and partnership but this does not mean that I will be setting goals relating to these. Why? Because you should be setting yourself goals that you can achieve!
Don’t rely on other people
Goals and targets are both personal. They are achievements that you should be wanting to gain through your own hard work and commitment. This might not be news to you and if it is then you might need to be reminded of it…
“There is not a correlation between hard work and partnership!”
You can work every day, 24 hours a day and still not get partnership on any of the platforms. I have learnt this the hard way. Every year I say I want to get partnership and every year I get to the end of the year realising that I have failed. The reason for this is not because of me, but it is because of the target. The target relies on other people to achieve partnership. In order to achieve the goal of partnership, you need other people to sub/follow/view you. What I am saying here is that you are setting yourself a target that you are not in control of and therefore you should not set this as a goal.
Examples of other goals you should not set…
- Number of Followers
- Number of Views
- Gaining Affiliation
- Creating a community
These are all examples of things that rely on other people for you to achieve your target and, in my humble opinion, should be avoided.
https://youtu.be/08j9n7IudYY
So what should I set?
First of all, don’t fall into the similar trap of – ‘my goal is to enjoy myself’. It is assumed that because you are doing this you actually enjoy creating content. The only thing we probably don’t enjoy in the world are things we are forced to do – and I class full time work to pay the bills or let us create content part of this.
Second, think about things which you want to achieve yourself. Some people in the original tweet (see below) talked about consistency which is something you can actually influence. Here I would say, you need to be more specific. How many in a week? How often? Set yourself a goal so that you know when you are achieved it.
Hey streamers, let's make a new year's resolution together! 🤝
Tell us what is your streaming resolution for 2020?
Ours remains the same as always—to keep on innovating to help streamers make a living doing what they love 💕
— StreamElements (@StreamElements) January 1, 2020
What else can I set as goals?
But there are others things you can set as goals other than consistency.
Set yourself goals which you can achieve through your own hard work which do not rely on other people to achieve. Here are some examples.
- Update your emotes
- Stream new games
- Understand the dungeon mechanics
- Create a new streaming overlay
- Design new merchandise
They might lead to other achievements
The more observant of you might have recognised that some of the aforementioned goals might lead to gaining more subs or viewers. This might be the case, but it might not be. The important thing is that when you get to the end of the year you will be measuring your achievements via your own hard work and perseverance.
This is a much better way to measure yourself, rather than focusing on things that rely on other people for you to achieve.
Outro
So, in summing up, setting yourself goals/targets for the new year is great and I am not saying for one minute not to do this.
What I am saying is set yourself goals/targets which rely on your own hard work and commitment rather than on other people.
I really do hope that my experience and disappointment at failed targets support you in the creation of your new year goals.
Let’s work on them together and be prepared to bask in that warm glow of achievement this time next year… See you later!
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