The Key To Obtaining Your Dreams. …Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way and who will be sharing the adventure with them. Denis Watley

Goal – An objective or target which a person desires to achieve. Goal Setting – The process of deciding what you want to accomplish, making a plan of how to accomplish it and working towards that accomplishment. Definitions

Think of goals as a road map. The more detailed they are, the easier it is to get to your destination. Without goals, you may be driving through life blindly. Image © Graphics Factory.comGraphics Factory.com

Things to remember when setting goals Write your goals down. Keep them visible at all times. Write them in the form of a checklist so you can see the progress you have made. Make your goals challenging but be reasonable and realistic. Set yourself up to succeed from the beginning. Break larger more time consuming goals down into smaller more manageable objectives. Make sure these smaller objectives will help you make steps to achieving the “ultimate” goal. Prioritize your goals and objectives from 1 to 5 based on importance. This will help you to focus on the more important goals and objectives first. Keep in mind that you may have the need to change the priority base on your changing lifestyle.

Be precise when setting your goals. Set up dates or timeframes for when you are expecting to complete the goals. Keep from being too vague. For example, a goal for a person at age 21 maybe: “I want to have enough money in the bank to retire by the age of 50.” This is a good goal however is it very vague. Everyone’s idea of “enough money” is different. If you are exact in your goal, you can see a definitive completion. This may be a good goal to start out with but you should want to change it to be more precise as you do your research. For example, as one of their objectives, they may want to talk to a financial advisor. After discussing their idea of retirement, they may update your goal to: “I will have $2.8 million in investments by the age of 50 so I can retire and live comfortably off the interest”

Breaking Down Your Goals and Prioritizing Them “I will have $2.8 million in investments by the age of 50 so I can retire and live comfortably off the interest” This may seem like an overwhelming goal at first. Upon breaking it down, it may seem like a challenge, although reasonable. Set up smaller, easier objectives which will help you achieve the ultimate goal. For example:  Select a Financial Advisor (5)  Read About Investing (4)  Set Up Money Market (4)  Call For Prospectus on Mutual Funds (4)  Review Mutual Funds and 401(k) with FA (4)  Complete Initial Financial Plan (3)  Start Auto Draft of 10% of paycheck into an interest bearing account (5)  Purchase a rental property (3)  Take a Class on Finances (3)  Search and obtain a source of residual income (2)  Have 100k in liquid assets to use for investing (1)

As you check off each box, there is a sense of accomplishment. Whether big or small, each check represents one step closer to your goal. As you complete the smaller goals, it may be necessary to add new goals. Image © Graphics Factory.comGraphics Factory.com

Set your goals so that they can be achieved based on your efforts. Setting goals which rely largely upon the efforts of others can leave you open to failure. For example: “I am going to win American Idol this season.” Winning American Idol is based on the opinions of judges and the viewing public. After many hours of practice and hard work, you audition and have your best performance ever. However, the outcome or completion of your goal still lies in the hands and opinions of others.

Goals should be set so that they fit with everything that is important in your life. Goals can be used for much more than your professional life such as community involvement, family vacations, higher education and anything else that you feel is important. Family Career Spiritual Community Image © Graphics Factory.comGraphics Factory.com

Roadblocks Roadblocks are challenges that you may face while working towards achieving your goals. It is important that you work through them. There is always a way around a roadblock, sometimes you just need to look harder. I didn’t fail. I found a thousand ways it didn’t work. – Thomas Edison Image © Graphics Factory.comGraphics Factory.com

Communication As with just about everything else in life, communication is very important to achieving your goals. By communicating your goals to others, you are giving others to opportunity to help you achieve your goals. The more people you have helping you, the easier it is to achieve your goals.

Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars. - Les Brown Think BIG The only way you fail is it you give up. Use setbacks as a learning tool of what to change the next time. Take pride in overcoming objections.