Pick a Major Goal. You need to pick a goal that really matters to you. Start with a goal that you will have the necessary inspiration to hit. Times will get tough for you and you need to have a strong reason for persisting. When you pick a goal that matters more than the price that you will have to pay then you have a sound goal. You will also have the motivation that is needed to hit your goal.

Set a Date. Establish a dead line for the completion of your goal. You will need a dead line so that you don’t treat your goal like some “pie in the sky” ideal that you would like to have someday.

When you have firm date established for the completion of your goal you have less of a tendency to procrastinate. You will find it easier to eliminate self imposed distractions and fight interruptions which could potentially derail you. A date helps you make plans which lead to the achievement of your goal.

Make a Plan. A step by plan will give you a track to follow. Your goal needs planning to make your dream come to fruition. Take your goal and break it down into steps. Lay out a plan for taking those steps. Then work towards connecting the dots.

A plan gives you the ability to engage with single minded focus on the task at hand. You do not have to struggle with as many unexpected challenges. You can use forethought and advanced planning to avoid setbacks and missteps.

Develop a Focus. Whatever the mind focuses on grows. Train your mind to focus on what you want instead of on what you don’t want. Keep your attention on the accomplishment of your goal. Think in terms of you already achieving your objective.

See yourself victorious and successfully hitting your goal. Use your imagination to visualize the end result that you are striving for. Keep a positive outlook. Use goal cards and vision boards to develop your focus. And always talk about solutions and options.

Picking the wrong goal. When we choose a goal because everyone else is doing it or because we think it would be something that is nice to have then we set ourselves up for failure before we even start. When the going gets tough we will not continue with the required dedication that is necessary accomplish the goal.

Solution: In order to commit wholeheartedly you must truly want what you are trying to obtain. Start with a goal that you can dedicate all of your efforts to. Give it some thought. Ask yourself, “Does it really matter if I achieve this goal or not?”  Your answer should be a resounding yes! Get the proper start by choosing the ideal goal. Your motivation is determined by what you are inspired to achieve.

Too many targets. When you try to hit too many goals you wind up hitting none. You can stretch yourself too thin when you strive to hit multiple goals at the same time. You will become frustrated. You will also experience minimal success with each goal. Lack of success and confusion will sap your motivation.

Solution: Pick a main goal. Then pick complementary goals that support your main goal. That way every time you have success with your sub goals you make progress with your main goal. You will experience a feeling of accomplishment at the completion of every task which you embark upon. You will have motivation to work because you know your efforts will reward you with continued achievement.

Harboring thoughts of past failures. Dwelling on failure only brings more of it. When you waste your time obsessing over your past failures you will miss present opportunities. Your focus on your failures will drain all of your initiative. You are not motivated to try again when you feel if will result in continued failure.

Solution: Look at your failures in the proper light. Your mistakes can teach you lessons that can form the foundation for your successful approach to solving problems. You gain vital experience from failure if you will use those missteps properly. You need to adopt this motto: “I learn from my mistakes and I move on.”

And when you get successful results give yourself a pat on the back. Counteract the tendency that we all have to dwell on failure and not celebrate success. You want to feel positive more often than you feel negative while you are pursuing your objectives. Resisting the urge to give inordinate amounts your attention to past mistakes will increase your motivation.

Goal setting involves dreaming, planning, and work. When you use these three components of goal setting you lay the foundation for your success.

Dreaming. A big dream can propel you toward huge accomplishments. It is the dream that sets the parameters of your goal. The dream determines what you will have to do and when you will need to do it. You want to have a clear reason for doing the work that you are about to perform. When you know why then it is easier to pay the price to get what you want.

Planning. A good plan takes the guesswork and uncertainty out of your endeavor. When you know what you want and you know how to get it then a good portion of your success has been accomplished. Your clarity and decisive action will overcome many of the pitfalls that cause other people to fail or give up. When you are armed with a solid plan you are able to focus on the tasks that you have laid out with forethought. This way you are not swayed by circumstances. You are able to predetermine the route that you are going to take.

Work. “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” said Samuel Goldwyn. You can make many of your own breaks by simply working hard on a consistent basis. Realize that you don’t succeed in achieving your goals until you actually put in the work. Maintain consistent as well as persistent effort when working your plan. Your success will come as a result of your steady work. You must develop resolve to keep on working when you feel like quitting. You will hit your goal eventually if you continue doing the work that your plan calls for.

Setting goals is sometimes hard to do. We might struggle with them. It might mean giving up some things that we might feel we aren’t just yet ready to give up. It might mean that we have to step up to the plate more. Whatever it might mean, some people find goal setting as a task at hand. Yet, maybe you don’t know all the good things about goal setting. So, here are a few that are just for you.

Sense Of Pride

One of those things is that as you accomplish your goals, you get a sense of pride. You have done great things. You have made it this far. That is something that you have wanted to do and you can see yourself going somewhere. You can then tell yourself to keep up the good work. Now, how do you like that?

Accomplishment

Then there is the fact that each goal means that you have accomplished something. We set milestones when we set goals. These might be things that if we tried to conquer them as a whole, we might not have any luck at all. When that’s the case, you will find that goal setting takes away some of that frustration we might feel as we try to do something.

For some of us, it’s the motivation that we need. We have been wanting to do something, but we just don’t know how to do it. When we break the job down then we can see what needs to be done and we can see how long we feel it might take us. Then the task at hand doesn’t look too big.

Hope and Dreams

Last of all, setting goals gives us something to look forward to. It gives us something to aim for. Many of us live a mundane life, we get bored too easy. Yet, when we do something in terms of goals, we feel that we are doing something constructive. That is something that we need to feel in life.

So, as you can see, goal setting has it’s purpose. Just as we look for a purpose in anything we do, this too has a purpose as well.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your free access to my special report “Setting And Hitting Your Goals” by going to http://www.setandhitgoals.com

There was an old dog sitting on the porch moaning and whining all day long. A stranger passed by stopped and asked the dog’s owner why did the dog whine and moan like that. His owner said the dog was sitting on a nail. The stranger asked, “Then why doesn’t he get off the nail?” To which the owner replied, “It guess it doesn’t hurt enough yet”.

It is one thing to be stuck in a situation that you don’t like. And it is OK to voice your displeasure about it. But until you take responsibility and do something about it nothing is going to change. It is our response to our situation that makes all of the difference.

Let’s examine what constitutes whining and the negative effects of it. Then we’ll explore the winning attitude and the benefits associated with it.

Whining

Whining includes indifference, negativity and complaining. Any displeasure about your current condition without corresponding action to improve that situation is defined as whining. When a person can do something about their situation but they don’t then they are not ready to experience success. They are like the dog in the previously mentioned example.

A person will not feel better until they do what it takes to positively change their situation. Whining and complaining will not help. It takes the proper actions. Complaining leads to further negativity. A negative person attracts more negative people into their lives. They also attract more negative things to complain about.

Winning

Winning involves a totally different mindset. Winning results from a person having a positive attitude while taking the proper actions consistently for as long as it takes to achieve what she wants. In order to win you need to get a clear idea of what you want. Then you need to set a goal. After that make a plan to hit your goal. Next work your plan. And lastly persist until you hit your goal

When you take a proactive approach to experiencing happiness you immunize yourself against the destructive and painful effects of whining. It is your responsibility to change your current situation if you don’t like it. A winning attitude yields winning results. When you take the time to develop a winning attitude as you work towards achieving what you want you set yourself up for success.

Goal setting is a personal endeavor. Most of us feel like we can hit  our goals on our own without sharing the struggles and successes with anyone.  Here are three reasons why you should use some form of accountability.

1-Lightens the load. You will still have to do the work, but you’ll have someone to help with the mental and emotional struggles. That is a major benefit because some of the biggest challenges reside in your thoughts and feelings. A good accountability partner will understand yet inspire you to overcome difficulties.

2-Keeps you on track. When you have a form of accountability then it is easier to stay on task with your work. If you report back to your accountability partner with the wrong type of results he will see that. He can make you aware of the discrepancies so that  you can make the necessary adjustments. We tend to get so deep into our work that we don’t see when we have strayed off track. An accountability partner is more removed from the fray. It is easier for him to recount what your original intentions were in order to keep you on target.

3-Compels you to honor your word. Having accountability forces you to do what you said you were going to do. It gives you a reason to do the daily tasks that your goal requires. Just knowing that you are going to report to someone is enough to make us keep at until we get the work done. We don’t want to say, “I know I told you I was going to do this but I did not do it.” If we know we are going to be held accountable then we do it. We don’t let ourselves off the hook. We know that there is someone else involved and we don’t want to let them down.