There are so many things to want from life.  A nice house and nice car.  Good food and nice clothes.  Friends.  Good times.  Love.  The excitement and satisfaction of doing what you really like to do and doing it well.  Sometimes these things come to you easily, almost without effort..  More often, they can be maddeningly elusive, teasing you by remaining just out of reach. 

Success in reaching a goal often involves more than just hard work and more than just luck.   To be consistently successful, you need to make use of many strategies and concepts that together increase the effectiveness and likelihood of success.  Can you imagine pitching a World Series game without practice?  Passing an exam without study?  Of course not.

In the end, it is your preparation and discipline that allows you to get where you want to go.

In this website we take a look at the nuts and bolts of setting goals and reaching them.  We’ll discover the things that make success happen, the things that keep it from happening, and why. 

The first step in setting an effective goal is deciding exactly what it is that you want.  You need to clearly define your goal.  If you don't have such clarity yet, your first goal can be to research and soul-search to get it. 

When you have a clear picture of your goal, you are then able to accurately direct your efforts toward its realization.  You are also able to recognize it when it arrives, which is satisfying and helps build momentum toward your next goal.   "Land a position doing x work for at least x money" is going to be easier to follow through on than "Be rich". 

Think about the pros and cons of your goal and make sure you really want what you are working for.  Once you've satisfied with the goal, record it so you always think of it in the same way.  You can do this by writing it down on a piece of paper or entering it into the single-step software.  Lots of people write their goals on yellow sticky notes and hang them from their computer screens or refrigerators.  You may have even done this yourself.

While you're at it, why not create a list of goals?  There are probably many areas of your life you would like to change or improve.  Take this opportunity to challenge yourself to describe how you would like your life to be.  We'll come back to this list on a later page, so keep it in front of you as you read on.

Again, having a list of your goals is important, but the real challenge is to remember to review the list frequently.  This will help you keep your goals in mind and reaffirm your commitment to achieving them.  You should take a look at your goals at least once a day to remind you of your objectives.

Additionally, when you set a goal, it's important that your target is actually reachable.  Can you imagine yourself running a marathon?  How about getting straight 'A's?  Quitting smoking? 

While it's important that you stretch your horizons, it's also important that you learn to recognize what you are and are not capable of achieving.  To do this, you must identify your limiting beliefs...