If you think that goals and goal setting is saying that you will have a bank account worth $5 million by the time you retire, then you are going to have to think again. What are goals? Well they are certainly different from pipe dreams and our previous statement regarding the $5 million retirement account is a pipe dream, not a goal.

So, what are goals? Goals are about setting realistic, easily achievable steps in place towards fulfilling something that you want. It is unrealistic to turn your goals into pipe dreams and this will only put you off target. It is unfortunate, but pipe dreams rarely come to any kind of realization, but this is just the way it is! The routine of step-by-step goal setting is far more predictable, and the outcome more easily measurable. Following these step-by-step goals is the only way that your dream is actually going to become a reality.

Setting goals and achieving them is the method in which we work towards a specific need, wish or requirement. It is a simple concept. However, it is not always so simple to get anyone to actually do this. Goal setting, contrary what you might believe actually works very well with human nature.

A very simple and synonymous example would be planning a vacation. No-one questions that this has to be planned carefully if you are going to enjoy yourself. Everything is planned from where you will stay to the route you take to get there. Unless of course you are of the very adventurous type, who just throws a bag into the car and takes off. If you use a map and get lost, you check the map a gain and eventually you will land up at your destination, and generally on time. Goals are set in precisely this way.

Developing habits of success and applying the skills to do this is the map that shows you the route to what you want to achieve. So think of your goals as being a map to what you want and deserve in life. But how is this achieved?

Firstly, you have to have a positive attitude. You need to tell yourself that success is something you are easily able to achieve and that you are worthy of it. Belief in yourself and what you define as success is tantamount to achieving this. It will determine your path, so you have to be willing to believe and accept that you will be successful.

It is very important to define your goal objectives in this process. For this you will have to write then down so you can re-visit them. A great example of setting a goal objective (these are long term) was the statement made by President John F Kennedy in 1961, when he said that America would land a man on the Moon. This took a huge amount of planning, but with all the right goals in place it was reached, and the biggest step was not taken by Neil Armstrong, it was taken by JFK when he set the goal objective.