We will not sell or rent your email address. A mentor once told me that setting goals was as easy as ABC. That is to say, to achieve your goals, they must be Achievable, Believable, and Conceivable. Achievable First, your goal must be achievable meaning there is a definite possibility you can actually accomplish this goal. If you set a goal that is too large, you will never find enough energy to actually make progress toward it and you will just get frustrated and discouraged. Believable Second, your goal must be believable. In other words, you can visualize yourself reaching the goal. And don't underestimate the power of your mind to work for you or against you. That is why athletes spend a lot of time visualizing scoring a goal. They imagine every aspect of the play and how they will reach their result. Take time to imagine reaching your end goal. Conceivable Finally, it needs to be conceivable in the sense that the goal has a specific timeframe and a definite result. The key here is to make sure you can define your goal. Otherwise, how will you know when you actually achieve it? If you're tracking sales, then set a specific dollar target and the date you will reach it. It becomes even more powerful when you begin breaking your goals down into monthly and then weekly goals. It becomes much easier to track your progress. Another way to look at goals is in terms of their overall timeframe to achieve. You can set short term, medium term and long term goals. Short term goals are anything less than a year. Typically, they may be goals you set to accomplish in a matter of days, weeks or months. Medium term goals are from 1-5 years. And long term goals are over 5 years. The key is to start by setting your long term goals first and then break them down into medium and long term goals. For instance, one of my lifelong dreams is to visit Europe and specifically Italy. That’s a long term goal. So, what’s involved in achieving it? For one, there is a financial component. I need to save money to afford the trip. I would also like to be prepared to enjoy the experience. I would like to immerse myself in the culture. So, I will want to learn the language and history. I will also want to plan which sites to visit. Another component of setting and achieving goals is to assign a deadline. Simply saying someday I will travel to Italy is not sufficient. I would need to write a goal to travel to Italy in May of 2012. I plan to stay for one month and will budget $10,000 for the trip. So, financially, I will need to save $2,000 per year for the trip. Or, I might save incrementally higher amounts as the date gets closer. A medium term goal might be to compile a list of 10 tourist sites to visit while in Italy. A short term goal might be to buy a book on Italy and start flagging pages for sites to visit. I would also want to begin learning the language. A medium term goal might be to take an Italian class. A short term goal might be to buy a CD on learning Italian. You get the point. If I left my goal vague, I would likely never make the trip. However, once I start outlining the steps along the way and set shorter term goals to achieve, I start building some momentum toward my goal. My question for you is what goals do you have that you have not yet articulated? What experiences do you want to live that you have not defined? And, what steps are you going to take to make them happen? The time is now. Carpe diem! Seize the day! I encourage you to take action to define and achieve your goals. If you don’t, who will do it for you? The answer of course is no one. I think New Year’s Resolutions are a great way to set medium term goals. For one, it's a process you can repeat every year and then measure your progress. It's also an opportunity to set some personal goals, not just business goals. If you're not in the habit of setting goals, this one change can have a significant impact on your life. If you do set goals, look for ways to improve your goal-setting process. Good luck. Live the life you want! Rick S. Cooper, MBA, is The Sales Results Expert. Rick is a Business & Technology Coach who specializes in working with professional services entrepreneurs who want to attract their ideal clients. He coaches entrepreneurs to improve their sales skills and increase their sales results. He teaches them how to leverage technology tools and increase their productivity. Rick is Founder and President of The PDA Pro. Receive Rick's complimentary audio "7 Steps to Attract your Ideal Clients" by visiting http://www.ThePDApro.com/freebies.asp. | 
