We have all had them before; goals. Whether it is to make billions of dollars or just be successful at something, chances are at one point in your life you have had a goal of some sort. What qualifies as a goal? Well, a goal is typically something that you either need or want to do but don’t have the resources to do it right away.

When it comes to setting any sort of goal it is important to keep in mind that no matter what your goal is, you’re going to have to give it a lot of work. Nothing in this world comes easily, by now you should know this to be true. Sometimes goals that you set could seem to be overwhelming. On the other hand a setting a goal on a broad level could make it look a lot easier than it actually is. Let’s set up an imaginary goal; for example, running your own business. Many of you probably have this as a goal already. Let’s take this step by step. First, you want to begin by writing it down; research says that those who write their goals down have a higher chance of actually achieving them. Limit the number of goals you set and document all of your successes.

You can write down for your first step “Run my own business” but to be honest, if that’s all you write down, you’re going to be in for one huge surprise. Running your own business will take a lot out of you and require a lot of steps. It would be a lot easier if you broke down that general goal into several smaller goals. For example, you won’t be starting up any sort of business without acquiring the funds for some start up money. So, instead of just writing down “Run my own business” you might want to start with “Generate enough start up money”. This would be a more realistic starting point for your overall true goal. Try to keep your goal list as short as you can. Limit your goal list to no more than three or four goals, depending on how much time you think it will take.

The reason for limiting the amount of goals you set is that when these ’smaller’ goals are actually met, you will feel like you are accomplishing your main goal. It boosts confidence and gives you more motivation to continue. Knowing that you can set a goal and achieve it will do wonders for your work ethic. To expand on that, lets say that you only set that one goal “Run my own business”. If you have managed to raise funding for your business, your goal is nowhere near complete. If you are a person with little or no patience, it may take you some time to raise the funding. Spending too long on a specific part of your goal could make you feel like you are failing. So beware the dark side, anger, fear, aggression, failure. Keep your emotions where they belong, on a positive note and keep your head on each individual goal you achieve. No matter how long it may take you to achieve a long term goal, if you are achieving short-term goals along the way you will not feel as though you are not getting anywhere.

Make sure you document your success. It may seem silly that by chance you will forget a goal that you have completed but it does happen. A great thing to do when you are feeling down and unable to finish your goals is to pull out your documentation of completed goals. It’s a great confidence booster and will give you the drive you need to achieve all the goals that you set in life.

There are two kinds of people in the world, dreamers and achievers. Dreamers are those who have a list of goals that are a million pages long and don’t accomplish anything. Achievers are those who have hundreds of pages of goals and millions of pages of documented success. Which are you? Live your life as a dreamer and that is all you will be. It takes motivation and confidence to complete goals and the only way to get that is by achieving smaller goals. Anyone can do, start small and work your way to the top!

About the Author:
Michael Russell is your Independent guide to Goal Setting