Most of us have goals we’d like to accomplish, but many of us will never do so because we don’t know how to turn them from wishes into reality. This article will give you action steps to help you move your goals from thoughts to concrete experiences.
Keep reading to discover step by step instructions to help you formulate your goals and develop a plan which will help you achieve them. By following these steps, you will enhance your likelihood of success in life, irrespective of your goals.
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1.   Write them down. How many dreams lie dormant or dead because we don’t write them down? How many people in later life regret that they didn’t follow their youthful dreams? You don’t have to turn all your dreams into firm goals, but write them down anyway. What you might think is impossible now, may well become possible at a later time. It can be very effective to keep a goal journal in which you not only keep your list of goals but all your planning, lessons learned and anything else pertaining to them.
2.   Make a firm decision to pursue or forget goals on your list. All goals have their possibilities and their obstacles. One of the criteria for successful goal achievement is that your goals should be realistic. It can be helpful to write a list of pros and cons regarding each goal so that you can determine which ones are worth pursuing and those that are not. If a goal has too many cons you may choose to forget it completely or transfer it to another list to be reconsidered some time in the future.
3.   How do you feel about the goals on your list? Once you have narrowed down your list, you need to be honest about how you really feel about each of the goals. It can be helpful to actually write these feelings down on paper so you can think about them carefully. Sometimes, the time is not right for some goals because of your life circumstances. For example, if you have small children to care for you may feel overwhelmed at the idea of starting a law degree. Perhaps this goal can be moved to a future list. Alternatively, you decide to set a lesser goal to work as a paralegal in the meantime.
4.   Create a realistic plan to achieve your goals. Do this for every goal on your list whether or not you intend to start working towards it immediately. If you take the time to create a step by step plan to achieve a goal, when you are ready to begin working towards it you will already have a plan to follow. This works well for both short and long term goals. Sometimes the initial steps towards one goal are the same as for another. When this happens it is easy to work towards two goals at the same time.
Tip: If you are new to goal setting, it is a good idea to focus on one or two goals initially and leave the others on your list for later.
5.   Chunk it down. A large goal can be so daunting we don’t even want to begin. Our plan should be chunked down into ‘bite size’ pieces so we can handle them. Not everything has to be done at once. Taking smaller steps and creating milestones for the achievement of your goal, breaks it down into smaller goals which are more easily achieved. As each step is taken and each milestone reached, you will be moving closer and closer to the achievement of your goal.
6.   Get Started. The most important part is over. You have established a plan that makes achieving your dream easy. Now you just have to take one step at a time and keep moving forward.
It’s easy to take action to achieve a goal if you work through these action steps. By deciding on the best goals to pursue, creating a workable and realistic action plan, and then following through on it, you will be able to move confidently towards your dreams. You now have a direction and the roadmap to get there. Simply cross the steps off your list as you achieve them and you’ll accomplish your goal before you know it.