1. Start With Your Strengths. Although you can base your goals on anything you want, your chances of success are greater if, first, you base them on your strengths and second, on the current opportunities in your field. To find out your strengths, do some self-research, such as a personal SWOT: your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.



2. Put Your Goals In Writing. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants, can'ts into cans, dreams into plans and plans into reality. The act of writing clarifies your goals and provides you with a way to check your progress. You can even add reasons to give you more motivation. So don't just think it - ink it!

3. Dream Big. One of the factors that restricts the realisation of our full potential is the belief that we shouldn't go for big goals. Yet all the evidence of those who realize big goals is that we can always achieve far more than we think. David Schwartz says in his book "The Magic of Thinking Big": "Big goals attract big resources like a magnet."

4. Pitch Each Goal. Once you have set your ultimate goal, you then need to set the intermediate goals that will get you where you want. Don't pitch these too easily or too ambitiously or they will drop into the Drop Zone. Aim to make them challenging: out of reach, but not out of sight.

5. Express Them Right. It's important to express your goals in the right way.

? never express your goal in terms of what you don't want always in terms of what you do want

? express your goals in performance terms not reward terms

? express your goals in terms of how others benefit

? express your goals according to the principles which matter.

6. Set Goals In Terms of Behaviour. When we set goals for ourselves, they should be expressed in behavioural terms, rather than in terms of status, rewards or position. That's because behaviour is something within our power, while status, rewards and position are not. Formulating goals in behavioural terms also means we present a strong positive image of ourselves to our brains. The brain, not knowing the difference between a real or imagined experience, then seeks to act in accordance with the presented image.

7. Pursue Your Goals With Passion. The driving force behind your goal-achievement is Desire. You must desire your goals constantly, vividly and with a burning passion. If you do, you cannot fail to achieve them. It was said of Michaelangelo that he could blot out every distraction while working on a project such as the statue of David, until it was completed.

When you pursue your goals with these 7 habits, you'll be amazed at how quickly they manifest themselves and how much more enjoyable the process becomes.

? 2005, Eric Garner, ManageTrainLearn.com

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