Obviously, it goes without saying that your goals must be written. The second part of the goal setting process must be for you to determine WHY you want to achieve your goals. Now here is where you need to turn your own sales skills upon yourself. You cannot simply state that you want to achieve your goals to make money, or to keep your job. You have to go deeper. Why do you want more money...? You want more money so you can ______. Why is _______ so important to you? What will having _______ ultimately mean to me? Remember, drill down just like you would with a prospect. Don't let yourself get away crappy, off the cuff, answers. Drill down to what moves you, what motivates you every day. This is where you will find your passion and it will help you to attach that passion to achieving your goals.

After you've written down your goals, gotten specific about what you want and why you want it and developed a clear mental image of your goal, then and only then, move on.

When those steps are completed, it's time to take action.

There are two types of action, physical and mental. Let's start with the physical.

Taking Action to Move Towards your Goal

Start the first part of this goal setting technique by thinking of all the things you can do to make your goals a reality. Write them down and keep adding to the list. Then start working on the list. Take the action necessary to achieve your goals. While this will definitely include the items on your list, make that list even more detailed. For instance, to get more hot referrals, call 3 centers of influence today...to add to your credibility, get a testimonial from _______ today, then call on his/her circle of contacts.

It's important to do something every day, even little things to create momentum. Take steps every day. If you want to get in good physical condition you would exercise daily, not at random now and then. The same holds true with your goals. Take consistent action and you will make it a daily habit.

Ask yourself this question: "What can I do today that will move me closer to achieving my goal? Then guess what? Do it!

Don't spend too much time analyzing your actions. If you're going to fail, then fail fast. Thomas Edison tried thousands of theories before successfully inventing the light bulb. However, it was the way he looked at failure that made the difference. Edison didn't consider those thousands of failed theories as failures. Each one showed him another way that wouldn't work. Each failure brought his team one step closer to success. This is where documenting your results and doing post mortems on your calls will benefit you more than you could ever imagine! Simply beating your head against the wall doing the same thing over and over again will only lead to frustration.

Notice the results you are getting from your actions and make adjustments along the way. Keep moving forward.

Changing Your Beliefs

The next and most important step is to send the right messages to your brain. You won't achieve your goals if you don't believe you can achieve them.

First examine your beliefs about your goals. Do you believe you can achieve them? Do you believe it will be difficult? What negative beliefs do you have about achieving the goals you have set? If you have negative or limiting beliefs about your goals then you need to change those beliefs.

You need to feed your mind the possibilities and send the right message to your subconscious mind. What seems difficult should be considered easy. What you think you can't do should become something you can do. What you don't believe is possible should become something you believe is possible.

If you want to close more sales, however, you don't know how, get help and change that focus to: I know how to close more sales! Any negative belief or thought pattern related to achieving your goal must be eliminated; otherwise you don't stand a chance of achieving your goal. You can take all the other steps required in setting goals, however, if you have a negative belief pattern related to achieving your goals, you will not succeed.

Erase your doubts. When you present to prospects, do you think they notice if you have doubts about yourself or your service? Of course they do...they read you, just as you read yourself. If you don't believe that you can reach your goals, how likely do you think it is that you will reach them?

Taking action is an important step in achieving the goals you have set for yourself. Many people fail at goal achievement because they never take any action. When you take action and send the right messages to your subconscious you'll begin to create opportunities to achieve your goals.

Make it a day of abundance!