It is not really important what we do in life, and that includes Forex trading, but, whatever we do, one thing that will have a greater affect on our success than anything else we do will be goal setting.

It is a simple fact that the human brain works best when it is given a roadmap to follow and, when setting a goal, you start building your roadmap by defining the end point of your journey. But fixing a destination is not sufficient and you will also need to define the route which you are going to follow to get to your destination. Let's look at an example.

Suppose that you decide you want to build a fortune as a Forex trader, and who doesn't after all! This in itself is not however very helpful as any goal which you set needs to be measurable, otherwise you will have no way of knowing whether you have reached it. So, at this stage, you need to be clear about precisely what you mean when you talk about a 'fortune'.

Let us say therefore that you set a goal of making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months. You now have a clear destination. The next problem however is that, as you are almost certainly new to the world of Forex trading, are still coming to grips with the ropes and possibly have limited money to invest at this point, making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months is probably not that realistic a goal.

As well as being measurable, any goal also has to be realistic. It is immaterial what goal you set yourself in Forex trading, but it has to be within your reach. There is little point in deciding that you are going to win Wimbledon if you have never even picked up a tennis racket.

So, rather than aiming for $1,000,000 let us look at setting a far more realistic target of say $120,000. Having done this, we then need to split this figure up into marker posts to add to our roadmap and this can be achieved by viewing our target on a monthly rather than an annual basis. This will give us a dozen $10,000 markers. However, if we keep going along these lines we can then break our goal down further into $2,500 weekly markers.

At this point we have got something which we are able to view against our current experience and it is a fairly easy matter to determine whether or not this figure is possible. Is it feasible, in the light of your recent experience, to make $2,500 trading Forex in the coming week?

Your goals must be measurable and realistic, but they also have to be attainable. It is one thing to set a realistic goal, but you must also have the right tools, in the right place at the right time if you are going to reach that goal. If you are presently making $750 a week then you are probably not going to convert this into $2,500 overnight so, in this instance, your goal is unattainable and you will need to go back to square one and start over again.

But, if $2,500 is feasible, then there is one further step which needs to be taken before you are ready to head off on your journey. This final step is to paint a picture in your mind's eye of your destination.

Despite the fact that you have set a target of making $120,000 in the next twelve months, the money by itself is of course not really what you are aiming for, but it is what you can do with the money which is important. So, having got your $120,000 what do you intend to do with it? If you are planning to purchase yourself a new SUV then paint a picture in your mind's eye of driving off into the sunset with the roof down and now you will truly have a goal.

If you wish to be successful in Forex trading then you have to set yourself a goal which is measurable, realistic and attainable and than paint a picture of your goal in your mind's eye. Do this and you will be surprised at how simple it is to get to your destination.