Do you ask yourself what your full potential is? Do you feel like you are falling short of where you should be and feel frustrated most of the time with where you are at in life? And the thing is, you know you are smart and you know you have and can develop your skills.

If this describes you, don't be too hard on yourself. For one thing, it's not just you. Tens of millions of people in the United States are in the same boat. We know, however, that there are also many many successful and goal-oriented individuals who are successful.

You can change your life, and give it meaning and purpose, by learning how to achieve goals. Setting and reaching goals is a habit, and like all habits, they take time and conscious effort to develop into long-lasting ones.

It may sound simplistic to say that the reason you are having trouble right now is because you do not know how to achieve goals. Although not all problems stem from this inability, most problems can be solved with effective goal setting.

For example, look at a person who is having money problems. Although they may have the goal to get out of debt, they haven't actually taken the action steps to achieve financial freedom. So months later, they are still in the same financial situation.

You must have a way to get where you are at now to where you want to be. Write down where you are at now, and then write down how you want your life to be once your goal has been achieved. Next, label every step you have to take to get to your goal. If one step seems to big, then keep breaking the step down into smaller steps.

Another thing that successful goal-achievers use is a time frame. This is not just a time frame of when you want to reach your overall goal, but when you plan to finish each step that will take you to your goal. Also, make sure this is specific. Say "July 4th, 2010", instead of the "Summer of 2010".

If you honestly apply just these two steps to an area of your life, you should see almost an immediate difference. Goal setting and achieving has to be a way of life, a habit, for it to be effective. And think about it, you deserve success!