Part 1: Reaching Your Goals in 2013

It’s that time again when we mull over the upcoming year and decide what we’d like to get accomplished in the next 12 months. Many of us set firm resolutions and begin the New Year determined to fulfill the dream of losing weight, making more money, or finally getting that freelance business they've been dallying with off the ground. Unfortunately, a lot of these goals are never realized. They end up lost in the shuffle of daily life, dredged up again and again with the coming of another New Year.

But why does this happen only to some of us? Why do some people, successful people, accomplish every life-changing goal on their list? Simple, they have a powerful plan of action!

Here’s some good news–you can too, but first you must see goals in a new light.

1. Forget the vague goals of yesteryear. In order to succeed you must set very specific goals. Instead of a goal of losing weight–set a goal to lose 25, 30, or 40 lbs, or a goal to lose 5lbs every two weeks for the next three months. These are precise goals that you can get your teeth into.

2. Your goals must be measurable. Instead of an unclear goal of wanting to make more money in 2013–set a goal with a specific amount, say $50,000, $75,000, or $100,000. And a goal of wanting to obtain more clients in 2013 should be a more measurable goal of obtaining 3 new clients in the first quarter.

3. Choose a goal where a specific action taken on your part will control the outcome. For example, if your goal is to gain new clients for your freelance business, joining a business networking group, implementing a marketing plan, and hiring an innovative expert to help you gain more clients are all plans of action that will help you reach your goals.

4. Keep your goals realistic and obtainable or you will set yourself up to fail. If you've set a goal of becoming a runway super model and you barely reach 5 feet 2 inches tall, you need to rethink your goal and consider other modeling options like catalog or magazine work. Choose a goal that you can actually reach.

5. Don’t leave your goals undefined. They must include a timescale, and end time. Losing 15 lbs by March 1st or finish writing that novel in 6 months are goals with specific end dates. You can make more goals when the first are accomplished like dropping your body fat an additional 5% by June 30th or contacting 20 literary agents about representing your novel in the next three months.

In Part 2, I will cover the actual steps you will need to take to define your goals and develop a plan of action to finally reach them. Remember a successful person hides in each one of us.