Goals

Whether you want to quit smoking, loose weight, orsave enough money for that fabulous vacation, you need to set a goaland try to achieve it one step at a time. It is not always easy. Formyriad reasons, we fall off the wagon and never bother to get on board.

Acommitment to achieving your goal is the key to success. But knowinghow to reinforce your commitment from time to time so that you don't goastray is also important. Reinforcing commitments regularly reminds usto catch the next train when we miss the one we are on board. Thetechniques described in this article will help you in reinforcing yourcommitments to achieving your goals.

1. Set your goals inmeasurable terms and take small steps. Write your goals as precisely aspossible. Instead of saying "I will loose weight", write down "I willloose 30 lbs in the next three months". Also, break it down into smallsteps. For example, "I will loose 10 lbs a month for three months."

Bysetting your goals in measurable terms, you will have a solid idea ofwhat successful completion of your goal means. By breaking down intosmall steps, you will be able to measure your success regularly andchange your course if you are not meeting your intermediate goals.

2.Create a tag line for your goal. Marketers use tag lines to catchpeople's attention to their offerings. Remember the famous Coca Colatagline - always coca cola? Tag lines are short keywords and phrasesthat are easy to remember. Create a tagline for your goal.

Forexample, if you want to save for a vacation and you need to reduce yourvending machine spending, you can create a tagline like, vendingmachine vacation. Print out a number of cards with your tagline and putthem in places where your can see your tagline all the time.

Thephrase in a tag line itself is not that important. What is important isthe emotional attachment to the tagline. Speak out your taglinewhenever you are alone, e.g. during driving, while taking a shower, etc.

3.Always day dream the success of completing your goal. As bad as itsounds, it is a very powerful tool. Once you get immersed in your daydreams, start developing emotional feelings about it. Make plans forall the things you are going to do once you have achieved your goal.

Forexample, plan for what you are going to do in your vacation, lookaround for dresses that you want to buy once you have lost thosepounds, or open a new saving account where you want to put the extramoney once you start reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke.

4.Start a blog. Personal blog is an excellent way to record your goals,intermediate successes and failures. Google offers a free blog platformcalled blogger. Create an account for the blogger service and startrecording your goals, why you want to pursue it, what is holding youback and your feelings when you achieve success.

Start reading afew self improvement blogs, post comments on those blogs, and sharelinks to those blogs in your own posts. You will get lots of good ideasand insights from others' blogs and receive tips and encouragementsfrom readers' feedbacks in your own blog. Your blog will motivateothers to take actions. You can also earn money from Google's AdSenseprogram.

5. Create a facebook group and invite others to join youin setting and achieving goals together. This is a new type of socialsupport group using social media. You will learn from each others andshare information to keep everybody on track. Publish your blog postsand other interesting and informative posts from other blogs in yourfacebook group.

To achieve your goal, you have to take smallbites one at a time and measure your success regularly. You need to getengaged and develop emotional attachment to your goals. Online toolslike blogs and facebook groups help you develop passions and share themwith others.