The key to success is setting and achieving goals. Quite often, if goals are not set, you might find yourself working very hard, but not ending up where you want to be. If you have clear goals, it will be easy to prioritize the actions you need to take and not get sidetracked.

Setting goals, of course, is not enough. If you only set goals without following through until your goals are met and the action completed, then you have failed. Failure can happen in many ways. You might simply miss the mark, you might get sidetracked or distracted, or quite possibly you might work hard, and work smart, and just not be able to achieve the goal, quite possibly because you failed to set a realistic goal.

Goal directed thinking is the key to being successful in business, and is integral to every phase of business planning and practice. Effective goal setting will only happen if you choose goals you believe are truly achievable, and keep them in front of you, and never lose sight of them. The three keys to successful goal settings enumerated below will help put you on the path to success and keep you there.

Key Number One: Have a Vision

You need to have a clear mental picture of where you and your business are going to end up. Without a vivid mental picture of how your business will look in the future, you will not be able to set the myriad daily, weekly and monthly goals that keep your business on track to realizing that vision.

An important aspect of that vision is that it must be something that motivates you. Do you know what you enjoy? Do the thing you love, and you will love working and be motivated to achieve your goals.

Key Number Two: Set Achievable Goals, and Measure Yourself By Them

You will need to be absolutely, unflinchingly, brutally honest with yourself and others. Look deep inside yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t try to convince yourself you have talents that you actually don’t. By the same token don’t sell yourself short, either. Your vision, passion and talents will carry you through, but you have to know yourself, really know yourself.

Part of that brutal honesty is setting goals that are yours to achieve. Not only is it impossible to achieve someone else’s goals, but also you must set goals that are within your power to achieve. If, for example, you set the goal that Bill Gates will be your new best friend and mentor, it might well be Mr. Gates’ decision more than yours. Set goals which are within your power.

Key Number Three: Act On Your Goals

When Frank Sinatra sang “Do be do be do,” he might not have meant that doing is being. But from a goal-setting point of view, it is. In order to achieve your goals, you have to work toward them. Break your larger goals into smaller goals, and learn to revel in ticking each goal off your list. Act on your goals.

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