You'll be wishing you were someplace else, without the direction or drive to get there.

A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline. Here are the main reasons people don't achieve their goals:

• They fail to write them down and post them in plain view.
  
• They fail to make a plan to achieve their goals.
  
• They fail to commit, or don't live up to the commitments they make.
  

These reasons seem pretty easy to overcome, yet studies show that more than 70 percent of our adult society does not even set goals in writing. Wow!

Here are my 7.5 steps to goal setting and achievement:

1. Identify it
Write your goal down clearly. Write exactly what you want to achieve in the most specific terms possible.

2. Date it
Put a date (and time limit) to start the goal and to finish it. Unless you commit to a start date and target an end date, your ability to achieve any goal is questionable.

3. List the obstacles
You will have to overcome obstacles to achieve your goal. Identifying these obstacles will help prevent them from occurring.

4. List the groups and people to contact
Who will work with you to help you achieve your goal? People will help you if you just ask them.

5. What skills and knowledge do you need to achieve your goal?
Do you have them, or do you need to acquire them? Make a plan to acquire or hire the knowledge or skills you need.

6. Make (and write down) an action plan for each goal
The more specific and detailed your plan is, the more likely you are to enact it.

7. List the benefits of goal achievement
What's in it for me after I achieve this goal? What's my incentive? Is my incentive strong enough to ensure achievement?

7.5. Take action every day
It only takes 10 or 15 minutes a day to chip away at goal achievement. Make a personal commitment to act on your goals, and live up to that commitment every day. Goal achievement is up to you. Your self-talk, self-visualization and self-determination are 90 percent of the achievement process.

Here are some additional ways to increase your goal achievement success:

Ask yourself a few questions
Why do I want this? Am I willing to work hard for it?

Make yourself choose
Select two big goals and several smaller goals.

Visually discipline yourself
Write down your goals and post them where you can see them daily. Each day, tell yourself that you are on the path to achievement and that it won't be long now.

Hang yourself
If your goal is something you want or want to be (car, computer, vacation, thin person, new clothes) hang a picture of your goal in the bathroom, in your bedroom or by your office desk.

Project yourself
If your targets are in front of you, it is easier to hit them. Being able to hit your targets depends on your focus. The clearer your focus, the more likely you are to hit a bull's eye.

Commit yourself
If you don't emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually commit yourself to achieving your goal, it is likely you will not.

Satisfy yourself
Achieving a goal is incredibly self-satisfying. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment, purpose and the inspiration to set out and achieve the next goal.

© 2006 All Rights Reserved - Don't even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and The Little Red Book of Sales Answers. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on sales and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com.