Before you decide whether a single goal fits into your program, you should work that goal through a process that can help determine whether you should be pursuing this goal at the current time. This can take considerable thought and time but it can save you a lot of frustration by eliminating goals that are not for you at this specific moment and help to identify what you need to focus on now.

1. Zero in on your goal: Your goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Make it S.M.A.R.T.
Remember: Some goals must be small daily shifts and some goals must be more long-range. Significant goals must be broken down into smaller parts to ensure daily accountability.

2. Identify how you benefit from the goal: People often fail to reach their goals because they concentrate on the costs rather than the benefits. “If I lose the weight,” they reason, “I’ll have to give up this and do that.” Or “If I quit smoking, I know that I’ll gain weight and be miserable and difficult to get along with.”

Instead of concentrating on the negatives, think of the benefits that you’re going to enjoy. As you set goals, make a list of the tangible rewards that will be yours when you reach each goal. Each time you begin to ask yourself whether pursuing a goal is worth the effort, simply take out the list of benefits and read them aloud again.

3. List the obstacles that stand between you and your goal: You need to identify obstacles in order to be realistic and avoid being surprised. People have experienced many times that they had no idea that pursuing such-and-such a goal was going to be so demanding, require so much effort, take so long, and involve so many unexpected pitfalls. Careful planning in advance eliminates much of this disappointment, but you must understand that you can’t always see the roadblocks ahead. That’s why commitment, attitude, responsibility, and focus on the benefits remain constant necessities. Patience is also extremely important. Just remember that by keeping yourself focused on the goal, you can see the benefits and not just the obstacles.

Very few people get excited about obstacles. A mammoth traffic jam when you’re in a big hurry or a bad cold just before a vacation doesn’t create excitement in your life. You cannot plan for everything.

Disappointments or setbacks of any kind are seldom viewed with enthusiasm. Yet those very difficulties should generate some type of accomplishment at the end of the day, if for no other reason than overcoming obstacles makes you strong and enables you to soar to greater heights.