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Have you ever felt like your goals just seem unattainable? I felt exactly the same, and this is how I went about fixing things (without lowering my expectations).

Goals Are Great.

Everyone should have them. But with everyone talking about dreaming big and setting BHAG’s (big, hairy, audacious goals), I think it can be easy to get overwhelmed in inaction and leave you 6 months down the track wondering why nothing has changed.

Does This Mean That We Should Give Up On Goals?

Of course not!

I know just like you that goals are important  if you really want to create change in any area of your life. But why is it that some people seem to create and grow and improve with such ease – smashing their goals, while the rest of us are left resetting our targets after we failed to achieve them once again.

Are we just dreaming?

You’re Dreaming Not Goal Setting

The thing that I have found is that the majority of people who say that they have goals, really don’t – they have dreams.

A dream is a goal without legs. Set something that will take you places.

They realise that to succeed and to move forward they need to set some goals. So they start writing their ‘wish list’ and then sit down and think, ‘ glad that is over, now I can get back to what I was doing.’

If you are serious about creating change in your life turn you dreams into goals by giving them some legs!

How To Give Your Dreams Some Legs

But how do you make sure you are not going to wake up to find that your dreams were just that, dreams. What is it going to turn your dreams in goals that are going to lead you in the direction your are pursuing?

Stepping Stones…

I know it sounds simple, but the easiest way is to break your dream into smaller, more manageable chunks.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, sometimes our goals can seem unattainable – and that is what stops us from pursuing them.

So Take Your Big Goal And Break It Down

For me, I have some massive goals personally and for this blog. In this post I will stick with my blogging goals; let me share just two of them.

1. I will have 5,000 people on my email lists by the end of 2011.
2. I will make $100,000 through my blogs in 2011.

I don’t know how you are with big goals, but these ones really scare me!

The first thing that I always do when I write down my goals is think about where I currently am (in relation to those goals) and instantly feel like I am drowning.
Is it just me? Or do you get the same feeling?

So Let’s Start To Break These Goals Down

Ok, if I am planning on having 5,000 people on my email lists by the end of 2011 and I currently have about 500 subscribers that means I need 4,500 more subscribers in the next 17 months.

I’m not sure about you, but 4,500 is a little bit too big of a number for me to grasp at the moment, so what I decided to do was break it down.

4,500 in 17 months, equals 264 subscribers a month. Or 8 a day.

Now which goals seems more manageable? 4,500 subscribers in 17 months, or 8 each day? My goal feels so much more attainable when it is broken down to a daily target.

And since I added Popup Domination to this blog I have actually been averaging over 8 new subscribers a day (just from this blog).

By breaking it down to a daily target it is easy to keep track of and allows you to map out your journey towards your goal – which means that you can see when you are missing your target, so that you can reassess and fix on a daily basis.

Well, that one is sorted, I just need to continue to get 8 new subscribers a day  and I will have 5,000 subscribers by the end of 2011, but what about my $100,000 goal?

This is the one that really scares me! $100k broken down over a year $8,333 a month! Now currently I am averaging about $3k a month so I have 17 months to practically triple my current monthly income – tell me a job that you can increase your salary that quick!

Let’s break it down again…

$100,000 in a year equals $8,333/month or $274/day!

Now I know the daily target worked for my last goal, but making $274 from my blogs each and every day still feels unattainable to me – so I need to break it down further.

Set Smaller Targets

Now I have 17 months to reach my goal, but in reality the goal is only for the 12 months in 2011. That means I have the next 5 month to set myself up into a position that will give me the best chance of achieving my goal.

I Will Have A $5,000 Month By The End Of 2010!

I know that if I can build my online income up to a level of $5k a month by the end of 2010, I will put myself in a great position to smash my 2011 goal.

Obviously I will have to put strategies into place to make sure that my income is continually increasing. I will need to set traffic goals and content creation goals. I will be creating new products and working on ways to make my current ones more profitable – but I will only continue to do this as long as my goals stay within reach.

Continually Reassess Your Targets

Now that you are starting to break down your goals, so that they are measurable on a consistent basis, you are giving yourself the opportunity to know where you stand in relation to your final destination.

This means that you will know if you are on track to meet, exceed or fall short and this allows you the chance to reassess your goals.

If you think you are going to fall short, is there anything you can do to make sure that you meet your targets? If you are on track to smash your goal then realign your goal higher and push it further.

The most important thing is that you do not get swamped by your massive goals, but you begin to start taking action towards them with small stepping stones.

What Are Your Goals? And How Are You Making Sure You Achieve Them?