"Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What do you want to achieve this year?

If you don't know, how are you possibly going to get it?

And if you know but don't have an action plan, how are you possibly going to get it?

Please excuse the preaching. But so many of us give lip service to goals without making even the smallest effort to support change in our lives.

We continue to self-sabotage ourselves. We buy into our old stuff. We continue to justify our limitations.

When are we going to break this cycle of defeat?

Statistics show 95% of North Americans do not write down goals. Of the 5% that do, 95% of these folks don't follow up with the goals they've set. Only a special few in a thousand follow through with creating progressive, meaningful change in their lives.

Working with goals is empowering! When you set and continually review your goals, you:

- accomplish what's really important
- stay organized and focused
- bring more meaning into your life
- overcome procrastination and increase your productivity
- improve your decision-making ability
- maintain your motivation and inspiration
- attain clarity, balance and peace of mind.

Goal setting is all about honouring yourself! About getting what you want. About achieving success - happiness, meaning and abundance.

Yes, it takes time and effort to build the discipline to stick with your goals. But the return is far greater than the investment.

If you want positive change in your outer world, you must learn how to change inside. You must change some of your perspectives, behaviour, and habits. It only takes minutes each day to focus your attention on what matters to you.

Have you heard the definition of insanity? Expecting different results from the same old behaviour.

This is a great opportunity to practise basic awareness. Each time you procrastinate something, see what attitudes, behaviours and feelings come up. What self-talk do you use? How do you justify your failure to act? How do you make up excuses? You probably use these same ones in many places in your life. And yes, they get the same results - nothing.

How do you sabotage yourself? How do you undermine your integrity and commitments?

How well is what you're doing now serving you? Time for a change? Resolve to learn the simple goal-setting skills that will make a difference in your life now!

"You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Need help in setting goals and then following through to achieve them? Download a free Goal Setting workbook. Click here: http://www.higherawareness.com/freegoals.shtml