When you find yourself thinking “I want to be able to ____”, stop right there.  It’s great to dream and in the long run, that’s what we all need to do if we’re ever going to improve in any way. In the short run, however, we need some way of getting to those dreams. What are the steps to get to that dream? How are you going to accomplish the goal?   

The most important thing to remember when defining a goal is that you need a measurable target. It can be either the final goal, or smaller sub-goals - but either way, you need to be able to define exactly what it means to accomplish that goal. If, say, you come up with a goal of “saving money”, what exactly does that mean? For some people, it may be finishing out a month with a positive balance in their checking account; for others, it may be depositing the maximum amount of $5000 into their Roth IRA; still others may have even more impressive goals. The question here is: how are you going to know what you’re working towards if you don’t have an exact target to aim towards? Chances are good unless you have a specific goal to strive for, you’ll probably just wander off the path and go about your merry way without ever having succeeded.

Once you’ve got that goal, you have a great starting point. Then the question becomes: how do you get there? Back to our example of “saving money”. Are you going to track precisely what you spend? Maybe create a budget to try to stay focused? Or maybe it would be easiest to open a separate savings account that automatically withdrawals a set amount each month. Whatever the case, once you’ve got that measurable goal to work with, you’re well on your way to accomplishing it. Keep in mind that as much of a hassle as it may seem to be right now to ask all these questions, you’ll benefit down the line when you know exactly what you’re working to accomplish.