We all want success in life but unfortunately very few of us are actually planning and setting ourselves up for success. If you want success, you must have a plan that can guide you so that you know exactly what to do to achieve success.

All successful people have a plan. They have goals in life and they know exactly what to do to get them. They don’t sit and wander around what to do; they have a detailed plan and roadmap that they can follow every step of the way towards success.

Successful people know where they are going and what they need in order to get there. They have carved out a bright future for themselves and are confidently working their way towards getting to their destination. These are people who believe in the power of goal setting as an effective way of achieving the things they want in life.

Here are some tips to help you set your goals in life and how to achieve them…

Put Your Goals Into Writing

One of the very first things you need to do in setting goals is to write all of them down. They have to be specific, clear, and realistic goals. Once you have written them down, plan out how you are going to achieve them, step by step.

If you don’t plan for success, you are planning to fail. People who don’t have goals in life can’t live a purposeful life. They are always wondering what to do each day.

If you have goals and a plan to guide you to get them, you must also have a strong discipline and determination to take action to achieve your goals. Otherwise your plan will be just a paper that is collecting dust.

Ability To Overcome Challenges

When you are on a mission to achieving your goals, you are going to face problems and challenges. You must develop an attitude and confidence to face your challenges and overcome them. Do not expect a smooth journey. The journey to success will be full of challenges and roadblocks; those who have the courage to face their problems and overcome them are going to succeed. Those who give up amidst of challenges are not going to succeed.

Believe in Yourself

One of the most common factors that hinder us towards achieving our goals is our lack of self-confidence. If you do not even believe that you can actually be successful, then there is just no way that you can do this. Self-fulfilling prophecies are more powerful than you think.

Have a Back up Plan

Changes in life is inevitable. No matter how well you plan, you must be ready to embrace changes. So you need to have a back up plan or plan B. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! That is the advice I want to give you. Always strive to build your safety net.

SMART Goals

In goal setting, you need to create SMART goals. This method is very popular among companies today because it has been proven effective many times over. A good thing about it is that you can very well create your own personal SMART goals too.

S-Specific. Your goal must be very specific otherwise you will likely to forget about it in a short while. For instance, you should not write something like… "I want to be rich”. Instead, you should be writing something like… "I want to earn my first million dollar in 5 years time by building profitable online businesses”.

M-Measurable. You should be able to monitor your progress because if your goals are not measurable, it would be difficult for you to know if you are doing good at achieving it or not.

A-Attainable. While having goals are good, they must also be realistic and attainable. Do not set a goal that goes something like this… "I am going to earn $1 million by next month”. While having a goal and ambition to earn a million dollar is great; it must also be realistic and achievable.

R-Relevant. Each goal that you have must be aligned to your principles and values. Otherwise it would be very difficult to achieve them because they are contrary to what you believe in.

T-Time Bound. Many people set goals but they do not give themselves deadlines for it, and as a result, nothing much gets achieved. Make sure to set clear time-frames for your goals.

I have shared with you a lot of tips and techniques to set goals and craft out a plan to achieve them step by step. I have also suggested you to create a back up plan or Plan B where you can switch to when your Plan A fails. Hope you find this article motivating.