Free 20 Surprising Tips That Will Give You A Better, Happier, Healthier, Wealthier Life by C. Weston Bailey

What are Goals?
    An event or benefit you want to achieve as a
result of completing an action. For example, let's take a
basketball player. The goal of the basketball player is to win the
game. In order to win the game, the player must take and complete
certain activities, such as making more baskets then their
opponent.
    On the other hand, a basketball fan, wants
their favorite team to win the game. Is this a goal for the fan?
The answer is no. The fan has no direct correlation to the outcome
of the game. His actions will not determine the outcome of the
game, unless he does something illegal.
    What are SMART Goals?
    First SMART is an acronym for:
    S pecific
    M easurable
    A ttainable
    R ealistic
    T imely
    The acronym is used as a guide to write your
goal in a personal, positive and present tense. The first step of
writing a goal is being specific. Here are some tips to help
you.
    Being Specific
    Goals need to be specific, so that you know
which part of the process you're currently in and the particular
ways on how you will achieve it. Most people have goals to win a
championship, lose weight, earn more money, get married and the
like, but these are very vague and your mind can become confused
about what you truly mean. General descriptions usually do not have
boundaries, so you always leave room for mistakes and compromise.
If you want results that you can be proud of, be
specific.
    To be specific, you need to include the
details. Include the names, the position, the amount, the date and
everything else needed to train your mind to start working towards
that goal. Write down something like, "I want to get $1 million by
October of this year." Or "I want my kids, Taylor, and John, to
become best friends beginning tomorrow." Or "I want to win the
national football championship two years from my 18th
birthday."
    Being Measurable
    Goals need to be measurable to gauge how well
you are progressing. To help measure your paths and goals, you
should include measurable details. For your career, you can include
details such as the number of hours you're working, the amount
you're earning, the staff you're supervising, etc. For the goal of
money you can include details such as the amount you want to have
as a whole, the number of companies or businesses you own, your
contact persons, etc. Always have things and items to be measured
so you can understand how close you are to getting your goals. If
your goal is to earn $100,000 a month, then you know you're halfway
there if you're already earning $50,000 a month.
    Being Attainable and
Realistic
    Set goals that can be accomplished. It is ok
for a goal to stretch your comfort zone. Some examples of
far-stretch goals are doubling your salary overnight. Be realistic
about the amount of time a goal may take to achieve. Ask questions,
conduct research, and determine your current abilities and the
resources you need to reach the goal.
    Being Timely
    Set deadlines to achieve your goals or else
you'll never going to finish anything. Stay specific when setting
timelines and schedules. For example, indicate things like "To
spend an hour with my wife everyday starting tomorrow (indicating
exact date and year)". Setting the exact time and date will spur
you to start working on your goals, instead of putting it off for
another available time. Some goals can take years to accomplish so
it is wise to break these down into smaller objectives.
    What are Long Term
Goals?
    Typically a length of time of more than a
year is considered a long-term goal. For example a basketball
player will have a long-term goal of winning two championships. So
the minimum time required to achieve this goal is two years. This
is considered a long-term goal.
    What are Short Term
Goals?
    A short-term goal is to be accomplished in a
shorter period of time, typically in a period less than a year. In
addition, short-term goals can lead up to the achievement of a
long-term goal. For example, the basketball player has a long-term
goal of