Since one of the things on my to do list today is to review my goals and see where I’m at and what, if anything needs changing, I thought I’d write a bit today on what it takes to define clear goals.

It’s one thing to set goals for yourself, but it’s another thing entirely to define clear goals to make sure you accomplish what you set out to achieve. A lack of clarity about your goals can leave you feeling confused about the end result, and put you on a one-way track to being stuck in the mud. Having a clear goal, on the other hand, can give you a sense of purpose and a huge boost in momentum.

Here are five things to think about when you’re defining your goals:

1. Know exactly what it is you want to achieve.
2. Decide on a time frame for achieving it.
3. Make sure your goal is realistic. (So says the queen of unrealistic goals!)
4. See the details. A vague idea is not gonna get you where you want to go.
5. Did you leave room for change? (If you said no, you might wanna think that.)

Over the course of the next few days we’ll talk about each of these five areas in more detail. In the meantime, think about where you are at this midpoint of the year.

Are you where you want to be so far this year? Would redefining your goals help you achieve them more easily?

I’m supposed to be writing out my goals for next week to send to my accountability partner right now. Trying to figure out what I should be doing next week makes me think that no matter how much I write about setting goals and sticking to them, I still suck at doing it.

My personal goals are cool. They’re the ones I really want to achieve this year and are where I put a lot of my energy every week. It’s the business goals that need a little more work and I know that the reason for it is because I’m not nearly as focused on them as I should be. So rather than bore you with a post tonight that reflects my current lack of focus, I’m going offline to do some serious rethinking of the direction I want to take things in this year.

So, it’s time for changes again. And yeah, I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record on this but I am so determined to have a better 2009 and to make some serious changes in my own life.

One of the reasons that I’ve never had a lot of success in making changes stick is the way I prepared for them. I was always in the new year’s resolution mindset of I’ll try this, start on New Year’s Day, and if it works fine, and if not there’s always next year. This year I already have a written plan, and goals set out for both the personal and business sides of my life. And I’m not waiting until Thursday to start.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting a major purge and declutter session here. One of my main goals for 2009 is to complete a cross-country move. And there’s no way I’m carting everything I’ve got hoarded up here 2000 miles. We went to Home Depot yesterday and grabbed some big plastic packing bins to put the stuff in that we’ll take with us, but that isn’t absolutely necessary for living right now. We’re stocked up on recycling bags and trash bags for the stuff that’s getting thrown out, and I’ve got boxes here to store stuff in that’s going up on E-bay over the next few days. I’m prepared for change this year, and prepared to take action to make sure it all happens.

Once our cleaning and decluttering is done, all the desks are getting rearranged. My big 3-sided office station is getting broken down into two parts. One for my son’s room, and one for mine. I find trying to write out here with the tv and other distractions really hard to do. I’ve wanted a desk in my bedroom for the actual pen and paper portion of my writing process for ages, and am finally going to have it by the end of this week. Another of my goals is this year is to write a novel, and by moving these desks around I’ll have a place to write where I can actually go and shut the door.

I’m really excited by the prospect of a new year and a new life… Bet ya couldn’t tell, could ya?

What about you? Are you making any changes in the new year, and are you prepared for them?