If you’re new to setting goals, it’s a good idea to start with short-term goals. Short-term goals can be completed quickly, and each time you achieve one, it builds your confidence for tackling longer-term, more complex goals.

Here are four tips to consider when setting short term goals:

1. Set Deadlines

Short-term goals shouldn’t take any more than a week or two to complete. Decide on a specific time frame for achieving each goal before you start.

2. Be Realistic

People often over estimate what they can realistically achieve in a short amount of time. Make sure that the deadlines you set are realistic for your situation.

3. Reward Yourself

It’s much easier to stay motivated when you know there is a treat waiting for you at the end of the job. Make it something special like going to the movies, having a massage, or playing a round of golf.

4. Break It Down

Completing a series of small steps is much easier than trying to finish one big task. Break your goal down into smaller “baby steps” and create a checklist of them. You’ll be able to see your progress as you cross each item off your list.

Remember to keep your short-term goals simple. They are meant to be quick and easy to achieve. Follow these tips and you’ll complete your short term goals easily.

It’s that time of year again. Yep, that one… where we look back at what we’ve accomplished this year and set goals for what we want to do for next year. I’ve already started my planning and working toward my goals for 2009 since I really got off track this year and didn’t get near what I’d set out to do accomplished. In fact, with everything I learned at the Masters Seminar last week, I’ve already started revising my goals in order to make 2009 an even better year.

I know that setting goals and writing about setting goals is not a glamorous topic. But goals play such an important part in our success. Not only do they help us to discover what it is we really want, they also give us a sense of purpose. It’s really nice to have something to work toward so that you can measure your progress and feel that sense of accomplishment.

Goals can also create a road map for us, enabling us to get to where we ultimately want to be. Breaking them down, they become the stepping stones that help us to reach what it is that we desire. And without them, while we may know what it is we want, it’s really unlikely that we’d actually get it. I can speak to that one from experience.

As someone who exhibits all the traits of adult ADD, I’m really thankful for goals, and for my accountability partner. She makes me write my goals down, questions my commitment to them, and makes sure that I get done what I set out to do. Without them, I know for sure I’d still be flitting from one project to another, never reaching a goal and always moving on the minute boredom strikes. And believe me, it strikes often. The evidence is all over my office in piles of half-finished projects.

I think though, that the biggest thing I’m thankful for is that my goals give me hope. As long as I can set goals and be excited enough about reaching them, I have a reason to get up and look forward to the day. And that’s something that I really haven’t had in a very long time.

While I was writing up my goals for the upcoming year, I came to the realization that my vision for the future is somewhat cloudy, especially where it relates to my business aspirations. Doing that exercise was a real eye-opener for me because while I know what I want in every other area of my life, I really don’t have a clue what success in business looks like for me other than it involves a lot of writing (interspersed with lots of time off for golfing, of course).

Finding that vision of success is really important for me. I can’t really know how to plan for achieving success without having at least some idea of what it looks like. Fortunately, or maybe not so fortunately, there’s a whole personal development industry out there that’s only too happy to tell me what they think my success should look like. And while I’m very thankful for their words of wisdom and their willingness to share their ideas with me, in the end it all comes down to one thing… the only person who can define my success is me. And the only person who can define your success is you.

That’s not to say I’m not above borrowing the words of the experts to help me figure it all out. I keep a whole folder full of quotations just for that express purpose. Here are a few of my favorite “success is” quotes.

Success is loving life and daring to live it — Maya Angelou

Success is doing what yo ulove, loving what you do, and helping others to learn how to do the same. — Bob Burg

Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. — Winston Churchill

Success is a toll road … pay now or pay later. — Steve Siebold

Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. — Arthur Ashe

Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are. — Jim Rohn

Success is creating a state of mind that allows you to obtain whatever it is you really want. — Mark Victor Hansen

Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. — T. S. Eliot

Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. — Al Bernstein

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. — William Feather

What does your success look like?