There are goals and then there's dreams.

Dreams are BIG, nebulous, emotional desires -" I want to be Rich"," I want to be the best guitarist ever"," I want to marry Donald Trump/I want to marry Madonna"," I want to win American Idol (but I cant sing)" - those sort of things.

A goal can be big or small,but its a solid reachable achievement.

Dream - "I want to be rich" . Goal 'I need to create a self sufficient business that has no income ceiling and will create both time and money'

Dream - I want to be the best guitarist ever- Goal - I need to learn to play the guitar

And make sure you have the Dream part 'down' - Is it an idle dream, or are you seriously emotionally invested in it? Will you work for it? Will you give up time and money to get it?

Visualize what its like to attain that dream. really visualize...now do you like being there?

If you have the dream firmly established - then figure out the goal or goal you need to achieve the dream

Lets say - the Dream is 'I want to be rich" (vague, but ok). So for instance a goal would be - build a business that creates wealth. Ask yourself questions. Do you want to be rich and striving and , or rich and happy. What does Rich mean to you?

Lets say you decide Financial Independence would make you feel Rich. That is, a scalable income (no real ceiling) and eventually the ability to pull your time out of the entreprise but the money continues. (so you would actually have a life.)

OK so now we have a goal - 'create a self sufficient business of my own that itself creates financial independence.'

Sub goal - study businesses that seem to meet the criteria. Study them, and most important study and get around the people who have achieved 'success' in the businesses you are looking at. Do they have what you want? Are they living a life that fits your"dream"

Most important to study the people who do what you think is a 'great' business. Never mind what 'they' say the business does - what does it actually do.?

Ok - you have a goal.WRITE IT DOWN (did I mention - WRITE IT DOWN), and keep that somewhere where you read it everyday. (if it doesn't 'hook' you ever day - its not a worthwhile goal, for you).

Now work out the action steps require to get the goal.

Lets say you want to be financially independent - question - When?

Lets say you want to be financially independent -question - how much income do you need to be financially independant  (remember net income to get all the stuff you think you need - net income is after taxes, after expenses you need to create the income etc.Net income is what you live on, not what the business produces - gross)

Lets say you want to be financially independent- question are you looking at a value business ? ( a business that produces value for you and others) , or is it just some ego driven hype? (ego driven hype tends to become very ugly after a while.)

Lets say you want to become financially independent - what are you prepared to give up, time, effort and money - to get that goal? Will you work for two years , three years with no return - is it worth it for you? What does it take to create a business you want? Do you know? (not what 'they' say - what does it actually take, get around people in that field - find out)

So you have a goal, and you have a time frame. WRITE IT DOWN

Now work backwards - if I need to create (lets say) a business that makes $300,ooo a year in three years - where do I need to be in two years, one year, six months - NOW. What do I need to do now to get to my goal three years away.

And remember a business tends to grows exponentially - so in two years you could be bringing in 60,000, 20,000, 1000,000 - the question is have you got a business base that will explode to your goal, in the right time frame .

TIPS FOR PART 2 - making mistakes is a necessity. Going off track is a necessity, having  a bad day, a bad week, is normal, becoming frustrated or blocked is normal. Quitting is not an option (even if you have to find another business, or another goal - that's kind of how it works - failing is part of the process - quitting isnt)

LAST TIP - there are no overnight wonders - everybody spends years preparing, emotionally intellectually, physically, whatever - no-one has ever created anything worthwhile "overnight"