Whether you are a stay at home mom, a student, a worker or business person, there are essential factors that you need to take in the accomplishment of most tasks. The most important is setting clear realistic and reachable goals for yourself.  The second is setting a deadline for starting and finishing a task. The third is planning before you undertake any task or project. Remember that failure to plan is planning to fail, but too much planning can be as crippling as no planning. Take time thinking about a task or project until you are clear in your mind what needs to be done. Problems that may arise in the future need to be tackled as and when they occur because no amount of planning can predict future problems.    Remember too much tweaking, brainstorming and research can also be counter-productive. Start planning on how you will go about implementing your project.

“Believe you can.” The power of belief is a key to success in everything we do. Whether your goal is to rise to be the top goal scorer in your chosen sport or to become the best student or business person, you have a better chance of success if you believe you will be successful. If you start off with this kind of mental attitude you can start to take charge of your life today.  You will experience fear from time to time. On the one hand fear can be a big motivator, on the other; it can be a big obstacle in achieving your goals. Listening to fear thoughts in your mind reinforces more fear. Do not be paralyzed by fear of failure just hang in there and do it.   Choose the first easy step you can take- and get started- remember action leads to further action.

Ask yourself what do you absolutely have to do for the project to be successful?

What do you have to do immediately?

What could possibly go wrong?

Subdivide large chunks of work into small manageable tasks and activities. Focus on one thing at a time and complete it. Compare what works and what doesn’t. If one way of doing a task is not working, try something else. Do not try to be a perfectionist because when perfectionists fail to achieve their goals they become self-critical, and self-blaming which results in lower self-esteem, anxiety and depression. It is at this point where perfectionists give up completely on their goals. Think of benefits you will achieve once a task is finished. Remove distractions from your environment in preparation for the task at hand.  Try at this point not to bog yourself down in detail. Do not overestimate the amount of motivation you possess nor underestimate the amount of time it will take to complete a project.

We have to take responsibility for our projects and blame no one if it fails. If you still cannot start, Take a break, reflect and do introspection – the project may not be in alignment with your skills. It may be a project that does not support your goals and values.

Justice Mandhla is the author of<a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=http:// />Boost your sales and attract new customers</a> and he spends a great deal of his full-time writing days researching and writing about marketing and advertising strategies.