Most people have something they want. What that is varies from person to person. Some will get what they want, others will not.

What makes the difference between achieving your goals and failure?

The first step towards getting what you want is to take responsibility for what you do. We all have choices to make and options to select.

It is true that for far too many the options are limited often by outside forces over which they have little or no control. Still, there are choices to be made and it is in making those choices that we move ourselves towards our goals.

No one else can make the decision for you; you can get advice, do research, consult plan and dream but at the end of the day the choice is yours to make. So start by accepting that the responsibility for yoru success or failure rests with you and you now have the proper perspective with which you can begin to move along the path you choose.

So what do you want? In order to make wise choices you need to know what it is that you want. You need to clearly state your goal.

Do not rush this part of the process spend a few days thinking about what you want; take time to examine your motives, why do you want this?

You may find when you enter into this self-examination that your stated goal is something other than what you originally thought that it was.

Write it down.

Allow yourself a maximum of ten days to ponder, consider, challenge, research and otherwise give though to what it is you truly want.

At the end of those ten days write it down. Read it out loud, still sound good, then you have taken the next step you have a goal that you can articulate.

It is possible that your goal is a short time one; for example, you may need money; if you do how much do you need and why do you need it? The more precise you are the more aware you become of your true need.

In these times far too many of us are worried about finances. What you are now doing is beginning to turn that worry into an action plan. Worry won’t buy butter or pay the mortgage but focused planning can find a way to obtain the funds you need.

What you truly want may be security, prosperity or a rewarding career; whatever the dream is you begin to make it real when you can plainly and in a sentence state you’re your goal is.

So you have now completed step one, you know what it is that you want. You are already ahead of many people who want something but have not developed a conception of what that something is.

Now some will have to struggle much harder than others because their circumstances are desperate and each day is a battle.

The world we have built is not fair and while working towards fairness is an important action, we must first understand that life is not fair and that simply repeating this slows us down and will not help.

You have a goal but if you want that goal to be more than a day dream and become a reality then you need to remain focused. Of course, you can take holidays, unwind, kick back; it would be unwise to not do so.

By focused I mean you know what you want now be where you are.

All we really have is the moment. The moment we are in, be there. Do not wander through the past reliving past conversations and do not worry about tomorrow. You can do nothing about what you said or did not say yesterday, last week or last year.

If you lose focus and are lost in the past or future you may not notice that opportunity that just strolled by because you were not in the moment.

Now exercising yoru memory is a good idea and talking with friends and family about past happy experiences a healthy and enjoyable experience. Naturally when you are setting out a plan you need to look down the road to see how it unfolds.

Memory and planning are not what I am talking about when I say remain focused, I am talking about the quiet dialogue that often runs through our heads at meeting, public events, family gatherings and so on.

The one that worries or relives. You cannot go back and change the past what happened happened, learn and move on.

What will happen tomorrow, who knows, but worrying won’t prevent it, in fact, worrying may help create the conditions that what you are worrying about needed to happen. You stop paying attention and missed the opportunity.

Paying attention to where you are while knowing what you want creates the presence of mind that enables you to recognize a valid opportunity and to act upon that realization, rather than saying to yourself several hours later, if only.

This is how you prepare yourself to make wise choices.