"Man has his future within him, dynamically alive at this present moment." Abraham Maslow

Remember in my last column I wrote about the importance of setting goals that are realistic and achievable. There is no point in setting yourself up for failure, and you will have no motivation to strive for something that you don't believe is possible. That doesn't mean you can't dream big (and I encourage you to do so), but do it in realizable chunks.

Choose goals that are meaningful to you and in alignment with your own values. Make sure you make a distinction between your values and those of others. If a goal is not important to you personally, it won't have any power.

Then, language the goal into a simple sentence. Make it specific and measurable. That way you know exactly what you're going for and you'll know whether or not you get it. For example, "I make a minimum of $1,000 a day by following my trading system."

State it in the present tense. "Next month I turn my trading around" won't do. Next month never comes. You could, however, use the present tense and date it in the future."I double my trading size July 1, 2007."

Word it so it's towards what you want (as against away from what you don't want)."I follow solid money management principles." Not, "I stop over trading."

Once you have your goal formed into a sentence, make a clear picture of your goal already realized, as if it had already happened. Step into the picture so that you're looking out of your own eyes, and adjust the qualities of the picture so that it has a strong impact. Try making it larger, brighter, more focused. Step out of the picture, so that you see yourself in the picture as if somebody had snapped a picture of you in the future.

Now take that picture and place it into your future time line.