When it comes to achieving their goals most people struggle in two key areas: they don't know what they want (their dream) and they don't know how to take their dream and turn it into reality. The key part of making a positive change in your life is to have a strong dream and turn it into a realistic vision.

"A dream is the process of Imagination; A vision is the process of creation"
Ange Marsden

Here are some steps for finding out what your dreams are and turning them into a realistic, achieveable vision through goal setting. First look at your past. Set aside some time, maybe a day or even a week to be alone and think about your life. Write down what you love doing and what you dislike doing. It may help to go through all the jobs you've had in the past and pull out the parts of each job you did really well or loved doing. If you are planning to lose weight or deal with a habit or addiction, look at what you've done in the past and what did and didn't work for you - there's no point in going about things the same way if they didn;t work last time!

Daydream - this is the fun part! Imagine what you would do on your perfect day at work or at home. The two key points here are to: Discover a clear vision of what you really want to achieve and discover a strong "WHY". The stronger your WHY, the easier it will be to stay focussed on your goals.

Fill the gap. To earn more you need to be worth more. What do you need to do to "upgrade" youself to pay for the extra income you desire? If you want more time, how can you make changes to your current lifestyle to find more? Write a list of what you need to "fill the gap" and another list of things you need to research. Next, do the research you need to fill in your information gaps. By now you'll have a picture of where you are today, where you want to be and what you have to do to get from one to another. Write a SMART; Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Realistic and Time specific. Break your goal down into smaller steps, or mini goals, that you need to take along the way.

Remember to celebrate! Many people are too hard on themselves and then fail to achieve their goals. Break your big goal down into lots of little tasks and lots of little celebrations. You don't have to have a massive party every time but remember to give yourself a pat on the back or treat yourself to a manicure or a bottle of nice wine when you reach your targets.

Reveiw your progress every 90 days and see where your heading. If you're off course do another "stock take" of what's working, what's not and what you need to learn. Reset new goals and KEEP GOING. Like an infant learning to walk, you're going to fall over a few times but you'll be glad you kept going rather than gave up and spent your life crawling!

For more tips on motivation, inspiration and turning your dreams into reality, head to www.motivationandinspiration.net