Copyright 2006 Sandra P. Martini

Now that youve got a list of your goals for the upcoming year, take a good look at them. You are most likely feeling a combination of exhilaration and trepidation with a little overwhelming sensation mixed in for good measure.

Its okay, youre not the first or only one to experience this. The next step is to break down each goal into manageable objectives. Its as simple as the answer to the riddle How do you eat an elephant?

The answer is: One bite at a time. And that is how you tackle your goals small manageable pieces categorize them in to groups as to whether they are 10 years , 5 years or one year goals.

Lets assume one of your goals is to make $100,000 in the next year. By itself, it may seem overwhelming, but lets take it one bite at a time.

1. Make it present tense.

Its important to change the language of your goal so it reads as if youve already achieved it. This will activate your subconscious and let it know that you are serious about your goal.

2. Get emotional.

Make each goal your own by personalizing it and give it an emotion.

Watch what happens when we take the original goal of My business will make $100,000 in the next year and, factoring in numbers 1 and 2 above, change it to the following: Its December 31, 2007, I made $100,000 this year doing what I love in my business and I feel on top of the world!

WOW what a change! See how alive your goal becomes?

3. Work backwards.

Start with your largest goal (in this case, ours is one year) and break it into smaller time periods that you can measure. For our goal, will you make $25,000 per quarter? Or, do you need time to ramp up so you anticipate making $5,000 in quarter one and then more for each of the last three quarters? Remember the goals have to be measurable and realistic and plan accordingly.

4. Know your target audience.

In order to reach your goals, you must know your target audience. And if you think that everyone is your target audience, you are wrong and wrong in a way that will cost you significant time, trouble and money.

Assuming you have limited marketing dollars, you want to spend them wisely. If you own a wedding gown boutique, which would be the more profitable thing to do: Send flyers announcing a sale to everyone in your town OR send flyers only to those women who subscribe to bridal magazines, have hired a wedding planner or booked a hall?

The answer is obvious. Defining your target audience matters. It matters more than most anything else you will do.

5. Where are they?

Knowing your target audience isnt enough. You must know where they hang out, what they like, what they dislike and you need to be able to speak with them in theirlanguage.

So where does this leave us? A brief summary to pull it all together:

Youve written your goals in present tense

Youve added emotion

Youve broken your goals into smaller timeframes and

Youve identified your target audience and where they hang out

Well pull it all together in Part III when we add the daily and weekly action steps that will get you well on your way to accomplishing your goals.