Many Americans vaguely know how to set goals, but they stray away from them because they don't want to face the possibility of failure. Perhaps they tried to do something in the past and failed. Or maybe they see how important the goal is to them and fear the massive letdown should the critical mission be unsuccessful. The risk of failing to set realistic goals is that you may end up settling for habits, people and situations that are not good for you. So often people stay in destructive relationships and work dead-end jobs just to avoid the process of setting goals. It's time to stop procrastinating; here's a guide to setting goals that you can and will achieve.

One difficulty when people learn how to set goals is finding realistic goals. This requires a bit of research. If an individual wants to be a WBTV reporter, she must look up the job qualifications and see if she possesses them. If she hasn't completed college, then it would be unrealistic for her to assume she can walk right into the job. If she hasn't drawn up a resume, she cannot assume she'll be able to meet this particular goal. In another example, if a person is unhappy in his current relationship, it may be unrealistic for him to set personal goals of finding only professional models to date. While you don't want to sell yourself short, you need to set attainable goals before raising the bar to achieve even more. Runners don't try to finish a marathon for their first race — they train, accomplish smaller goals and work their way up to the top!

A person who knows how to set goals also knows that one of the most satisfying parts of the process is recording progress. After creating a written goals list of tasks, he or she can then check off any tasks that have been completed to physically see the success happening. The more check marks are made, the more an individual will feel motivated to keep going and complete the whole list. This personal goal list will also help keep an individual on track. It's easy to feel lost and wonder, "What now?" And it's equally easy to feel impatient and wonder, "Why should I even bother finishing?" With a list, the answers are clear.

After learning how to set goals, some people find it hard to pursue the plan. Often times, they have set far too many goals for themselves and don't know where to begin. Perhaps you hate your retail job, your partner is aggravating you to no end, you want to be more involved in your guitar playing hobby, you know you need better time management skills and you want to spend more time visiting with your family. All these impending goals can actually make you feel unhappy if you feel swamped by them and overwhelmed. Instead, try to focus on which particular area is making you most unhappy. Maybe your job has you ready to pull your hair out each and every day, whereas your partner is a mere annoyance for now. Start with pursuing your job change and begin to work your way toward the other areas once you achieve your first goal. You may find after clearing up one area that the other parts of your life fall into place and you are much happier.

The first step in determining how to set goals is to do an honest assessment of your life. Once you've faced the struggles and disappointments in your current situation, you will find the motivation to set short and long term goals and make the necessary adjustments. You can ask yourself, "Is smoking, drinking, drug using, binge eating or failing to exercise bringing me down? Am I working a dead-end job that pays too little, does not challenge me enough or causes undue stress? Is my poor time management and disorganization stressing me out? Do I need a new hobby or skill to keep me occupied? Is my partner causing more unhappiness than happiness, or am I treating my partner unfairly?" Once you've spent some time being introspective, you'll be ready to begin.