7. They are motivated. Having goal for right reasons is a good start. You should also learn how to re-motivate yourself, and reward yourself when you make progress.

8. They consider personal factors. Can you really get what you want if you feel like you don't deserve it? Maybe, but good goal setting takes into account personal changes that are necessary or useful.

9. They are followed by action. One of keys to motivation and to getting where you want to be is to start with any movement towards goal. Action begets action. Start slow if you must, but start.

10. They are not written in stone. Goals naturally evolve. Why would you become a doctor once you learned that you liked doing lab work better?

The last one is a tough one. An excuse and a change of course are not same thing, but to know difference means you need a certain level of self-awareness. Develop that, apply keys to personal goal setting above, and you'll get to where you want to be.

The real problem is with attention. We are used to not paying attention to so many things! How can we remember something if we did not really attend to it in first place? The answer: We can't.

Don't believe me? Okay:

Do you know whether a cow's ears are above, below, behind, or in front of her horns?

Where are they?

Would you bet me a hundred dollars on that?

Try this one. Have you ever seen cats climb trees and descend them? Now, do they come down head or tails first?

If you answered head first, then think about shape of claws!

Tearing Up Your Business Papers

The reason for this failure to easily remember events of yesterday and last week is to be found in fact that you have made no effort at time to impress these happenings upon your subconscious mentality. You allowed them to pass from your attention like proverbial water from ducks back. You did not want to be bothered with recollection of trifles. So you made mistake of failing to store them away.

There is a vast difference between dwelling on past, and storing away past records for possible future reference. To allow records of each day to be destroyed is like tearing up important business papers in an office in order to avoid giving them a little space in files.

Now why on Earth would you want to do that?