The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. No goal achievement is a leap across some huge canyon. Many are intimidated and driven away from going after what they really want in their lives for fear they will have to take a giant leap across that canyon and, hey, what if I don't leap far enough? Disaster.

Let's say you have a goal to get an additional $10,000 in savings two years from today. Make up a picture of your new bank statement two years from now showing additional $10,000 in your account. The goal is in writing. It is quantified and a deadline has been set. Now you can break that goal into its little steps for achievement.

To get $10,000 over next two years requires getting an additional $5,000 per year. A year is made up of twelve months, so that means you need to get approximately $400 per month. A month is made up of four weeks, so that's $100 per week. And a week is made of, let's say, five business days. That's $20 per day. (I have not added in interest to these calculations just for simplicity.)

I don't know about you, but notion of going out in world tomorrow and getting an extra $20 is a whole lot more realistic and certainly a whole more doable than getting $10,000. Getting entire $10,000 is leap across canyon. It scares me. $20 is single step. That's something I can handle. Now goal seems realistic and is realizable.

But until you write out your goal, quantify it, and set a deadline so that you break it down to its small steps, it will forever appear to be too big a stretch and therefore unattainable. But every time you follow these three steps and break goal down, you will always find that you have within your control what it takes to accomplish that next step. And once you begin, you are on your way!

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Other types of visual aids are generally used to enforce ideas, give a clearer understanding of material, and throw a little variety into mix.

When creating charts and graphs for your speech, you should take into account visibility from audience. A twelve inch font is great for handouts, but not exactly practical if you're going to be showing it to a larger group. Estimate how far your audience will be from microphone, and see if you get a clear view of chart.

All visual aids should be relevant to topic and pleasing to eye. Aesthetics are extremely important, so your visual aids should be balanced with a nice color scheme. Above all don't forget to make them interesting.

If you plan on using any sort of electrical equipment during your presentation, make sure you know how it works and that it is working properly. I will never forget one of my most embarrassing public speaking moments when I couldn't get overhead projector to turn on. This takes attention away from your topic, and makes it harder for you and your audience to get back on track.

One thing that I always do before public speaking is check out room or area in which I will be presenting. This helps me get more familiar with surroundings and decide exactly how to proceed with my visual aids. I have found that I usually get less flustered when I am more comfortable with speaking area, and generally get a better response from audience.