But what about second step, third and fourth and so on? If you persevere and keep focused you will eventually reach goals that you set for yourself. But when you finally reach that goal, how will you feel about it?

Will it be a sense of accomplishment and pride? Or will it be more of 'yeah I finally got it done' and you're just happy that you've gotten it over with?

Every Monday morning millions of people make resolutions in an attempt to positively change their lives. I’m going to start my diet. I’m going to get rid of my debt. I’m finally going to end this destructive relationship. I’m going to start exercising every day. The list is endless. Yet, by day’s end over half of us have already broken our resolutions, and within two months, remaining 50% don’t fare much better. What went wrong? Some people blame their lack of success on outside events. They claim that kids, their job, their spouse, and their prior commitments took up so much time that attaining dream became impossible. Others blame their own goal setting strategies, believing their resolutions were too lofty for anyone to achieve. The fact is that when it comes to positively changing your life, resolutions are not enough. The key is to look inside and determine not what you want to achieve in next few months, but rather, who you want to be for rest of your life.

What vs. Who When people say they want to achieve something, they naturally look to outside factors for support, advice, and direction. For example, they can only quit smoking if their stress level is down; they can only exercise each morning if kids don’t need to be driven to school; they can only earn more money if economy would change. The mentality is: “As soon as…then…” However, when people decide to positively change their perception of who they see themselves to be and choose ownership instead of excuses, then they are personally accountable for their future and don’t need outside factors to guide them. They can say no to that dessert because instead of trying to achieve weight loss or being ones always on a diet, they are committed to becoming healthier individuals. In order to change your perspective of yourself and reach your personal goals, you can follow a simple three-step process that enables you to turn your future vision of yourself into current reality. By doing so, you create your future today and assure that coming months and years will be different and grander if you choose.

1.Create your vision. If you could design ideal life for yourself, what would it look like? How would you feel? What would you tell yourself to ensure your vision would become real for you? Would you be ten pounds thinner? Would you have at least an hour’s worth of free time in your daily schedule so you could focus on you? Would you be able to make smart financial choices so you could increase your net worth? Whatever it is you create for yourself, that’s vision you need to focus on to bring your future to you now. When you neglect to create your vision, you essentially allow outside factors to determine your life’s course. Creating a vision is about taking control of your future and accepting responsibility for choices you need to make. It’s a proactive approach to life that says you refuse to let external circumstances get in way of your dreams. By keeping your vision firmly in mind, you give yourself strength and conviction to transform your beliefs so you can finally become who you really want to be. As you create this initial vision, take time to examine other areas of your life and then determine focus for each individual aspect. For example, you could have a vision of your physical health, your family relationships, your job, your community contribution, and anything else you can think of. The more focused you are on how each aspect of your life should be, more clarity you have on your future direction.