I'm sure you've already heard a thousand times how important it is to set goals. You've heard saying; if you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there. Thousands of successful people attribute most of their success to goal setting. Knowing this, why don't majority of people set goals?

Goal setting starts within you. Your have to believe it's possible to do a thing before you will have a strong desire to write it down on paper and take steps to make it happen.

How do you possibly bring yourself to believe in your own success? After all, so many of you have been at this success thing for a while and it still hasn't happened for you. Companies that you believed in and worked hard for have failed, your family and friends are waiting for you to "be realistic", and life just keeps giving you one blow after another. But there's a small fire burning inside of you. You keep at it because all you know is you can't continue to get up every morning, go to work for someone else and allow them to determine how much you're worth each week (which is far below you true value).

So where do you go from here? Where do you start today? The road to inner belief in your success begins with you telling yourself everyday, throughout day, that you can do what you set out to do, you can have what you set out to get, you can be that successful person you know lives inside of you. Yes obstacles will come, doubters will be around, but don't you be one of them.

Many people stop developing their raw talent once they become embedded in workforce. Mistake! In today's job market, we have to be flexible, ready to move to new areas, within a company or outside of it. Also, people are demanding higher levels of fulfillment, which requires investment of personal and career growth. Or perhaps career you thought you wanted-or were told you wanted-is no longer for you. This is where your raw talent can be your strongest asset.

Let your preferences lead you. We all excel at what arouses our interest or passion. The energy you feel when yelling for your favorite team can be focused into commitment to developing an area of raw talent.

Revive past interests, such as hang gliding, a daily walk at sunset with your partner, painting, or writing. Nurture underused skills, such as public speaking, animal breeding, mentoring, or a flair for research. Keep in mind raw talent that you begin with may lead you to raw talent you really want to build on. You have to start somewhere. Another indication of raw talent is hearing others talk about some activity and wishing you could try it. You can! Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself where you will be in ten years, if you stay with same job. Look around at co-workers who have already achieved those ten years-do they seem happy? Finally, would you advise younger people you care about to follow your exact life?

If answers are negative, you may be ready to make new choices. Think of feelings of freedom and possibility you had at college graduation. Think what it would be like to again experience that excitement, learning, and growth.