In effective goal setting, the first and most important question you MUST answer, is what do you want to have, do or be?

Most folks tend to blast through this question. 'I know what I want, I want a big house, a learjet, a yacht in the keys, a supermodel girlfriend and $20 million in the bank.' This is to miss the powerful nature of this step and is equivalent to trying to build a skyscraper (the life of your dreams) on quicksand.

I cannot stress enough that this first step is crucial in laying the groundwork for your vision of the future and therefore it is absolutely deserving of whatever time it takes to create an empowering vision and THAT is what this step really is, it is envisioning the future.

It was not Tiger Woods who originally took this first step that led to his status as one of, if not the best golfers in the world, this first step was originally taken by his Dad Earl. The reason of course was that Tiger could not make this discovery and massive decision on his own, at age 2 or 3, none of us could have.

The world is full of stories of stage-moms and sideline-dads who have also taken this decision for thier kids as well, yet few if any of them ever rise to the level Tiger plays at, why is that? Simple, where most kids eventually either resign themselves to 'their parent's dream' or rebel against it, at some point, Tiger Woods revisited this decision, and he came away with the same basic aim that his beloved father Earl had come to, to be the absolute best that he could be.

So how do you figure out what you really want to have, do or be?

For me, I spend whatever time it takes to think about things, activities or characteristics I want in my life. My advice is to be like a kid in a candy store, anything is possible, nothing is off limits in this phase because any limit introduced here will only be magnified as you move through the other steps we will address. No, here you must operate secure in the knowledge that you can have, do or be anything you want, and you can.

This phase can take a long time if you have diverse interests, but be sure and explore anything and everything that interests you - you do not want to \'miss\' your real driving force because you short-circuited this step or gave yourself an arbitrary timeline - it takes what it takes - you will know when you are done.

Once you have a good list of things to have, things to do, and things to be, the hard work begins. You must next evaluate each item you came up with, in terms of what it means to you, why you want it, and in very generic terms what it will take to achieve. With this information you can compare and contrast them and prioritize them. I usually compare and contrast them in my head but also on paper or on the laptop - there are a number of specific software applications that help do this but a wordprocessor or spreadsheet application will work fine, as will pen and paper. It is important to capture this information so that you can go back to it from time to time to ensure it still makes sense for you as you grow in this, and other, areas of your life.

Compare an contrast in this case is essentially prioritizing these items by how much 'juice' they produce within you, what it will mean to you to achieve it, whay you want to achieve it, and basically what is needed to achieve it (resources, schooling, people contacts, experience, etc.). None of these issues are limitations at this stage, but try and be honest, if you are 5'2" and you want to be in the NBA it is not impossible, remember Spud Webb, but know you will need to work that much harder than the guy who is 6' 9".

With your prioritized list in hand, you can now assign a basic timeline to it. Again, you do not need to know how exactly you will do it, you need to commit to it, and to a timeline. Committment here is where your achievement begins, this is the cornerstone of the life of your dreams. You must cut yourself off from failure here first, you must know that once you truly decide to achieve these items, that nothing will stop you- it is here that you first commit to do whatever it takes.

Next up, step 2, What is keeping you from having what you want right now?