To be truly successful, you first need to decide what it is you want to achieve. That is to say you can't very well get what you want in life until you have actually decided what precisely it is that you do want. In our case, and the reason for this book, the immediate "want" is to lose weight as part of a larger goal to achieve a healthy lifestyle. After the holidays, losing weight is a common goal of many that make it their New Year's resolution. But like most resolutions of the new year, after about three months it is business as usual and back to the old ways. Have you ever thought about why that is? In many cases your goal was not realistic or achievable. Or you did achieve your goal, but in the end it was not what you thought you really wanted. That may sound confusing right now but it will become crystal clear in my book. For an example, let's use a goal of "Losing 30 pounds in the next two months." Is it realistic and achievable? If you break it down, it comes out to 3.75 pounds per week. While you might be able to lose that much each week for the first few weeks, it is not sustainable therefore not achievable nor realistic. And was that what you "really" wanted? Let's look at how to write goals that set you up for success instead of failure. This is where goal setting comes in. In order to have a shot at living your life to the very fullest and achieving your full potential (a healthy lifestyle), you need to have a defined goal and you need to know what precisely it is that you want to accomplish. Easy enough right? Wrong Actually, there is an art to writing goals. There is a very definitive 'right way' and 'wrong way' to write a goal. And if you go about your goal setting in the wrong way, which is the way most people do it, then you can actually reduce your chances of accomplishing those goals. That's right: a bad goal will actively hinder your chances at success, just as our 30 pounds in two months example. Conversely, if you write your goal in the correct way, then it can completely transform the likelihood of your being successful and can help you carry out all of the necessary steps to execute your plan. How do you go about getting a goal right? This comes down not only to the methodology and phrasing but also the content. Because there's another scenario that can happen if you write your goals in the wrong manner: you can end up achieving those goals and then not actually be happy with what you've accomplished. In this book, we'll take a look at how you can go about writing the right goals and then seeing them through... - How to know your life's purpose - How to write your 'mission statement' - How having a the correct goal and purpose changes everything and makes you more driven and more passionate - How to phrase goals to give yourself the best possible chance of completing them - How to maintain motivation and stick at your goals even when the going gets tough (and it will) - How to create an action plan that fits with your lifestyle and routine - The power of visualization and how it helps you accomplish what you want - How to maximize your chances of achieving what you really want - What to do once you have successfully established your goals By the end of this book, you'll have a tool set that will enable you to easily look at your life, reflect on what you might want to change and then carry out the necessary steps to make that happen. You'll be able to become exactly who you want to be and create precisely the lifestyle you want to lead. And when you've done all that, life will suddenly start to make a lot more sense.