One of the many things that I love about my job is that I get paid to go out and talk to interesting people and learn new things. Earlier this month, I was covering a trade show here in Chicago. I would sit in sessions, take notes, and then write up stories for the newspaper that was handed out to participants each morning. One of the sessions that I saw was entirely about setting goals. The audience was made up of top sales people, and they were learning how to do their jobs better.

This is what I learned:

First, the biggest limiting factor we face is what we think is possible or impossible. If you think that it is impossible to have a book published in three years, or to support yourself as a freelancer by this time next year, or to ever have a story published in the New Yorker, well then, it will be. The way to get over the hurdle is to list all of the steps that you need to do to get to the goal, then add them to your to-do list so that you have a plan to meet them.

For example, if you want to quit your job to freelance, you need to figure out the minimum amount of money you need to live on. What books do you need to read, who do you need to talk to, what records do you need to keep, to figure out what this is? Then, put these items on your calendar so that you do them and move closer to your goal.

To set those goals, presenter had us do a worksheet exercise. He handed out a list of forty questions, ranging from things like "What kind of house would I like to live in?", "How much do I want to weigh?", and "Who would I like to be friends with?" to "How much money do I want to make next year?" and "How many employees do I want to have?" and "How many clients would I like to have?". Once we got these answers, we were to pick out six goals, three personal and three professional, in order to keep balance in our lives.

It's a useful exercise, coming up with goals and working out the steps that must be taken to achieve them. If you have a few hours to spare this weekend, why not take the time to write your own list, pick the goals that interest you most right now, and then work out a plan to achieve them?