Achieving your goals is possible if you remember some essential guidelines. The first thing to remember, is that usually, things don’t pop up out of the blue, overnight. You will need to put in a steady consistent effort. This does not mean to say that you have to exert massive effort to achieve a reasonable goal. It is better to be steady and constant. Remember the tortoise arrived before the hare in the oft told story and not because he was better, but because he was steady. Arriving at a goal must be considered a process.Secondly, you must discipline yourself to cut out anything that is counterproductive to your goal. A study of how you utilize your time during the day can be enlightening. You can change your life incredibly by becoming aware of small pockets of time and what you are doing with them. I have a friend who completely changed her life around by focusing on, and utilizing to the maximum, her “pockets of time.” If you are interested in achieving your goals you should be aware of this factor.Thirdly, every vision will have a cost. It can be time, money, and effort. Usually, you will find it is all of those. You have to be willing to do what is necessary to achieve your goal. You may have to sacrifice going out with your buddies once a week, or save the money that you would have paid on that fantastic new dress, or new piece of software. Each vision has a cost. You can be certain of that, but if you are passionate about your vision, you will find that the sacrifice will turn to satisfaction as you find yourself learning a new skill, or you have a sense of achieving something worthwhile. Achieving your goals is not going to happen without some sacrifice, which I emphasize again, more often than not, turns into satisfaction.Fourthly, you must take an honest evaluation of your strengths. You would not try to be a pilot if you were afraid of heights, a very short person would be better off not attempting to be a champion basketballer. Do not waste energy over wishing you were taller, or were more athletic or more attractive. The wonderful thing about this universe is that everyone is unique and that includes you. You may have a gift for drawing, or be talented at selling. Whatever it is, study yourself to discern it and then exploit this talent. We do usually know what we are good at, for when we are passionate about something, most times it is because we are good at it. Also, think about what people compliment you on? This can often help you discover your better points. Achieving your goals is easy if you are using your very own talents.Lastly, once you have evaluated yourself, you have to look at your starting point. Are you 20, 40, or a little on in years? I must mention too, that I have seen senior citizens achieve amazing goals once they set their heart on something, but of course, to aspire at becoming a prima donna ballerina at 50 would not be wise. You have to be sensible, but at the same time your vision need not be sensible to everybody. That is, your parents may tell you, you don’t have a business head or friends might say that a career in music is not for you. You, and only you, must evaluate that yourself. Do not ever let anyone else stop you from achieving your goals.