You're enjoying a perfectly shallow conversation with a good friend over coffee, discussing your oldest child's latest broken bone fiasco and how long it takes you to drive across town with the traffic these days, when out of nowhere he asks, "Do you ever wonder where all this day to day will lead? What are your goals in life?"

Right now stop and answer this one question: Do you have an overall blueprint for your life? In detail with a complete list of goals including the action steps necessary to achieve them? Chances are you are not completely able to answer me yes. You may have a decent idea of what your life is about and might be able to name off some wants and desires, but most likely you do not have a blueprint for your life.

So sit down with a blank piece of paper and a pencil and write down your goals, all your greatest desires and how you will achieve them. It took me about an hour's time to realize that it is nearly impossible to pull goals out of thin air, but if you begin with a few prompting questions they seem to come faster than your little pencil can write.

All you really need is to be asked specifically where you want to go and how do you plan to get there. Here are some questions to get you started. We are going to start at the beginning of the road to success by learning how to identify our goals.

Family
Do you want to be a life partner and parent? If so, how are you going to do this well? What kind of relationship do you want with your partner, your children and other family members?

Financial
How much money do you want to earn at various stages of you life? What planning is required in order to accumulate wealth, use it wisely and share the benefits with those you choose?

Career
What is your chosen vocation? What level do you want to reach in your career, and by when?

Community Service
Do you want to help make the world a better place? If so, how?

Creative
Do you want to achieve any creative goals? If so, in what artistic pursuit?

Education
Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to achieve your other goals?

Physical
Are there any fitness and sporting goals you want to achieve? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?

Recreation
How do you want to enjoy yourself? Are there any interests, hobbies, pastimes or social activities in which you want to be involved?

All of us are experts on something. Is there a goal that you have listed that you do not know the steps to take to achieve? Please send me an email and I will ask our readers for some advice.

Ask Your Fellow Readers.

Having trouble coming up with a plan to reach one of your goals? Click Here to send us your goal and I'll ask my readers to help you get started.

Frank F. Lunn is an expert in leadership, marketing, and small business entrepreneurship. In his book, Stack the Logs! - Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams, Frank outlines a simple 5-step strategy that will lead you to success in all areas. Find more useful article by Frank at http://www.stackthelogs.com

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