Step 1: Clarify your vision/dreams - Have you ever considered all the junk we carry around in our brains? If our brains were computers, our hard drive would be full! In the midst of this clutter, we also carry around hopes and dreams for our life. If we dont name and narrow them, our dreams just become wishes that float around in our head, taking up space.

Heres a few questions to guide you in clarifying your dreams:

what do you want?
when do you want it?
what will it look like when you have it?

Step 2: Set specific goals & objectives - You just have to get specific to get what you want. Lets say you want a bigger house. I could come over with a sledge hammer, bang out a big hole in the wall, duct tape on a card board box, and you would have a bigger house. But I bet thats not what you really meant, is it?

If you want a bigger house, how much bigger? 100 sq ft, 1,000 sq ft, or something bigger? The next question is what do I have to do in the next year to have a bigger house? Then begin to make your goal even more specific by adding objectives with such questions as; what do I need to do each quarter, each month, each week, each day, in order to get there?

Step 3: Use the power of visualization - I dont think Ive ever given a talk on motivation, change, or goals without using the following exercise. Its just so powerful.

Picture yourself at home in your kitchen. Walk over to the fridge and pull out a nice big juicy lemon. Take it over to the counter and slice it in half. Feel the juice on your fingers and smell the juice in the air. Now take one half and cut off a slice. More juice, more smell. Now take that slice and cut it in half. More juice, more smell. Now bring the slice up to your nose and smell it, and then bring it to your mouth and take a bite. If you are like most folks, you are puckering up right now or at least have some extra saliva in your mouth.

Heres the very powerful point:

there is no lemon!

You were able to cause a physical response in your body through the power of visualization. If we can do that with a lemon, then why not with our goals and dreams?

Step 4: Take all the necessary actions - Clarifying visions and dreams, setting goals and objectives and visualization are nothing more than amusing mental exercises unless and until you take action. You just have to DO something, consistently, massively and creatively to make your dreams come true.

Step 5: Respond to feedback - This one is so simple yet so over-looked. Is what you are doing working, moving toward your goals and dreams? If it is, keep doing it and perhaps do it even more. It its not working, be smarter than you are stubborn and find something else that does work. Keep doing until you find what works.

Step 6: Persevere - Heres one of my favorite quotes about the power of perseverance: In the battle between the rock and the river, the river always eventually wins. Not because it is bigger or stronger, but through the power of persistence.