Habit goals are those smaller goals which lead to bigger goals. These smaller goals are performed daily or weekly so that they become automatic habits.

We can then move on auto pilot towards our dreams or bigger goals. We know for sure that they will be accomplished because we are taking daily steps in their direction.

It is easy to neglect our bigger goals and just spend time daydreaming about them and looking forward to them.

However, the daily habit goals that lead us to our dreams cannot be neglected. They are in our lives right now as we perform them every single day.

If we are not performing them daily, we know that we are unlikely to reach our dreams. The daily habits can be tough to maintain so we have to face the real cost of our dreams right now within our current lifestyle. We need to decide now if we are willing to pay the price or not.

If one of our main goals is to lose weight we need to make a daily effort to avoid too much sugar; to buy and eat more healthy foods and to get out of the house for one walk a day at least.

If our dream is to make more money, we need a daily plan which includes the smaller goals of advertising daily, creating products to sell etc.

Many people have dreams in line with the great dream of Walter Bagehot:

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

If you want to do what people say you cannot do, you will need to set yourself a daily habit goal of practicing whatever it is that people say you are useless at.

In the martial arts world, most students love to be able to kick high. But if people write you off as unable to kick high, you will need to establish daily habit goals like stretching for ten minutes at least every day.

You will have to practice your proposed kick at least ten times a day both slowly to build strength and faster to build momentum. You will probably need to frequently check the height of your kick and to keep track of any improvements.

All this effort will be worth it when you see the look of amazement and even awe on the faces of your fellow students.

Weekly habit goals are also important. I try to meet my web designer for two hours every single week so that I make gradual progress in learning how to use web design software and how to link products up with credit card processors etc.

I know that these weekly meetings will gradually turn a technical dim wit like myself into a reasonably competent web master and eventually a successful entrepreneur.

Incidentally, by writing this article I have just taken another step towards achieving one of my big goals - to write at least one article a week.

Big goals and dreams can fire our imaginations and create enthusiasm but the smaller daily goals can become even more exciting as we realize that we are actually moving steadily and inexorably towards our dreams.

John Watson is an award winning teacher and 5th degree blackbelt martial arts instructor. He has written several ebooks on motivation and success topics. One of these can be found at http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

You can also find motivational ebooks by authors like Stuart Goldsmith. Check out http://www.motivationtoday.com/the_midas_method.php

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