The last week in September is goal-setting time, to allow ninety days before the New Year to let your goals "cook" - in other words, get your goals in place by October 1, to provide sufficient inner processing time to yield the best chances for success.

Rather than just cranking out a wish list this year, thoughtfully consider those larger aspects of your life, and plan to move yourself in a specific, predetermined direction in each of them.  For example, you could use a "Six P's" format to organize your objectives for next year.

Start with your purpose, the first "P," the reason why you bother to set goals in the first place.  Why do you do what you do?  What's the bigger meaning behind it, why is it worth it for you to strive for achievement?  By completing the phrase "My purpose is to be...and to do...," you create a context for all your goals, so they become more meaningful and pertinent.

The second "P" is personal goals, where you clarify your intentions in personal care and management, things like exercise, nutrition, meditation, reading, changing habits, and self development.  The third "P" is professional goals, where you aim at particular accomplishments in your practice, associations or other related professional activities.

The fourth "P" is people goals, where you establish your game plan for your relationships, how you prefer to show up in them, and how you want to contribute to improve them.  Your fifth "P" is prosperity goals, and here's where you detail your financial targets, in earning, saving, investing and donating.  Finally, your sixth "P" is about play goals, where you plan your leisure and entertainment so you balance your stresses with recovery time and fun. 

This "Six P's" system is simple, straightforward, and focused, and gives you enough space to write what you like, while still concentrating your attention on the most important aspects of your life.  Begin the process by brainstorming out whatever comes to mind in each of these categories- no need to edit at this stage, just write what comes up.  Then, keep a big list in your goal book for each of the "P's," but transfer the top three in each area to a master list you can read each day, to etch your desires into your mind.  Then, as you accomplish each goal, write "Victory!" through it and bring another goal from the big list forward to your daily master list to be planned and acted upon.

For these top priority goals, it enhances the likelihood of accomplishment if you write a plan for each, including the beliefs you'd need to achieve at that level, the resources you'd need, the materials and people you'd need, so that when you construct your action steps, you have a complete perspective on what is expected of you- this prepares you thoroughly to deliver on that challenge. 

Study after study demonstrates that people who set, plan and pursue their goals outperform others by a huge margin.  The only thing that prevents people from setting goals is fear- fear that they won't reach them, or fear that they will.  Blast through this and take a bold stride toward success and fulfillment - get your goals in place by October 1, the way top achievers do, and see what happens.