[Colin]

I've pretty much given up on ever having such definite goals. I'd be happy as a clam to be rolling in that sort of money, but I've come to realize that such fixed monetary goals with fixed time deadlines can be extremely counter-productive.

Think of it this way: if you follow the advice of a lot of goal-setting gurus, you end up writing your goals down on Post-It notes and sticking them on your bathroom mirror, the fridge and on your computer monitor. They're there to constantly remind you of what your goal is. At first this can even be motivating, but as the days drag on, being constantly reminded of your goal is only a reminder of what you don't currently have. Every day you're reminded of a lack of something in your life; the void between where you are now and where you want to be. It can create a spiral of negative thinking that can cause you to reject your goals outright, thinking that you're never going to be able to achieve them.

It's far healtier to create an objective based reality for yourself, rather than a goal orientated one. What do I mean by that?

Have objectives that you can work on here and now, that you can reflect back on each and every day. These objectives should be actions and principles that would have ultimately led to your goal anyway (if you would have stated explicit goals, which you shouldn't!).

Let's look at this with an example from my own life. Most of my own personal development is focused on my daily trading and investing; I'm constantly looking to make myself a better trader.

I once had goals such as: I want to be a full-time trader, such that I'm financially indepedent by my 35th birthday (which was about 2 years away at the time). The enormity of the task and the stark deadline I had given myself soon led me to question my ability to ever accomplish such a huge undertaking.

Once I realised the futility and counter-productiveness of such goals, I scraped using them. In its place I developed an objective that I could work on day-to-day, something that I could measure myself against in the here and now.

My current objective is to trade profitably and consistently, following my trading plan. My objective has to allow for flexibility, as you don’t always end up exactly where you had planned. Focusing on a goal prevents you from being open and flexible to alternate opportunities that come along.

An objective allows you to positively reinforce your actions each and every day. Before you know it, who knows what great things you'll have accomplished.