There are many programmes on Goal Setting and achievement. Sometimes there are so many to read that you are confused by all the information.

So how do you get maximum goal achievement?

There are two secrets to goal achievement, two secrets that will get you anything you want in life, whenever you want it.

Have you heard about the SMART method of goal setting? Some say it is the only way that you can successfully set and achieve goals well they are partly correct but there is more to goal setting and achievement than the SMART technique if you are to really succeed.

In case you have not come across this technique this is what it stands for:

Your Goal has to be Specific.
Your Goal has to be Measurable
Your Goal has to be Attainable
Your Goal has to be Realistic
Your Goal has to be Time Limited

Well let us look at that. Whilst it is easy to say a goal must be specific, that is not as easy to do as it is to say it. Mark Twain said, I could teach the whole world how to get what they want, the trouble is most people do not know what they want. If you do not know what you really want in life how can you be specific?

The whole goal setting theory of SMART goals is thrown out of the window because you only have a vague idea of what you really want in life. You are so busy living life trying to earn a crust of bread that you just do not have the time to sit down and work out what it is you want.

Setting Measurable goals is also sometimes very difficult as often no one has taught us how to break a goal down into measurable bits, you are told what you must do but seldom how to do it.

If your goals have to be attainable in your eyes how much are you going to grow and develop, for surely if you cans see yourself easily hitting your goals there is little point in setting it in the first place.

If they are to be realistic that contravenes what many teach, to be a real goal it must take your breath away, you should feel nervous in the pit of your stomach about the thrill of achievement. You should also feel sick in the stomach at the thought of not achieving it. Well that does not sound like setting a goal that is both attainable and realistic.

Let us say you are 18 stones (252 lbs) and you want to lose 3 Stone (42 lbs). Now that is pretty specific, it is also very easy to measure, you simply step on the scales and tick off the pounds as you lose them. You could even tell yourself you want to do it in 42 weeks, Time Limited. Sounds Specific; Measurable; Realistic and Time Limited.

Now what else do we have to do to comply with the formula? Ah yes it has to be Attainable!

Well you did not get to be 18 stone in 42 weeks;, unless you dieted totally on cream cakes and went of cruises (that is another story). It has taken a long time for your weight to creep up to 18 stone (252lbs) so is it attainable to take it off in 42 weeks.

Possibly, by following a fad diet of the day. But, if you have dieted before, you know the minute you stop following the diet your weight piles back on. So is it attainable for you?

Yes you can say you have seen so many people in slimming magazines who have torn off the lbs. they look slimmer; healthier and younger. But it has to be attainable for you not someone else. I will let you into a little secret they are not you. You are you and you are totally different from any other living person on the planet.

This same illustration can be set against anything you want be it a 42 inch plasma TV; 10,000 ($18,800) in the bank; a new job; a new relationship; new home; car anything at all, you can go through the same process as that above yet you still do not achieve what you set out to achieve.

There has to be something else they are not telling you. After all there are countless thousands of people who do achieve their life time goals so how do they do it.

You must set goals that take your breath away, that make you feel nervous when you write them down, you must put yourself in a situation that you would be sick in your stomach if you were to fail in achieving what you set out to achieve.

So setting SMART goals is not the complete answer fortunately you can discover the other two secrets they do not tell you about so that you too can achieve everything you want in your life. More than that you can achieve it when you want, so how can you set goals that are Specific; Measurable; Attainable; realistic and Time Limited; plus the two secrets?