Setting Goals

When Rebecca at Modite asked if she could use me as part of her Sept. monthly goal meet-up I wanted to laugh. I was trying to think if any of my written down goals had come to fruition this month, or last month, or in the last year and came up blank.
"What are you going to highlight as my accomplishment?" I asked via Gchat.
She sent me a mock up of the picture and accomplishment and it said "started my own consultant business".
I had done that this month.
Since it wasn't one of my "written down goals", I hadn't seen it as an accomplishment. I hadn't celebrated it or crossed it proudly off of any list and as I went over my actual written down goals last night I realized that the ones I had were ridiculous.
"Own a condo in Las Vegas?" Really?
"Pay off all debt?" In this year?

Now I am a huge advocate of writing down goals and looking at them frequently. Keeping those goals in the front of your mind helps you accomplish them. Lance Armstrong says so and so does Harvard. The act of thinking about them, planning for them, and writing them down actually makes it more likely that you will accomplish them. So why am I not writing this post from my Las Vegas condo?
What I had done was, write down a list of my grandiose dreams and tack them to the refrigerator where I could see them every day. I hadn't crossed of ANY because they weren't real goals. This is what I like about what Modite is doing because after last night I started thinking that acknowledging the goals you have reached is pretty important too.
So I'm changing this list up.
1) Set goals that are realistic. I'm still putting in the condo goal but I'm sprinkling in some more attainable goals as well, like hiring one person to work for me by the end of next year.
2) Set specific life and career goals. My goal list was pretty nebulous. If I had thought about it, "start my own consulting business" would have probably been on there.
3) Set small goals, even daily goals. Making a goal list is no fun if you NEVER get to cross anything off. Dieters are encouraged to set small daily goals so they are feeling a constant stream of positive and encouragement as they get to the big goal. I'm going to apply that method to all of my career goals as well.
4) Celebrate accomplishment.