My mother never went to Europe. She talked about it, dreamed about it, even opened a travel agency at age 55. Never got there. Oh, she achieved plenty of other goals. But not that one.

Got unmet goals?

Personal goals start as thoughts and dreams. Business goals may have those attributes, but often business goals are handed to you by a superior: sales goals, sales plans, sales numbers, pipelines, funnels and various benchmarks for you to achieve for THEM.

You then make a goal to achieve their goals.

Meanwhile, you have your own goals.

I recently came up with a thought as to WHY goals are met and unmet. It centers around the old definition about goals that has always bugged me: “A goal is a dream with a plan.”

That statement is not only wrong; it’s dangerous. It tells you you’ll never achieve your goals unless you make a plan. I don’t get it. I make very few plans, and I achieve tons of goals.

There are lots of goals that are not “dreams.” Did you dream your sales quota? No, you were sent an e-mail or given a sheet of paper. No dream there. My first trip to Europe was never a dream. It was an opportunity that popped up, and I took advantage of it.

Here are the elements that I believe define the dream, goal and achievement process:

Thinking. Ideas pop into your head. Write them down.

Dreaming and daydreaming. Thoughts make (let) your mind wander to desire, possibility and “what if.”

Observing. Looking closely at the world and your world to see what it is that you really want to be, do and have.

Opportunity. Recognizing it. Seizing it. And taking advantage of it.

Risk tolerance determines outcomes. If you perceive the goal is too “risky,” you’ll pass. If you wanna achieve, you gotta risk.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. The words of people unwilling to risk.

Desire. Your level of desire will determine the length of time to achievement.

Want. Want it bad? Like desire, your level of “want” will determine the length of time to achievement.

Need. Need is a stronger circumstance than desire or want. Your need will generate your level of action.

Intention. Intentions PRECEDE actions. If you don’t intend to, you won’t achieve, even if you want to. What are your intentions?

Dedication. You have to dedicate the time to study and prepare.

Persistence. The sister of dedication, it’s the stick-to-itiveness that pushes you to achievement.

Action for the day or the moment. Plans change; actions are in the NOW.

Skill set. Maybe your skills are precluding you from achievement. Maybe you need to study, practice or enlist the aid of others.

Love of what you do, or what it is. Love breeds passion. Passion breeds action. Action breeds achievement.

For whom? Why? Don’t be a martyr. Do it for yourself first.

Self-belief in every aspect of the process. You must believe in yourself BEFORE you can believe in the achievement of your goals.

Mission. If your goal is different from your mission, it will lack the passion to become a reality.

Visibility. Post it where you can see it. I have my goals on my bathroom mirror. Do you?

Support and encouragement. When others are cheering you on, it’s a mental miracle.

Serendipity. That moment when chance and opportunity collide. And it’s at that moment when you are challenged to grasp it, and make yourself and your loved ones better off.

If you need more information on how to post your goals in plain sight, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time user, and enter POST IT in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2007 Jeffrey H. Gitomer