The #1 reason most people fail to get what they want in their life is that they don’t know what they REALLY want to achieve in their life. You must first find out what you really want to accomplish before you can start your journey to success. Once you know what you want (more on that below), all you need to do is follow these 4 simple steps to get there:

1. First things first: set a clear decisive goal. This is important so you can focus in the direction of where you’re heading in life. Most people never write down or taken progressive steps to do anything about their goals and dreams. Over time they end up forgetting about what seemed so important and instead stay stuck where they are. To get from where you are to where you want to be, you’ll need to set clear goals in your life so that you will be able to stay focused and directed down the correct path.

2. Create a strategy plan for how you will achieve your goal. It isn’t enough to just write down you personal and professional goals and dreams on a piece of paper. It’s imperative to also write down all the action steps you’ll need to take - creating a schedule of what you need to do DAILY to achieve them as well. The more specific your goals and action steps, the easier your mind will work towards making it a reality.

3. If you’re not doing this, nothing will ever happen... You must take ACTION in order to get what you want. Don't expect money to fall from the sky or success to come to you automatically. As you know, writing down your goals does not automatically deliver what you want straight to your door. Instead, you must be taking consistent, persistent and progressive action to achieve the goals you desire.

4. Be flexible to change your strategies if you are not getting the results you want. Review your goals and results regularly (every week or at least once a month). If you’re not getting the results you want, change your strategies and take consistent action again. It’s often been said: "Write your goals in stone, and your action steps in sand." Be flexible enough about the process to shift strategies and approaches as the situations arise.

These are four steps to assist in getting you from where you are to where you want to be in your life, personally and professionally. A good beginning for you is to be totally committed and clear of what you really want to achieve in your life, even if you’re not sure where to start.

When anyone embarks on a journey, path or course the first rule of navigation is to take a reading on your compass before embarking. That being said, the road to your destination, goal or dreams starts with where you are right now. It wouldn’t be logical to travel that road successfully if you don't take your starting point into consideration.

If you’re honest with yourself and your existing situation, it’s possible you may be disappointed with your current reality or discover you're nowhere near where you intended to go. The challenge (and solution) is to use whatever your current situation is, regardless of how far it is from your goal, as a starting point to create momentum in order to move forward.

I can't put enough emphasis on the importance of describing with complete honesty where you are now in your life. If you start with inaccurate information, it will lead to incorrect decisions about what needs to be done, how far you need to go and the specific path you need to take to reach your goal or destination.

As Lewis Carroll wrote in the classic tale Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

So, get everything out in the open, and be honest with yourself in each of the important life areas listed below. Decide what you want, and write down the ideal of what you are seeking to create in your life. Be honest with yourself, and don't get discouraged; everyone has perceived roadblocks to having the life they want.

Appearance: The way you look (body, hair, clothes, etc.)

Career: Whatever you get paid regularly to do.

Family: Immediate & extended family

Friends: Acquaintances and good friends

Fun/Leisure: The things you want to do

Health: Physical & mental health

Home: The place where you live (atmosphere & location)

Money: Your financial situation

Personal Development: Improving yourself in some way

Relationship: Typically your spouse/partner/significant other

Service: The time or money you give to help others

Spiritual: Your beliefs about humankind’s existence & purpose

As you look at where you are, it’s possible your inner voice may inadvertently try to limit you. This may include your attitudes, beliefs, concerns, fears, worries and previous experiences reminding you why you can't have what you want. Hopefully your positive attitude and beliefs will override those thoughts, helping you to believe your dream is possible and that the desired destination of where you want to be is achievable. Once that happens you’ll gain a conscious reminder to stay committed to your goal with full confidence you can turn it into a reality.

Usually you’ll find you're at a different place within each area of your life. You might be closer to your professional goals than you are your financial goals. This is typical since many of us feel the need to sacrifice one goal for another. Also, as we move along through life, our priorities shift. For example when we are young we are focus on gaining possessions to set up our life in a way that reflects our personality. Then, as we get older, we often shift our desire for possessions and instead desire more time with family and friends.

Creating an outline of where you now, compared to where you want to be, is absolutely necessary in charting the course to your goal or desired destination. Whether you write it down or speak it into a voice recorder, it will serve as a powerful reminder and positive reinforcement. You will want to regularly re-read your goals, or play back your recording, whenever you want to be assured that you're moving closer to where you want to be. That exercise will ensure your dream is clearly defined and reduce the odds of anything getting in the way.

If you know with clarity where you want to go and focus your attention on your goals, the information about where you are currently will propel you forward. If you're at the level of "1", for instance, and you want to go to "level 6," staying focused on level 6 will propel you with greater force than if you focus on level 3. Because once you get to level 3 and think, "Wow, look how far I've come; I can relax now," you're likely to remain at that level, or even begin to backslide.

Also, you might not be aware, but there's a different kind of energy involved when moving toward what you want than there is when moving away from what you don't want. For example, you may have a problem with too much debt. If you take action to eliminate the debt, you're more likely to stop taking action as the problem begins to go away. Your decrease in action and progressive activity can then lead you right back to the original problem. So don't become complacent with only a partial victory - go all the way! Keep your eyes on the end goal, not on how far you’ve come.

The critical question becomes whether you're more committed to remaining where you are, or getting where you want to be. Changing any lifestyle pattern certainly takes work. The difference between staying where you are now, and moving to where you want, to be is deciding what you'll need to propel you forward and getting the help necessary to stay the course.