It s as Easy as 1, 2, 3...

It's as Easy as 1, 2, 3...

DO THIS EXERCISE RIGHT NOW. Go get a pen and a piece of paper and come back. If you don't do it now, if you delay even for a couple of hours, the likelihood is that you won't do it at all. So get up and get that pen and paper.

This is the most powerful goal-setting technique I've ever used. There are two reasons for this: one, it's easy to do; and two, it commits you to take action.

1. On your piece of paper, write down 10 goals for the next 12 months. Seven of the goals should be related to your business or profession. Three should be personal. Out of the first seven, one should be such a stretch that other people might even laugh at it. As businesswoman Mary Kay Ash once said, "A good goal is like a strenuous exercise—it makes you stretch." If it's that hard, if it's that challenging, there will be great reward that comes with it.

2. Choose the most important goal on your list. Ask yourself, "Which of these goals, if I were to achieve it, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?" Write that goal on top of your piece of paper. Write it in the form of a question. For example: "How can I make salesperson of the year by next January?" Make the question specific, including deadlines if possible.

3. Write down 20 answers to the question. Force yourself to list 20. The first few will be easy; the rest will get progressively more difficult. At the end of the exercise, choose one of the items on your list of 20 answers. Do it immediately. Pick up the phone. Write that letter. Redo your resume. Buy what you need. Don't hesitate—just do it.

If you take these three steps, your life will be totally different one year from now. You'll be accomplishing more. You'll be more confident. You'll be a better salesperson—whatever it is you set out to do. All you have to do is write down 10 goals, pick the one that will have the most positive impact on your life, write down 20 ways to achieve that goal, and take one immediate action. Repeat the process for the next goal on your list, and so on, until you've completed the list. If you can do that, the world is yours.