Research and results from past experiences prove goals are a very powerful tool in several ways. If this is true, why aren't more people hitting their goals?

The secret lies in semantics. The truth is that what we think of as goals are not really goals at all, they are dreams. Despite the similarity between the terms "dreams" and "goals", there is a dramatic difference between the two.

We all have dreams, but few of us have goals. We learned to dream as a child. We wanted to be a fireman or to have that great toy featured in the window of Lytle's Pharmacy. As we grew our dreams turned to having a date with a certain "hot" individual or accomplishing some great athletic feat on the high school team. We entered the business world and the dreams continued - now they were trips to Hawaii, a huge mansion, an eight digit paycheck, or becoming the CEO. All of these are dreams, which one might achieve by circumstance or accident, but is the chances are slim for most dreams.

The key to success is to turn dreams into goals. By transforming dreams into goals we astronomically increase the likelihood of achievement. Before being acquired by Continental, People Express Airlines turned their dream of becoming a nationwide carrier in a single meeting. Someone mentioned the idea, the brainstormed, assigned responsibilities, and left the meeting with the determination that they would do it. Two weeks later a jet with the People's Express logo took off from Newark International Airport bound for Los Angeles. What is most impressive is that at the time, a new route took an average of 2 years for approval, with 6 months being the shortest time on record - yet People Express did it in 2 weeks.

How?

They turned a dream into an actionable goal with a plan. Turning dreams into goals resulted in man landing on the moon, pilgrims settling in America, Atlanta hosting an Olympics, NBC moving from radio into television, and Henry Ford developing the automotive assembly line. The dream-to-goal process is relatively simple. It requires only four steps designed to take your dream into an actionable plan.

First, you need to assign a measurable action, then apply an element of time to your developing goal. Once the first two steps are complete, you need to validate your goal by assessing your resources to ensure you have what you need to attain it. Finally you must examine dollar and opportunity costs associated with hitting the goal. If these all make sense, your dream becomes a goal.

By developing the plan to hit your goal and evaluating the goal to ensure it is not too soft of too much of a stretch, you should hit your goals more than 95% of the time.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement. Building on a strong retail background, Rick moved to full supply-chain involvement, working with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results.

As Rick's interaction in varied industries expanded, he became troubled as he increasingly noticed that people and companies had untapped or unfocused talent. Coupled with Rick