As we've all heard now for many years it's very important to know exactly what your goals are.

If we don't have a target in mind then how do we know whether or not we are hitting it? And in a business like real estate with so much going on each and every day, and so many distractions vying for our attention, how can we continually know if we're on track to achieving our goals when we're constantly in the heat of battle?

There are many different ways to set goals and many different time frames we can utilize for setting our goals.

In our industry, for example, it's very normal at the beginning of every year for us to set our goals for the year including how much business we want to do and how much money we intend to make. But if we don't watch out we can find ourselves getting closer to the end of the year realizing that we're not exactly on track to accomplishing our goals. By that time it may be too late to make the corrections in our game plans that will enable us to achieve the goals that we wrote down for ourselves at the beginning of the year.

In order to help ensure that we stay on track, I find that it is sometimes extremely helpful to schedule goals on a week-to-week basis when working in real estate. If there's one thing you've probably noticed about our business it's that there tends to be a natural week-to-week cycle in how we conduct our activities. There's a natural beginning and end to this cycle each and every week, and when one week ends the new week is there right in front of us, once again ready for us to continue with this process.

The problem with this is that if we don't watch out we can continue along a path with relatively little or no true feeling of how we're doing along the way. This can lead to us being unclear as to whether or not we're succeeding or failing, and also have us feel uncertain as to whether or not we're on track to accomplishing our goals for the year. This is why I really recommend that you set goals on a week-to-week basis along the way throughout the year.

Before you begin each week make a list of goals that, if you accomplish them by the end of the week, you'll feel that you've had a successful week in your real estate business. And as the week progresses look at your list of goals twice each day for about 10 to 30 seconds each time. I personally find it best to look at my weekly goals the first thing in the morning and also immediately after lunch each and every day.

What this does for you is it allows you to stay grounded and focused during the work week on what you know will have you feel like you've had a successful week in your business when the week finally comes to an end. Phones will be ringing, demands will be thrust upon you, people will tell you that you must drop everything you're doing and take care of their needs immediately, and still you'll be looking at your list twice a day making sure that you're budgeting the appropriate time to get the truly important things done for the week. Interruptions will definitely happen throughout the week, but by allowing yourself the entire week to accomplish what's important you allow yourself the flexibility to respond in the moment to urgent matters and still have the time to complete the goals that are important to both you and your career.

When you make your list of goals for the week have some of the goals be activities that are a little bit of a stretch for you but that you know you can accomplish if you just apply yourself and budget your time appropriately. Don't write an impossible to accomplish, pie-in-the-sky list of goals. This process is about giving you the feeling of winning, not beating yourself up along the way.

When you set your weekly goals in advance before you begin the new week you allow yourself to design a plan for success at a time when your mind is clearer and in a better position to recognize what truly will determine a successful week for you. Also, when you schedule important goals on a week-to-week basis, this allows you to check-in with yourself 52 times a year and make any necessary adjustments in your strategy to get you exactly where you want to go in your real estate career. This kind of continual, ongoing feedback to yourself is invaluable in having you achieve your long-term real estate goals in the shortest possible time.

When you schedule your goals weekly you can constantly stay focused on what you must do in the short run to achieve the long-term success that you desire in your real estate career. Interruptions and urgent demands will still pop-up on a daily basis, but by allowing yourself seven days at a time to accomplish what you know is important you are giving yourself the total flexibility to respond appropriately to anything in the moment while still accomplishing what's most important to both you and your career every single week.