It’s about now that many people start thinking about next year. If you run a business you should be thinking ahead all year round, but with an impending new year it seems the right time to consider your long term goals.

Some goals are better than others and the best have some things in common. Here are five features your goals should have if you are to have a chance of turning them into reality.

Strong Enough Reasons

A goal is more likely achieved if it has a number of strong reasons pushing it onto your agenda. If you don’t really know why you should be pursuing a goal with determination it’s more likey to be abandoned. The best goals have clear, worthwhile reasons to be achieved. You should know what you will be able to do once you have achieved the goal and how it will feature in your long term journey to success.

Must Have’s, Not Wants

The best goals are those that you simply must achieve. It’s not enough to merely want to achieve something. You’re not going to work for something you’d like to have or that it would be nice to do. You want goals that you simply must achieve, whatever it takes.

Keep it Positive

Wording is important. A goal to ‘create one piece of profit producing content a week’ is a lot better than ‘stop writing stuff that doesn’t make me money’. A positive statement is more inspiring and helps you focus on what you should be doing.

Be Specific

If you aim to generate some money to buy a new car, what model will you get? If you plan to take on more staff, what will they do? If you are going to expand into a new office, how will you use the extra space? Getting specific enables you to focus on what you are really working towards and helps you identify the steps to get it.

Break it Down

If you have a stand alone long term goal it’s harder to see how to reach it. Ideally your final goal should stand at the end of a sequence of shorter term, achievable goals. This way you’ll see a path to the final goal, which means you’ll know what you need to do each week or even each day.You’re more likely to complete your journey if you always know the next step that has to be taken.

If you’re working on some goals for 2015 I hope you find the above helpful. Having a goal is no guarantee that you’ll reach it, but having a well thought out and correctly worded goal can make all the difference.