I am going to write to you about a time-tested great way to start your New Year. You guessed it making your list of monthly and yearly goals.

The business philosopher Jim Rohn said that, The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

The process of reaching your goal changes you forever. It brings you the confidence and motivation to pursue further, loftier aspirations.

Writing down your goals is imperative. You will activate and create new cells in your brain by writing your goals on paper. These cells would otherwise remain dormant if you just type them on your computer or think about them.

After Andrew Carnegie passed away, they found a sheet of paper in his home. Carnegie had handwritten one of the major goals of his life - to spend the first half of his life accumulating money and to spend the last half of his life giving it all away. Guess what. He did!

Go write down your goals now. Challenge yourself to new heights while not making your goals unreachable. In the same way, if you set your goals too low, you wont make much of yourself.

Look at your list often, every day. You can never tell what you can do when you get inspired by reading your goals. And, most importantly, you can never tell what will happen when you put them into action.

Inspiration leads to activation and equals triumphant success.

Yes, everybody has short-term obstacles to overcome. And, that is the very reason why we need a lot of powerful long-range goals. They keep us focused, on track. They provide us with a powerful target. They remind us about the life we want to live.

The critical reason for goal-setting is to lure and persuade you to become the person that it takes to reach them. By activating the process that leads to the accomplishment of your goals, you change your outlook, your brain cells, your thought process in such a way, that you feel like a different person. A much evolved person.

You can liken this activation process to that of a snake shedding its old skin. Or, a salamander. Did you know that one of the great symbols of the ancient schools of wisdom is a salamander. You can cut off its tail, and the salamander can grow a new one. A carnivorous animal can bite the salamander in half, separating its stomach from its intestines and its lower colon cutting off its stem cells, cutting off its spinal column, and guess what. The salamander crawls away on its arms. It knows how to change itself to look like sand and rocks like a chameleon. While its lying there, it exudes no fragrance. It grows back from its spinal column a new intestine, a new spinal column, new legs and a new tail. Then it emerges again.

The next attack on a salamander may bite off its body right under its neck only a head and one arm is left. It can lay in a catatonic state as it grows back a new body. But if its head is bitten off, the salamander is history.

The reason I am telling you this is to show you how incredibly powerful your mind is. It is the crowning glory of who you are and who you can become. Its creative power is simply limitless.

And setting goals is an incredible way to use your beautiful mind.

We all have two choices: We can make a living or we can design a life. Jim Rohn

So design your new life. Allow every moment to renew your life anyway you want. Make this year one the one you want to remember forever.

Copyright 2006 Tania French