Writing Your Goals Out

Most of you on this forum are obviously educated and free thinking individuals, and you probably set goals. Well I've always been into that whole self help thing, listening to authors like Brian Tracy, Napoleon Hill, etc. But now, I realized that I never really did what the programs told you, to set some serious goals.

By set goals I mean... setting goals on paper, in the correct format, and following through on their completion. Only one problem though, I don't know exactly HOW to set goals. I have a general idea, but how exactly do you format the sentences, what categories do you put ahead of which, how do you construct the rewards/punishments, and so on.

I've set goals before, but small ones and I hadn't really put much effort into making them amazing. This is how my format is/was.

Goal - How To Achieve (Steps) - Benefits (Why) - Progress

But... when I wrote them this way I never got pumped to finish them. I don't know, I think I did it wrong. My friend tells me you have to also give yourself written rewards at each segment completed towards your goal. I think this might work, but for most of you that probably do goal setting weekly/monthly, you must know.

Any suggestions, tips, examples, or anything you have to offer would be great.

For example, how would I go about setting an exercise and physical routine goal? Also, does it matter if they're on paper or if they're written in Microsoft word or anything?

I think writing them on paper is more beneficial. That tiny bit of extra effort that it takes to write it on paper, and that tiny bit more personal that it makes it, tells your mind that you are serious about your goals.

A while ago, I was having a heck of a lot of trouble getting myself to study for finals. Fear of failure was at the root of this problem, but setting written goals really helped. Here's what I did: I wrote down little phrases on post-its and posted them above my desk where I study. Example:

Post-it 1: study for 30 minutes
Post-it 2: browse DV for 30 minutes
Post-it 3: study second subject for 30 minutes
Post-it 4: take a shower

The important part is to keep the goals realistic. I would have loved to have written "study for 2 hours," but that is highly unrealistic for me. It's much better to surprise yourself by studying longer than you expected than to fall short on your goal and study less. If that makes sense.