The essence of life coaching is the ability to set goals. If you are ever going to acheive anything in life then you need to be able to set goals and learn how to acheive them.

One of the standard ways of doing this is through the use of the SMART system. There are several variations on this sytem but here is how I understand it.

S  = Sustainable. It's important to be able to keep going. Don't set a task that you can do one day but not the next. For instance there is no point in setting a task of praying for one hour every day if you know you can only do this one day a week because of current time commitments. Set yourself a goal that is sustainable.

M = Measurable. You need to know when you have acheived your goal. If you have no way to measure it then you will probably lose interest very quickly and will have no way of knowing if you actually did do what you wanted to do.

A = Attainable. There is little point in setting a goal that you know you cannot keep. We all have big ideas but if you put down the big idea as your goal for your first effort you are unlikely to achieve it. It's not impossible but most people will fail if their goal is too big. Certainly have a big picture for the future but set a smaller goal in the beginning. Plan a long term route to your main goal and then take smaller steps. You do need a challenge but don't make it an impossible one.

R = Realistic. This is the same as the A really but without the R it would sound like SMAT which is not so good to remember. R does at least remind yourself to be realistic. If you know you won't stick to it then don't set it as a goal, find a goal you can stick to.

T = Timely. Set a time scale to what you are doing. This will help you to know when you have accomplished something but also will give you a little more energy when the task seems difficult. If you know you only have to do something for say a week then it is much easier to keep going than if you feel you are stuck with something indefinately.

So make sure you set goals based on these principles. There are many other things to goal setting but these are just short articles to get you started.