I love it when life hands you a theme. This week's theme is GOAL SETTING.

At my monthly women business owner's meeting, we talked about the goals we'd like to set for 2007. It's a two part series and so we'll be reviewing and continuing the process next month.

Norma our no-nonsense leader, led us through a mini-SWOT analysis of ourselves, determining:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

With that knowledge in hand she asked the question: what is the one thing you'd like to change in 2007 and why.

Norma told us that she has many ideas of things she'd like to do for her business - so many in fact that to stay organized, she has a Goal Notebook.

On each page is listed one goal, under which are the detail "to dos" that will lead her to success. For a goal must be written to be achieve.

I read somewhere that you should pick 3 or 4 goals, put them on a paper and place them where you will read them every day. I have done that. I turn "gasp" 50 next year and I have four goals I would like to achieve by then. I have the list by my computer, in my checkbook and on my dashboard.

But Norma said that just having the goal listed isn't enough - you have to list out the details and then each week work on a piece of the detail that gets you to the overall goal.

Then today I'm reading Scott Ginsberg - you know, the Name Tag Guy and his post is also on goals. The 25 things he's learned about goal setting. He has some wonderful gems to add.

I love #22: divide your time into 5 sections: to do, to contact, to see, to read, to write.

Have you begun the process of planning 2007 and setting your goals; financial, personal, professional? Are they in writing?

Check out Scott's post for more great tips.