I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas and here’s to a happy and prosperous New Year! Market trading is always tough in January especially when the weather is like this, although rather than wish the month away I always try to use my time creatively and try and set a few goals for the New Year. Of course setting goals and achieving them can be two completely different things so this month I thought that I would share with you all what works for me. How to set and achieve a goal in 5 easy steps!

1. Set yourself a goal Have a think about a goal that you have always wanted to achieve in your life and apply yourself to that goal. It is crucial that you make that first step and literally tell yourself “right I am going to make this happen” A great example of this is when I applied for The Apprentice, so many people say to me, “you were really lucky to get on that show”, although of course there was no luck involved, like anything we want to achieve in life it all starts with an application, so, apply yourself!

2. Make yourself accountable for your goal I made sure that when I had made the first step and applied for the Apprentice I told my close friends and family that I had done so to make sure that they would become my motivation by asking me how it was all going and make sure that I followed it all through. We are so much more likely not to let other people down than we are ourselves so it is really important to tell other people to ensure we COMMIT ourselves to our goal!

3. Make your goal is tangible, an actual visual reality The next thing I did was put up a picture of the Guerkin as my screen saver so I could see my goal every day. Then I started to watch old episodes of The Apprentice on you tube to research my goal and prove to myself that I was very capable of getting onto the show and showcasing my talents, which I had learnt on the markets, to a much wider audience. Proving that us traders can compete with the big boys in business. Once you make your goal tangible it will become achievable in your own mind.

4. Take breaks to maintain motivation Achieving any goal in life is all about hard work as us traders know better than anyone and the audition process was exactly that. It was one of the toughest things I have ever done. It included two days of back to back role play scenarios and psychiatric evaluation, which actually turned out to be tougher than the process itself. I made sure that I searched out a good deal and booked a Hotel with a pool and a gym so that I could exercise and relax in the evenings, clear my head and keep my eye on the prize. I can’t say just how much taking breaks and exercise has helped me in achieving goals not only in my career but also in my personal life. We will not achieve anything if we burn ourselves out and don’t take the time to switch off.

5. Reward ourselves when we achieve our goals I am sure that if you follow these easy steps they will help you achieve your goals and when you do make sure that you remember to reward yourself or else what is the point? As soon as I found out I had a guaranteed myself a place on the Apprentice and achieved my goal I booked a week in Las Vegas as a reward. I enjoyed every minute of it even more than usual as I used some of the fee I received to pay for it.

Us traders all know about the importance of working hard although remember to play even harder to maintain motivation for the next time you set yourself a goal. Why not apply yourself to a goal you have always wanted to achieve and make yourself accountable by tweeting me your goal today? @theadamcorbally I have delivered my 5 easy steps to set and achieve a goal on radio 5 live and I also run a day workshop on achieving goals so please do get in touch if you would like to know more.
Good luck and remember to have fun along the way!