With the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2008 just a few weeks away, it’s important NOT to give up on those big goals you set in January.

There’s still plenty of time IF you get started NOW. Watch this video for some steps you can take today.

After you’ve watched the video, please leave your comments below.

The first letter of the acronym for SMART Goals, the letter “S”, stands for specific. And it’s long been taught by the sages that a goal has to be specific to be effective. Now there’s some scientific evidence to back that up.

Here’s part of a story from Psychology Today: “When it comes to working out, you might think trying your best would be the way to make the most of your exercise time. But you’d be wrong. For a study at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University that pitted several motivational techniques against each other, researchers had 56 female undergraduates attempt to do as many sit-ups as possible in 90 seconds. Those who were given the vague directive “do your best” averaged about 43 sit-ups on each day of the four-day study. On the other hand, women assigned specific long-or short-term targets–”do 10 percent more than you did last time”–managed 56 sit-ups by the last day’s session.”

And it doesn’t just apply to sit-ups. Being as specific as you can possibly be “turns on” an internal system much like the homing device in a guided missile — it makes it far easier to hit your goal when your system is “on.”

To read more from the Psychology Today story go here….