Effective goals are written. Many of us daydream about what we would like to accomplish. But how many of us pick up a pen and write down those things we most want to achieve? Once a dream is committed to paper, it becomes concrete. Effective goal setting is written in specific, measurable terms. If you write your goal in specific terms, then you probably have expressed it in a measurable way. A goal needs to be measurable so that your progress can be evaluated and so that you will know when you have achieved your goal. For instance, you may think about learning a new computer software package. But only when you describe your goal as “taking a class in WordPerfect between March and June and spending six to eight hours a week to learn its applications to my job” will you have a definable, measurable goal. Thus effective planning will lead to effective goals.