Setting goals can help people achieve their dreams, financial and otherwise. What is the best way to do this and how do you start?

Incense? Meditation? Thppppt! Definite Mars and Venus thing happening here.

A journey of a thousand miles (or even one half that length, like The Proclaimers’ 500 miles) starts with a single … list.

No shame here – I’m a lists person. Got ’em everywhere. I make them on notepads, scraps of paper, napkins, newspaper margins, in my electronic diary.

Sometimes I’ve got 10 lists going simultaneously. Seriously. I’ve got them for my business, for my investments, for my DIY super fund and for personal fitness (forget I mentioned that one).

So long as you don’t take matches to them, lists stare you in the face. They sneer at you, torment you. But there’s great satisfaction crossing things off.

Personal financial goals are longer term, but they must be in writing to give you commitment and focus. I don’t know anyone who achieves major goals without doing so.

Examples of big goals for Gen X are: Paying off home; buying a holiday house; owning a large investment portfolio; achieving full passive investment income; private education for the kids; retiring early.

Pick one. Pick five! But write them down into one, five, 10 and 20 year goals. Put them where you will see them regularly (such as an office wall).

Now, what small sacrifices do you need to make? If you can’t see the path to getting there, sit down with a professional who can help you plot your course.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and a licensed financial adviser.