We need to be able to measure our progress, to know that things are improving. You can't accomplish an abstract goal, because you'll never be sure if you're finished or not.

I want to be a better worker. I want to be a better parent. I want to be a better friend. Many of us have these kinds of hopes- vague hopes. The problem with these kinds of ideas is that they are not specific. They include no step-by-step directions and no outcomes. You want to be a better worker. Well, what does that mean? How does someone do that? How will you know if you've succeeded or not?

StarQuest is a consulting firm in Houston that teaches goal setting-specifically, how to make your goals clear and direct. They advise you to think about what you care about, and then think about what you can actually do to accomplish that.

You might set as your goals: I want to finish this weekly report an hour faster; I want to make this task 5 percent cheaper; I want to have dinner with my family one more night per week; I want to make it to all my daughter's soccer games. Here your goals come with built-in directions. These are goals that you can work toward and successfully complete. Completing any goal we set for ourselves improves our confidence and satisfaction and steadies us for the future.

Perceptions that life is meaningful, and therefore worthwhile, increase 16 percent with concrete thinking. (Lindman and Verkasalo 1996).

Excerpt from 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have learned and How You Can Use It by David Niven, Ph.D.