Setting specific goals rather than general goals

Your goals shouldn’t be so abstract that no one — including you — can tell whether you achieved them. To avoid any ambiguity, quantify your goals as much as possible.
If you’re selling your home, for example, saying, “I want as much as I can get” is not a good goal. This is probably a true statement, but it doesn’t help you achieve anything. A well-stated goal for the price portion of the negotiation must include an exact amount, like $525,000. If you can’t be that specific, you’d better prepare some more.
Along the same line, you can’t buy a house listed for $800,000 if your income goal is only $60,000. This kind of contradictory goal will sabotage all the work you put into achieving your goal. You should strive to rid yourself of contradictory goals at every step of the goal-setting process.