It does not really matter what we do in life, and that includes foreign currency trading, but, no matter what we do, one thing that will have more affect on our success than anything else will be setting goals.

It is a simple fact that the human mind is at its best when it is given a roadmap to follow and, by setting a goal, you begin building your roadmap by defining the end point of your journey. However setting a destination is not enough and you will also have to define the route which you are going to follow to reach your destination. Here is an example.

Suppose that you decide you want to build a fortune as a foreign currency trader, and who doesn't after all! This is not however much help as any goal that you set needs to be measurable, otherwise you will have no way to know whether or not you have reached it. So, at this point, you have to be clear about just what you mean by a 'fortune'.

Let us assume therefore that you set a goal of making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months. You now have a clear destination. The next problem however is that, since you are probably a newcomer to the world of foreign currency trading, are still trying to learn the ropes and probably have limited capital to invest at this point, making $1,000,000 in the next twelve months is perhaps not that realistic a goal.

As well as being measurable, any goal also has to be realistic. It is immaterial what goal you set for yourself in foreign currency trading, but it must be within your reach. There is no point in deciding that you intend to win Wimbledon if you have never even held a tennis racket.

So, rather than aiming for $1,000,000 let us look at setting a more realistic target of say $120,000. Once we have done this, we next have to break this figure down into marker posts which we can add to our roadmap and we can do this by viewing our target on a monthly as opposed to an annual basis. This will give us a dozen $10,000 markers. Now, if we continue along these lines we can next break our goal down further into weekly markers of $2,500.

At this point we have got something that we are able to view against our current experience and it is a quite easy matter to determine whether or not this figure is reachable. Is it possible, in the light of your current experience, to make $2,500 trading Forex in the coming week?

Goals must be measurable and realistic, but they also have to be attainable. It is one thing to set a realistic goal, but you also need to have the right tools, in the right place at the right time if you are going to reach that goal. If you are presently making $750 a week then you are probably not going to turn this into $2,500 overnight so, in this case, your goal is unattainable and you will have to go back to square one and start over again.

However, if $2,500 is feasible, then there is one additional step which needs to be taken before you are ready to set off on your journey. That final step is to paint a mental picture of your destination.

Although you have set a target of making $120,000 in the next twelve months, the money itself is not really what you are aiming for, but it is what you can spend that money on that is important. So, having made your $120,000 what do you intend to do with it? If you plan to buy yourself a new SUV then paint a picture of driving into the sunset with the roof down and now you really have got a goal.

If you want to achieve success in foreign currency trading then you must set yourself a goal that is measurable, realistic and attainable and paint a picture of that goal in your mind's eye. If you do this you will be amazed at how simple a matter it is to reach your destination.