If you find yourself regularly missing goals and then demotivated or hating yourself for it, try something new. I often see guys set really ambitious goals for themselves and then as time begins to wear on them and other needs or wants come up, those original goals get set aside. The guys usually end up demotivated, hating themselves, or unwilling to attempt new ambitious projects in the future.

However, you should not give up on ambitious projects just because of past failures. Instead set yourself up for lots of little successes that lead up to big and ambitious goals. For example, if you want to get in shape, don't follow the New Year's resolution model where you say "Today I'm changing my life because the Earth is in an arbitrary position around the sun. When the Earth returns to this strangely arbitrary position again I will be healthy." That model never works. Instead, say today (any day) I want to be healthy and happy. To do that I will test myself regularly. There is a 5K in six weeks at a park I love to visit. I will pay the $40 to enter it today. I will not set a time limit on this first race, but I will work 3-4 times a week in the mornings, and commit myself to the thing I have paid for and hope to fall in love with. In week one, I will complete at least a mile every run and tell myself every 100 yards that I love to run. On week two, I will run at a pace that I don't have to stop..." and so on. The final week I will complete the 5K and have a great time running.

Goals should be specific and have a definite time component, because life is made up of time components. However, goals that are attached to specific events, tests, and things that you must invest yourself financially and emotionally are more likely to show long term success.