Has this ever happened to you? You work hard to bring in some new clients, and while you get three good ones, you're still disappointed because you were sort of hoping for...more.

Is that a success? Or a failure?

Or you're determined to work out three days this week, but your shoelace breaks and your resolve falters and you only do one.

Do you get full points for even trying? Or get mad at yourself for not pushing harder?

Finally, you promise yourself that not only are you going to get dressed up and go to your friend's birthday party, but you are going to NOT talk about work and you are going to flirt instead. After all, it's been ages since you've been on an actual date.

You do end up going and flirting with another entrepreneur...but you end up talking about work (of course). And there's no first date in the offing.

I'm going to guess that, given any of the above situations, you might be:

Disappointed
Discouraged
Tempted to beat yourself up for your lack of drive, willpower and dinner dates
But fear not, Oh-Too-Hard-On-Yourself One-I have a simple solution for you.

Next time you set a goal, set three instead. Actually, set three levels of the same goal.

Think of it as, "first base, second base, home run" or "must see, would like to see, would love to see."