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We spend so much time commuting, stuck in meetings, fostering relationships, and dreaming about success that there's little time to actually get the work done. Part of that work is keeping our day in motion and meeting the expectations of our clients and businesses. But the rest of the work is about moving toward our actual goals.Sometimes it feels like our list of things we need to get done is never-ending. It's really easy just to neglect, or straight out forget about.

How many of us have said to ourselves, "I'm going to lose weight" or "I'm going to pay off my credit cards"? Goals like these are easily measured. We can see how much weight we're losing by the pounds on the scale, and how much of our debt we've paid off by our total account balance. But what about those goals that aren't so easily measured — those like spending more time with your family, decreasing the time spent procrastinating, or volunteering more? But this doesn't mean we can straight out neglect them.

There are two kinds of goals: "stretch" goals that are those harder-to-reach objectives that are long-lasting, and "SMART" goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based. Stretch goals tell you what you want, but SMART goals tell you how you will get there. Set smaller SMART goals every week to help you reach your stretch goal.

For example, if your stretch goal is to learn a new language, set a small weekly goal to practice for 10 minutes every day. It is important to chunk it down into smaller tasks. Think of it this way: you can't just wake up one day and say " my goal today is to learn to play football". First, you learn the rules. Then, you learn the layout of the field. You learn how to handle the ball, how to pass and how to tackle. It's the same process for achieving any goal. Few people are born with the ability to try something once and master every aspect straight away. By focusing on one component at a time, you are giving yourself the time and space to learn, make mistakes and improve at your own pace. For example, if you want to be more assertive at work, try breaking it down into micro-skills: altering your tone of voice, modifying your body language, using assertive language and holding a hard conversation. Prioritize. Some stuff is urgent, some things aren't urgent just yet, and other stuff isn't very important at all. Try to differentiate between things you need to do RIGHT NOW and others that you can put off for later.Set deadlines, and get a friend to check on how you're doing with meeting them. If you have some kind of accountability to someone other than yourself, you'll be more committed to getting stuff done. If you're only accountable to yourself, there's no one to set you straight when you find yourself saying 'Meh, I'll do itlater.'When you need to be productive, remove potential distractions from your vicinity, such as your mobile phone or computer. Set yourself a time frame for how long you need to do productive stuff before you allow yourself a break.Don't set yourself up to fail. If you write yourself the world's biggest to-do list, chances are you'll feel totally overwhelmed and you won't want to do everything on it. Set yourself achievable goals and a realistic time frame.

So keep in mind. We all have the same 24 hours. If someone else seems to be accomplishing more than you, they're sacrificing more than you.