One of my lifelong goals was to run a marathon.   I had read about the tremendous sense of accomplishment felt by those who had completed an actual marathon and wanted to experience that myself.  Not only did I want to run a marathon but I wanted to run it "sub 4" (less than 4 hours) as that seemed to be the acceptable bar for a 'marathon well run'.  AND, I wanted it to be a challenging marathon so I chose one of the most difficult courses in the country - San Francisco - lots and lots of hills.

I established a plan, found a coach, as well as a running partner. These proved invaluable to me in completing my first (and only) successful marathon. The coach for expert advice and the running partner for accountability. Final result - I finished in the top third of participants with a time of 3:57, beating my goal by 3 minutes.

Achieving your goals is like running a marathon - have a coach, make yourself accountable, and take it one step at a time. You can do this.