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Valerie Taloni, author, coach and facilitator, (and also known as "The Goal Diva,") says when it comes to New Year’s resolutions - don’t bother. Studies have proven that in as little as one week into the New Year, almost half of the people who make resolutions have already failed at keeping them.

Most often, New Year’s resolutions are about improving some aspect of ourselves: lose weight, quit smoking, save money, read more. It’s almost as if the assumed purpose of a New Year’s resolution is to make up for what we perceive to be one of our shortcomings. Many people have the same resolutions year after year: they try to solve the same thing again, and again and again.

While The Goal Diva doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions per se, she does feel that setting goals and implementing a plan to acheive them is the only way to get what we want out of life.

"Goal setting is a skill," says Taloni, "a skill that can be learned. But has anyone at any time ever been taught how to set and achieve their goals? It’s not likely."

Ms Taloni says she’s been setting and achieving goals ever since she can remember. She has been helping others with their goal setting for decades, and has been earning her living teaching others how to set and achieve their goals for more than a dozen years.

Earlier this year, The Goal Diva decided to author a book on goal setting for two reasons: she was tired of listening to others just wishing and hoping things would change in their lives. (Wishing for a date, or a mate, or to lose weight, make more money, have more free time.) "Whenver I would hear people say they were wishing for something, I’d just think to myself, ‘Well… go make it happen!’" She was also determined to make an impact on more people than the client base of many hundreds she has served up until now. Her book is entitled "Burn Your Wish List! How to Stop Hoping for the Best and Start Planning for Success." and will be released before the end of the year.

"Most people don’t even really understand what a goal is. A goal is not a wish, a dream, or an intention.. and it’s definitely not something you think you should do." Ms Taloni says a goal is a desired result, which is a step towards a bigger vision, and to which an action plan is attached.

According to Taloni, the first step in goal setting isn’t setting a goal at all. It’s answering one question: "What do I really, really want?" Taloni maintains that most people fall off the goal setting wagon before they even get started. "I love the quote from ‘Alice in Wonderland,’" says Taloni. "It’s the Cheshire Cat talking to Alice, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.’ It’s the same with your life. Before you even think of setting a goal, you need to know where you’re headed. You need to know your future destination. Only when you’re crystal clear on where you’re headed can you set the goals to get there. If you got in your car, and backed out of your driveway, but didn’t know where you were going, what would happen? What if you didn’t know whether you wanted to go to Miami or Malibu? You could end up in the middle of nowhere. You must have a destination. It’s the same with your goals.

Once your future vision is clear, then you can set the goals to get there and implement a plan to achieve those goals. In "Burn Your Wish List!" The Goal Diva takes her readers through a detailed exercise to figure out what they want in all the different parts and pieces of their lives. "It really is a simple process. It’s just that most of us have never been taught how to do it. I’m a teacher at heart; I graduated from college with a teaching degree and nothing gives me more pleasure than to teach."