Christmas is not just a time for parties and presents and good old Saint Nick. The way I see it it's also a time for reflection. At some point during the holiday season, take time for yourself. Stop, catch your breath and think about what lies ahead.

Most of us don't have a personal vision, or the one we do have is murky and undefined. And we don't set goals. Yet, goals can be a powerful force in life. And I say this with some certainty from first-hand experience.

Years ago, at the urging of a friend. I attended a personal development course for one night a week for six weeks, each session focusing on some aspect of personal growth.

During one session, the instructor discussed the importance of goals and vision, then handed out a sheet on which we were to write our one-year, five-year and 10-year goals. I sat there stymied.

I was in my early 20s at the time and a year seemed like an eternity.

Our instructor, with patient cajoling, encouraged me to try nonetheless. I resisted. Finally in exasperation, she pushed. "Just humour me", she said, "Dream a bit. Let your mind roam. Think about the kind of person you would like to be, the kind of work you would like to be doing in a year's time, then in 3 and 10 years."

I acquiesced, and for the next 20 minutes or so, I allowed myself to dream of the future I wanted. And I wrote it down.

When the course ended, I filed the exercises and materials away, and never thought of them again. Or so I thought. Seven, maybe eight years later, they surfaced. I was going through boxes of papers and files in preparation for a move into a condominium I'd just purchased.

As I sat reading the goals I'd set so many years before, I was
incredulous.

One was to own my own home in 10 years' time, and there I was, several years ahead of schedule. Of my other goals, I'd achieved all but one.

Instinctively, it seems today, I had been walking along a path that I had set for myself during that 20 minutes of forced reverie. It hadn't been a particularly easy path to walk, in fairness and there had been a couple of detours along the way. But nonetheless, the magic was evident.

It is possible to dream about the future you want and set goals to achieve it.

Before you can define a vision for yourself, you need personal clarity,
says Peter Urs Bender in his new book, "Leadership From Within" Stoddart. You have to know: "What is important to you? What are your values? What do you want to do?"

Here's how he suggests you get started:

"Create some space for yourself," Urs Bender writes, "Go somewhere quiet. Take a notebook. And relax: this is not a performance evaluation or an exam. You are here to meet someone, perhaps for the first time."

Jot down a few notes, he advises.

Your past: accomplishments that you are proud of.
Your strengths: abilities, skills, talents.
Your weaknesses: limitations, fears, what presses your buttons.
Your potential: what you feel you could do or be.
What you care about: what you love to do, what you are gladly committed to (even if you don't get paid).
What holds you back: beliefs, or something that hurts when you think
about it.
Your level of happiness: whether you are fulfilled, satisfied, or at
peace.
You don't have to do the whole list -- pick those that mean something to you.

Once you've assessed yourself in this way, you will likely discover that you are not perfect. Don't let this worry you, he says. You don't have to be.

But once you have a sense of what you can and cannot do, who you are and what motivates you into action, you can begin the process of creating a vision for yourself. Your vision is simply "a mental picture of the future," Urs Bender believes. And you can create this picture by deciding what you want, your goals, he says.

You could start by doing what the instructor forced me to do so many years ago. Set aside a half hour to sit and think deeply about the life you want and the kind of person you want to be a year from now, then 5 years from now, and then 10.

Once you've formed a clear image of your ideal future in your mind, write your ideas down. Be specific. Ask yourself: "What does it look, sound , feel like?" Urs Bender says. "Replay your vision often, visualize it."