Goals, by the way, are not the same as dreams. While you may yearn to become a six-figure novelist who regularly guests on Oprah, that's not a goal. Goals are useless if you can't determine whether they've been met. For example, you might set a goal of writing a particular number of pages per day, or sending out a certain number of queries per week. The gulf between where we are and where we'd like to be often seems to great to span.
Goals can help by breaking the journey into short, attainable steps.
A second goal might be to write your first story, write the outline of your novel, or actually write your first chapter. A third might be to seek feedback, perhaps by joining a critique group or by sending your story to an editor. Each goal marks a step toward your long-term dream, and each is attainable in its own right. To set attainable goals, you must be honest with yourself about what you are able to achieve at this stage in your writing career. Similarly, if you've never written anything longer than the annual holiday newsletter, it would probably be unrealistic to expect yourself to complete a 600-page novel in six months.