I agree with YukonTodd here. Don't focus on rank, rank is just a number. Focus on becoming stronger. And don't worry about losses. You can lose every game from here on out, yet still get stronger (you may have to think about that one for a moment, but its actually true). That's why ranks/ratings are meaningless.

But back to the short term goal setting... I'm reminded of my days as a double-digit kyu and how I wanted to break that 10 kyu barrier to become a single-digit kyu player. It never happened. At least not like I envisioned it. I was never a 10kyu. I skipped right past it. Went from 12kyu to 8kyu in a couple of months and rarely played any games.

To be fair, I think there was a small rating shift on KGS during that period, which just made everything a bit anti-climatic for me. But there was some legitimate improvement during that same period for me as well.

I had just returned from a Go Congress (guess I played a lot of games there), and it was like, all of a sudden, my opponents who I've played regularly were making silly mistakes. In the middle of my games, I'm thinking to my self, "why are they playing this way? they know better than that, don't they?"

Of course, I haven't had a jump like that since, but I haven't really been trying either.

My point is... stop measuring (of course, you have to measure at some point to know if you're improving -- but don't focus on it). Sure, set smaller goals as stepping stones to higher goals, but don't focus on the smaller ones... keep aiming for the larger goals.

I was at the pro finals a few weeks ago (not as a player). The oldest players there... Jing Yang, Edward Kim, Sooil Kim. Each 2 to 3 times your age.

Another young player, fairly low in the initial ranking, surprised most everyone by getting into the top 6 before being knocked out.

Here's an intermediate goal I'd like to see you set for yourself... I'd like to see you in the strong players room in the US Open.

There was someone in there this year who got to say "I told you so" to one of his naysayers from the year before.