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Hello My friends,
The new year is approaching, here are some tips for those of you who are interested in setting goals this new year. Thanks,Kathy Martin
Setting Goals Successfully
Appreciating the benefits goals provide helps us greatly to find the incentive to set them. How, then, do we do this effectively? Goal setting is more of an art than a science, to be sure. The process that most helps you may differ from what works for me. Each of us needs to experiment to find what steps benefit us most personally. Still, there are certain approaches to goal setting that universally help people turn dreams into reality. Here are ten of the most important principles to keep in mind.
1. Goals should be based on strong desire. The most common reason goals fail is because we don’t desire their results strongly enough.
Let’s say I set a goal to become an accomplished pianist in five years. I may establish it for a variety of reasons. At one extreme, I may be motivated by intense desire: I passionately wish to be musical, crave the thrill of performing, or long for certain social benefits this skill may open.
At the other extreme, I may take on this goal more out of obligation. Perhaps I’ve long felt I have some potential to play piano, and that I owe it to myself to develop it. Or I may have some legitimate desire to be a pianist, yet underneath have a much greater yearning to become an actor. We set many goals primarily for the momentary relief of guilt establishing them brings, not because we earnestly long for their results.
We need to be thoroughly honest about our level of passion in considering a goal of this magnitude. If I strongly desire to become a competent pianist, chances are good I’ll succeed. If I’m setting this goal mainly out of obligation, or as a substitute for a more burning creative desire, it’s unlikely I’ll stick with it past the fifth piano lesson.
Goals should spring as fully as possible from deep-seated natural motivation. Basing them on such desire isn’t taking the course of least resistance, but is a matter of stewardship, for even the most intense motivation remains unproductive unless focused through a goal. If I need to set a goal for an outcome I’m less than exuberant about, I should first do what I can to boost my desire for that result. Apart from keen motivation, I shouldn’t waste my time pursuing a goal.
2. Goals should be achievable. Goals should also fall clearly within our range of potential. Again, this isn’t taking the course of least resistance, for goals stretch us to grow in ways that would never happen otherwise. Consider, too, that we each have vast possibilities for accomplishment within our areas of potential that will never be realized apart from concentrated effort. It only makes sense to choose our goals from this huge pool of options rather than from outside of it.
We should be confident also that we can relate temperamentally to the process necessary for achieving a goal. Not that we have to find all aspects of it scintillating. But if, for instance, I know that I’d find the regimen of practice necessary to become a competent pianist repugnant, I shouldn’t lock into this goal. Some enjoyment of the process in this case is important.
3. Goals should be specific. Goals should be clearly stated, both in terms of what we choose to accomplish, and the date when we plan to reach our target. Staying open-ended at either of these points greatly reduces the possibility that we’ll achieve our objective.
4. Goals should involve a clearly defined plan of action. One of the greatest benefits of goal setting is that it allows us to take charge of our life. We are able to peer into the future and lay claim to the time and process that will ensure our success. Even goals that seem impossible for us often can be achieved, if we allow enough time to reach them and plan our steps wisely.
It’s unlikely we’ll be able to predict every step required to accomplish a major goal in advance. Some of the details will only emerge as we move forward. Still, we should do our best to predict the most important steps, then determine how and when we’ll take them. The more fully we can develop a map for the journey ahead, the more likely we are to reach our destination.
The single most important part of this planning is to decide specifically when we’ll invest the time needed for taking the different steps required for reaching our goal, so we can protect it as fully as possible. Start by determining, as best as you can, how much total time you’ll need. Then consider when, in light of your energy and creative flow, are your best times for pursuing your objective--daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Look also at what other commitments you’ll need to rearrange or cancel to make way for this time. Design a schedule, even if it covers many years, which allows sufficient quality time for accomplishing your dream. Carving out this time, and guarding it as sacred, will make all the difference in hitting your target.
5. Goals should be established in prayer. While anyone can profit from goal setting, regardless of their spiritual orientation, we have an unparalleled advantage as Christians in planning our future. Through prayer we are able to connect directly with the heart of God, and enjoy the supreme benefits that result.
When setting a major goal, we do best to give some generous time to prayer. We should ask God to direct our thinking, to help us understand the desires and gifts he has given us that most deserve our attention, and to make the wisest choice of a goal among the many options before us. Just as important, we should ask him to give us courage to move forward with what he is prompting us to do. We should also ask him to help us determine a clear strategy for carrying out our goal.
Once our goal is established, we should commit it to Christ, in the spirit of Proverbs 16:3. Prayer, of course, should not end at this point. We should continue to seek God’s direction and strength as we move ahead, asking him daily to show us any changes or mid-course corrections we need to make. It’s here that goal setting can have the auxiliary benefit of deepening our relationship with Christ, by allowing us to experience his companionship in the great adventures of our life.
6. Goals should be flexible. Once we’ve established the process and deadline for achieving a goal, we should assume these details are realistic and follow them earnestly and confidently. Yet we should also recognize in humility that we don’t know the future--how circumstances will unfold, or what doors God may open for us. Our understanding of our own potential is always evolving as well. There is no shame, as we move ahead, in changing the deadline for a goal, rethinking some of its specifics, or even dropping the goal itself if we find it no longer fits our life as we now understand it. Such revising goes with the territory, even in the most competent goal setting.
Several years ago Sons of Thunder set a goal to produce a new album--our first in twenty-five years. Our plan was to accomplish this task with a $10,000 budget, three days of recording and three days of mixing, and to have a compact disc available by June 1998. The first shipment of CDs finally arrived on Christmas Eve of that year. By then, we had spent nearly $40,000, and made nearly twenty additional visits to the studio beyond what we’d planned. Still, there’s not the slightest question that the album would still be a wish dream apart from our having had a firm goal, which galvanized these widely dispersed folks--spread out in eight cities around the United States--to accomplish a task we at first thought inconceivable.
The adjustments you have to make in pursuing a major goal may not be nearly as extreme as this. Still, you’ll probably find it necessary, even with the best-laid plan, to make some revision in the timing and process as you move along. Yet you will hit your primary target, if you don’t lose heart--and that’s the important thing. And the fact that you have a goal will make all the difference in what you’re able to accomplish.
7. Goals should be written down. Take time to record your goal and plan of action in writing. Articulate the details as precisely as you can. The process of writing helps greatly to clarify your thinking, and provides a reliable record when your memory lags. Apart from putting the specifics in writing, we limit the effectiveness of a goal--far more than we usually realize.
8. Goals should be rehearsed. We possess no ability--natural or learned--that doesn’t atrophy when unused. Our ability to walk diminishes if we’re bedridden only a short time. We should treat goals as we do our most cherished skills. We should "practice" them--that is, rehearse and reclaim them often. Most important, we need to rekindle our motivation for them frequently.
We should do this daily with a major goal. Take time to pray over such a goal each day. You may find it helpful to read over your written resolution, or recite it aloud. Visualize yourself succeeding. Imagine it’s the day that you’ve finally achieved your goal; you’re thinking back over all the time and effort you’ve invested to reach this point, immensely glad you never gave up. You’re looking forward to a big celebration. Enjoy the exhilaration of this image for a moment. Then pray, asking God to help you make it a reality.
9. Goals should involve accountability and enlist cheerleaders. Most of us take great encouragement from knowing others are rooting for us to reach a goal. We benefit considerably from being accountable to others as well. Enlist your cheering squad--even if it’s just one individual. Ask this person or persons to pray for you and encourage you as you work toward your goal, and make a pledge to them that you’ll stay faithful to your intentions. Draw on their support as you move forward. And, of course, celebrate your victory with them when your mission is accomplished!
10. Goals should be celebrated! There’s nothing unprofound in saying that we should celebrate a goal once we’ve reached it. In our driven nature, we can easily bypass time devoted purely to enjoying our achievement, out of zeal to move on to new projects. In devising a plan of action for a goal, we ought to plan in time for celebrating--not only our final victory, but also intermediate triumphs along the way. Knowing these occasions for rejoicing are in place will increase our incentive to move toward our goal. They will also give us special opportunity to thank God for what he has enabled us to accomplish--and, most important, to feel thankful to him, and to grasp in our heart as fully as possible all that he has done for us.
Goal setting should add a substantial element of joy to our life, for we’re taking action to improve our life, and to harness our creative potential much more constructively. The hope for this joy is an important incentive to move forward.
Experiencing this joy is also critical, for it deepens our gratitude to God, enhances our health, and boosts our productivity and the benefit of our life to others. Planning times simply to experience such elation isn’t frivolous, but part of the process that will best enable our life to be a channel of God’s grace to the world.
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