Easier Said Than Done
2014 is already upon us. Most business blogs, podcasts, and success articles are ringing in the New Year with reminders to set goals and write down resolutions and such. Personally I am not one to set New Year Resolutions, but I have put into regular practice some type of goal setting.
Sound bored already? Do you already have that glazed look on your face realizing the topic here is about setting goals and you have tuned out the words you are reading? Goal setting doesn’t have to be fancy nor does it have to be hard – although most of us (including myself) make it out to be a very difficult thing in our mind before we ever get started (so we never start in the first place!).
I’m here to encourage you as a Real Christian Businessman to take a few moments to yourself, and write down where you want to be by the end of 2014. Keep it simple. Write down a few things that come to mind that you want to have accomplished. Lead your family better? Lose 10 pounds? Read the Bible more? Whatever it is that comes to mind, write it down. Working backwards from that, you can draw up a few specific actions that you can take over the course of the next 12 months that will get you to the attainment of your goals.
I just made it sound easy, and it really can be if you let it. Oh sure, there are worksheets out there that will help you get this done in a more Type A personality way, and believe me I have done it that way several times, but I have also done it the freestyle way, just writing down what comes to my mind and working a plan from there.
The point here is that if you don’t know think about what direction you are headed, you will never get there! In other words, if you don’t direct where you want to be, everyone else, and everything else, will direct it for you. That is what has driven me to write down goals every year. I’d rather have an idea of where I am headed as opposed to letting the year and circumstance figure itself out for me.
Disclaimer: I am not advocating that we are or can be in total control of our lives. There are forces beyond our control (including one’s directed by Satan) that will cause things to come up and we will have to alter our course from time to time. But God created us with reasoning and thought capabilities, and I am a firm believer that He wants us to use these traits to maximize our glorification of Him by putting a little forethought into our days here on earth.
“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28 ESV)
“And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:2-3 ESV)
What day this week will you block out 60 minutes to yourself so you can work on your goals for 2014?