What To Consider While Setting Goals For The Year

I found these, a couple of pretty serious resolutions people have made for the year:

1. Spend time with my daughter

2. Get stronger and fitter

3. Quit smoking

4. Save money

5. Find a new job

6. Enjoy life

7. Read a minimum 54 books in the year, one every week.

8. Start a business

9. Buy a plot of land

10. Donate blood

11. Sponsor a child through school

12. Read through the entire Bible

Does any sound like yours? I think they are great. You will have done something really wonderful for yourself if you are able to achieve just two of these.

Some others I found just made me shake your head like these:

1. I resolve to spend 8 hours per day watching TV rather than the 7.5 I currently spend.

2. I will come up with much more creative reasons for skipping work than the usual "I'm sick" excuse.

3. I will do less laundry and use more deodorant.

4. I will avoid taking a bath whenever possible and conserve more water.

5. I will eat out more so I won't waste all that time doing dishes anymore.

I think some people have not gone so far to spell these out as some have done but will be doing these all the same. Whoops! Sorry. I know it is definitely not you!

Now let's get back to your case. So we are in the new year and you feel the need to set goals and make resolutions for the year. Well that's great. We have a full year ahead of us and it is important that we have them to give us something to focus on and work with. Once there are goals and resolutions and we are able to achieve them, we will have something to congratulate ourselves over when the year ends. We will also be able to gain satisfaction from the fact that we have also been able to accomplish something good with our lives.  Indeed, goals and resolutions does us a lot of good. They save us from unhealthy comparisons. We do not become disturbed about what others are achieving and what we are not because we know we are set also on our own worthy course.  We are saved from becoming restless since we have a focus. By having goals and resolutions, an individual amongst other things gets to work on himself, his relationship with others , learns how to apportion his resources aright as well as becomes a good example for others to follow. So it is right that we all have goals and make resolutions this new year. Is yours written down yet? I congratulate those who have started working on theirs already.

By the way, do you know why some fail to achieve their new year resolutions while others don't? I think anybody who does not consider and learn to appreciate the following factors will end up flopping in his goals and resolutions each year:

1. It matters that your goals and resolutions are written down

The mind can get become easily preoccupied and affected by our daily experiences unless we make a deliberate attempt to keep it focused. Get a good book that can last the year and write down all you desire to accomplish. Arrange them in order of preference and decide that you will go ahead to achieve each goal. Strike each off your list as you achieve them. You may also this to your computer, phone or any other workable device you have which you can easily have access to make reference to.

2.  Goals and resolutions should be feasible
Goals must be feasible. They should not be stated in abstract terms. For instance, if somebody makes a resolution to do lots of good this year this resolution is abstract. If you state this, you have stated nothing because it is vague. What do you mean by good? Who are you going to do those lots of good to? When? Where? How? It is similar to going to a bank and saying you want a loan but you have no idea about the amount you want. Take your time and assess your life and do a self discovery. Afterwards make the right kind of resolutions that will bring an improvement in your life both physically and spiritually. Set out to also accomplish goals that are practicable and will bring joy to your life and those it does affect.

3.Goals and resolutions must come with a plan 

Whatever your resolutions or goals are, you must decide on how you are going to achieve them and what you will need to achieve them. State the steps you will take to accomplish them, the resources you will need as well as the things you will forgo also. Assign dates for their commencement and deadlines also and start working on them.

4. Keep yourself motivated 

Once you set out to achieve anything, you are bound to encounter a lot of challenges. These challenges become the furnace which test the level of your seriousness in terms of what you have set out to do. Some people will quit in the face of challenges because they cannot motivate themselves enough to keep going when the going gets tough.  By the time you are in the middle of achieving your goal, many times you will meet with the question of whether what you are doing is worth all the troubles you are encountering. You must be able to answer right. Nobody set goals out of the blue. We have a reason for wanting to achieve what we want to achieve. Let that be our motivation when we come under pressure or we will soon quit.

5. You must be willing to discipline yourself and commit to it

Discipline and commitment are also important towards achieving our goals. To demonstrate commitment, you need to be willing to follow through with the steps you have outlined to achieve your goals and resolutions and to work hard on them. Discipline requires that you make a choice to exercise rule over yourself so you can get to where you are going. Discipline and commitment requires that you continue to give your attention, time and resources to your goals and resolutions even when there come distractions. People, situations and things will tempt us to forgo our resolution and give ourselves over to things that we already love doing. But once we give in, they will occupy our energies and steal our time and we will eventually let go of what we want to achieve. Without discipline, one particular distraction can keep us from working on our goals and resolutions.Without commitment, we neglect our dreams and occupy ourselves with other things. Be disciplined and stay committed to your dreams.

6. Prayer matters

Without God we really cannot do anything. If we make time to seek God's face on what we hope to achieve this year there is no way they would not come to past so long as they are in line with God's word.Confront your challenges with prayer. Seek for direction on your goals and resolution from God by praying. Identify opportunities through prayer. Gather the inspiration, the motivation and the courage you need to keep going on from God by prayer. Pray until you see what you want to see.

I believe that if we follow through with all these, we will be sharing testimonies about the goodness of the Lord on our goals and resolutions when we meet another year. Shalom!