8 Steps to Reach Your Goals
Goal Setting. Sometimes, the most difficult part of achieving something is deciding just what it is that we want to achieve. One obvious drawback to goal setting is that it means we must say “yes” to some things while also saying “yes” or “no” to other things, whether intentionally or not. It can be challenging to sift through the overwhelming amount of “woulds, coulds, and shoulds” that influence our take on each option and to focus on the specific goal(s) toward which we will work. The key is to be aware of as many variables as possible and to make your choices based on what you are willing to both live with and without.
1. Determine What You Want- Think about your desires, preferences, talents, skills, hopes, dreams, abilities. Learn more about your options, do some research, seek out wise and Godly counsel, discuss things with trusted family, check-out the pros and cons, see how your desires line up with Scripture, and PRAY!!!
2. Determine What You Do Not Want- Think about how you can avoid any trappings, pitfalls, debts, and what any negative future implications may be and how you may best avoid or manage those, should they occur.
3. Determine How to Go After What You Want While Minimizing/Negating What You Do Not Want- Think about how you can achieve your goal in the most optimal way, how you will balance the efforts necessary while managing the less-than-optimal parts.
4. Write Down Your Specific Goal- Habakkuk 2:2 tells us to “Write out the vision and make it plain…”. Writing out exactly what it is that you are working to achieve helps to focus your efforts and remind you of the reason for your efforts when the process is long, hard, or both.
5. Make an Outline for How You Will Achieve Your Goal- You may choose to make this a summary/overview type of outline or a more specific, intensive outline. However, make sure to include room for “tweaking” the process as you go along. You may want to devote every Saturday afternoon to studying for your tests while your young children nap, but if your children out-grow their naps before you are done with your program, your plan might better allow flexibility for Dad to watch the kids then, you to switch your study-time to another day of the week, or some other brainstormed solution that could serve as a back-up plan.
6. Put a Timeline Together- Decide when you will achieve your goal. If you give your goal an ultimate end date for it’s achievement, this will help you to focus your plan on a timeline that has measurable steps along the way upon which you can evaluate your progress or to set milestones as timeframes in which you will re-evaluate your progress/process and plan.
7. Consider how “do-able” your plan is- Take time to review your plan and ask yourself, “How realistic is this?” I’m not saying you can’t go for your dreams, but how you get there has to happen in the everyday moments. So, for instance, if you have a goal of running a marathon on July 15th, and it is already May 15th, unless you’ve been training and are in tip-top shape, two months is unlikely realistic for all of the conditioning that you may need to do to get to the stamina you need to reach your goal.
8. Commit Your Plans to the Lord- Above all, the best way to achieve your goals is to commit your action plan to the Lord (Proverbs 16:3). Pray, learn, focus, and keep working it!
Let us know what your goals are in the comments below and how you have/are achieving them!
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