An introduction to significant goal setting steps and the
importance of setting goals within the right time-frame.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails”.
Proverbs 3: 5 -6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heat and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight".
People
in the world are used to the norms of society that when another becomes
innovative they are labelled as crazy or strange. This has made
people live below their potential, this should not always be the case. It
is highly evident from people like Bill gates and Kenneth Makate that we can
change from being normal into being extraordinary. This is possible by choosing
the road less travelled.
Going
with the flow is one of the major reasons why we fail at accomplishing New
Year's resolutions and other goals we have set. By this I
mean when we make plans for the New Year between January and December we are
setting ourselves for failure. January to December is a calendar year for
general people not necessarily your year. This means in order to achieve your
goals or New Year's resolutions your must have your own year. That is, a year
that is going to match your life style as well as your endeavors. Your year
does not need to be twelve months, it can be six months. Government has its own
financial year so as businesses this helps the latter and the former to
function effectively and efficiently.
These
are significant goal setting steps one needs to follow:
· Know
what you want to achieve: do not be hard on yourself and do not set goals that
are not achievable. Knowing what you want to achieve keeps you focused. So, you
must write down you goals so that you can keep tracking your progress on a
daily or months basis.
· Set
goals within a reasonable time frame: part of the reason we find it hard to
achieve our goals is the fact that we set is because we focus too much on long
term goals. While we doing that, we forget that our short and medium term goals
should be leading us to realize our long term goals.
· Downsize
and scale-down: we should drop some things. Dropping some things needs us to
reflect on things we do and have a deep understanding of our abilities and
capabilities- know yourself! Be fair to yourself!
· Be
disciplined: we must stick to our plans and not be easily swayed. Disciple
determines destiny. Therefore, we must be willing to pay the price in order to
be successful. Mhlungu (2016) puts the premise of this point eloquently when he
says it is only in the dictionary where the word success comes before
work.
· Mind
your relationships: friends who are making you to get derailed must be
dropped. Your life is more important. You must go with people who
are going to uplift you in what you want to achieve.
· Discover
yourself: many of us just do things out of socialization. This point is
critical because once you do something that you were created to do you will not
struggle. This will be the case because you will be doing something you were
wired to do. About 80% of people are doing things because they want to put
bread on the table, but not necessarily what they were created to do. To be
someone in life you need to undergo three births; 1- Birth to the world, 2 –
Conviction birth (being born again) and 3 – giving birth to ourselves (Mhlungu,
2015). In light of the preceding statement, one can
argue that our parents and God (if you are born again) have played their parts.
We have not played our part by giving birth to ourselves.
· Allocate
time accordingly: this can be achieved by ensuring that the tasks
that demand your attention the most get big chunks of your time. In addition we
must do things that add value to our lives. Executing what is necessary to do
instead of what is nice to do will save us a lot of time. Hopefully, I am not
misunderstood on this point. As humans being we must have time to recreate and
refresh. We must have time with our families but again we must know our
priorities. Have time with your family because they will support you one day
when you happen to fall on whatever venture you are exploring. Life at times is
hard no matter how faithful you try to be, life is just life, it can turn
against you.
Now the big question is, when it is the right time to set my goals for the New Year. The advantage of having your year is the fact that it will help you to take the road less traveled and accommodate your uniqueness. The good news is that the fact that only people who do things 'strange' (like dream killers put it) ever accomplish their goals. "Everyone is best at his or her uniqueness" (Mhlungu, 2016). The December to January period is a time where one should be reflecting on his or her goals. The gist of this section is that our goals should be tailored to suit our lives.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails”. God is saying while we may have a number of endeavors we want to pursue we must understand that His will prevail. This means for us to ensure that we prosper in all we do, we must first ask Him to reveal the treasure within us. From this verse one can say its message is that we must involve God right from the beginning pertaining achieving our goals.
Proverbs
3: 5 -6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heat and lean not on
your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your
paths straight". The world is filled with people who are Mr and Mrs
I-KNOW-IT-ALL that is why we have many individuals who have not found
themselves. In light of these verses in order for us to be successful we must
have faith in the Lord ‘for without faith is impossible to please
God’. In addition, in all our ways we must acknowledge that He in control of
everything – to make our goals a reality we are expected to allow Him to be the
Captain of the Ship while we are passengers. The tragedy is that many of us
have taken the position of being Captains. So, when the storms come our
incompetency as captains is exposed!
Success
is not about money nor is it about education. Instead, success is mostly about
finding yourself. Once you are on the road to your destiny that is success on
its own. The latter is true because you are doing what you were created to do.
It is unfortunate that a number of us are lost and are just wasting
time– what a tragedy! I do not care how much money or education you have - if
have not found yourself you have not started living.
Remain
blessed and ensure that you are in good terms with the Trinity of God and the
Bible, our constitution as the Kingdom of God citizens.
Source
of information:
Mhlungu,
S.S.S (2015, December 27). When is the best time to set your goals. [Audio
podcast].Retrieved from http://www.safm.co.za/sabc/home/safm/multimedia/details?id
=ef30e9d2-5a3f-473a-b7df-b67d8c972e64&title=Podcasts
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