How To Accomplish Your Goals in the New Year - Jewell Utt
The New Year is well underway. Ideas are stirring for growth and opportunity because a new year represents new hope. Will your plans come to pass or fizzle out as the weeks go by? Whether it’s better health, more time with the Lord, developing an idea, or rekindling an old friendship… it requires motivation.
Motivation is the key that unlocks the door of change. And it starts with discipline.
Discipline is not so much about punishment as it is training, obedience and self-control. And it yields a great reward. Hebrews 12:11 tells us, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Training ourselves to follow a set course without exception is hard, ie…diet and exercise. But it produces results that yield peace and strengthen our character.
A good way to start is to create a road map for success.
Chart your course. A visual aid serves as a reminder and an encouragement for each passing day. Schedule a few things that will keep you on track to meet your goal and faithfully follow through. Any worthy goal has challenging steps for you to complete, so start strong. As you see progress it will invigorate you to continue. Add a time frame and a concrete way to measure your progress and there you have a recipe for success.
For instance, say your goal is to de-clutter your house. You have ten rooms not including the basement. Think carefully about a realistic time-frame given your current responsibilities. Perhaps you can accomplish two per week, given the weekend. Some rooms aren’t as big a job like the bathroom. But others, like a bedroom with closets, will require sorting, sifting and carrying things away. If you stay on task, in five weeks your house will be completely de-cluttered. That may seem like a long time, but it passes just the same when you have done nothing. In this way you have set a goal, you have attached a time-frame, and you can measure your success. Is the house organized or not?
Breaking things down into smaller tasks help to see them as manageable and not overwhelming. So whatever you hope to accomplish in 2017, allow your ideas to become a reality by charting your course and staying on track.
Walking in obedience to God’s call for your life requires that type of commitment. In Philippians 3:14 Paul writes: I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. To grow spiritually, develop your dreams, and improve your physical and mental health requires “pressing on.” It requires discipline and a positive mindset that knows you can.
YOU can do all things through Christ who gives YOU strength. Philippians 4:13
