Goals

There’s nothing like an approaching new year for bringing out our best aspirations. Somehow everything seems doable when it’s written under a “Goals for the New Year” heading! And there’s nothing like an over-committed, unreasonable list of goals for deflating the very enthusiasm with which we made those goals.

Do your new year’s goals ever feel repetitious? Do you find yourself making the same goals year after year with little progress? It may be that the weakness isn’t so much with your resolve as it is with your plan.

Have you ever found yourself thinking: “I wish I had more time?” When flying back home from the East Coast, I have sometimes had the ridiculous notion—“This is going to be an awesome day! I gain three hours flying home. I have twenty-seven hours today to get everything done.”

At the start of a new year, we make goals, resolutions, or commitments. And we sincerely want to transform them into reality over the coming months.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s has long been claimed territory on my calendar for goal setting. In the weeks previous, I’ve jotted down general ideas for goals for the New Year, but on this week, I prayerfully finalize these goals.

From the moment you realize the call of God on your life to plant a church, you begin to develop a new mindset. It seems as though every passing thought and every new discovery is centered on getting this new church started. Dreaming begins, strategies are contemplated, and goals begin to be set.

A dream without a plan is a wish. Many times people do not fulfill broad goals because they do not define the next action to take towards that goal.