“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” — Habakkuk 2:2-3
In my last post, I discussed, 7 Quick Tips to Make the Best of Goal Setting. This week I want to highlight a few benefits to setting goals. People have a tendency to look at goal setting negatively mainly because of the time and effort it takes to start and continue the process. However, I hope that looking at the positives of goal setting will encourage you move towards a Living Success year.
Goals setting will…
1. Give direction or focus to your life
The aim of goal setting is to make you think about your life. If no one dreamed, planned, set goals and pursued them this world would be full of problems and no solutions. It’s the pursuit of man providing solutions to the problems that makes life better. God created you to have dominion, to be fruitful, to be productive, and to do good works. Setting goals is a start to being such an individual. When you set goals you are creating your life’s road map that brings everything you’re doing and will do into focus.
2. Energize you
The very act of writing your goals and seeing them in black and white will inspire you to start working on them. The more you act on your goals and accomplish them step by step, the more motivated and energized you become to keep working at them until they are completed.
3. Provide a challenge
Sometimes goal setting can be intimidating. Why? Because our dreams often feel bigger than we are. Your written goals can prove to be a challenge. Tell yourself, “If I dream it, I can do it with God’s help and strength.” The key to any challenge is to go after it in faith and with the certainty that God on your side. If God has put a dream or goal on your heart, He can give you the grace to achieve it.
4. Turn the seemingly impossible into possible
The purpose of goal setting is not to write down a few items on a list and leave them alone, there is more. Your goals need to be specific, definable and time sensitive and then be broken into smaller more manageable tasks. The aim of goal setting is the make impossibilities become smaller possibilities.
5. Hold you accountable to yourself
Writing down what you want to do have a way of standing out. When you keep your eyes focused on your written goal it speaks to you. What does it say? You need to make this happen. Studies have shown that those who write down their goals are more likely to accomplish them than those who don’t. The more you study your goals, the greater commitment you have to accomplish them.
6. Help you to believe in yourself
When you set aside time to dream and create goals, you begin to believe in your ability and God’s grace to complete them. What you really want and what your purpose is become clearer to you. As you write the desires of your heart, you become more certain that you can achieve them because they are aligned to God’s will and who you are in Him. As you review your goals regularly, the more you believe they are doable.
7. Bring you to live life to be fullest
What if you don’t set goals? Those I have known that set goals and pursue them, they are some of the happiest, thankful and confident people to have in your circle. For those who haven’t set and pursued their dreams, these often live in regret and talk much about what they could have done. Setting and pursuing your goals will cause you to experience a life that you once dreamed of. Go out and live your life as God intended for you.
8. Measure your success
Good goal setting provides a benchmark to compare to – Your goals vs your current successes. Every week, month or quarter you should take time to access where you are against the goals that you’ve created. When you do this you learn where you need to improve, what is working for you and where you need to adjust. Measuring your success is a good time to give thanks and celebrate what you have achieved with God’s help.
9. Help you overcome procrastinating
Identifying the next 3 action steps for each of your goals is an important part of the goals setting process. As you do this and assign timelines to these small tasks, you will be driven to do them immediately. The fact that they are manageable steps or easy tasks eliminates the intimidation factor present in large goals that often cause us not to pursue them.
10. BONUS Benefit: Make You Think Outside the Box
When you set goals, one of the questions you will find yourself asking over and over again is, “How am I going to do this?” With prayer, research and creative thinking, you will find the answers. Even when you are not looking for the answer, ideas or solutions will come to mind that you normally would not have thought of if you didn’t have goals to pursue. You’ll be surprised at the kind of “out-of-the-box” thinking you will do and the bold steps you will take to achieve your goals.
Goal setting really is worth the effort. When you habitual set goals and pursue them, you will happily look back over the years and be thankful that you did. One thing I have noticed is that goal setting has helped me to accomplish more than I thought I could and through this process I learned to trust God to fulfill the desires that He has placed on my heart.
Now you know why goal setting is good for you, will you take the time to create the life you’ve been dreaming of?
If you’re haven’t set any goals yet, it’s not too late to begin. If you need a step-by-step guided process to goal setting, I’d encourage you to download the Living Success Goals Workbook.