What are my goals, plans, and resolutions for 2009? Well, I’ll be posting those throughout the day but first, a bit of New Years resolution housekeeping.
NCC (especially Mark Batterson) is big on encouraging people to set goals. So here are some tips that I’ve picked up about goal setting while being at NCC.
From Heather Zempel, goals should be SMART.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Require Faith
- Time-Related
I think the easiest way to explain is to give an example. One of my goals for 2009 is to strengthen my relationship with God. That’s pretty vague. How to I determine if I’ve accomplished that goal? So, I need to break it down.
For the month of January I plan to go through the Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer every morning. That is specific. I can measure my success or failure. It is certainly something that is doable, but it will not be easy. I’m not a morning person. Waking up 45 minutes early every morning will take quite a bit of effort. Finally, it has an end point. This gives me something definitive to strive for, ensures that there is a time certain when I can evaluate the accomplishment, and frees me from the impossible task of committing to something for the rest of my life.
Heather also talks in that same blog post about breaking goals down into categories. I’m planning to use the categories:
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Devotional
- Creative
- Ministerial
- Relational
- Personal
One more important point, in his sermon on Sunday, Mark encouraged us not to set too many goals. If you plan to change everything in your life at one time, you’ll inevitably fail. Ever tried to move from a fast-food diet and no exercise to something like Body-for-LIFE while committing to having dinner as a family 5 nights a week, spend less time at work, become a more avid reader, improve your golf game, and invest more time at your church? FAIL
Take steps. Take steps that require faith. Take steps that are big and meaningful, but don’t try to do everything at once. For example, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m putting my book on the back burner to focus on other things. I’ve got too much going on right now to commit to that. I’d rather do a few things well than do everything poorly.
