Don't Just Make Resolutions, Set Goals!

The New Year is around the corner, and I know you are thinking about the changes you want to make in your life.  You are dreaming about the things you would like to accomplish.  You are wanting to make the most of 2020.  To do that, you need to make good plans. 

Proverbs 21:5 (NLT) “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.” 

Proverbs 4:26 (GNT) “Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right.” 

Planning is essential to success.  Ben Franklin said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  There is a Six-P formula for success in life:  Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Planning is essential because you only have so much time, energy, and resources.  Planning ensures that you make the most of the opportunities that God has given you. 

Don't mistake activity for achievement.  Just because you are very busy, always moving, always working, does not mean that you are making the most of your life.  You need a good plan.

How do you make good plans for your life?  Goals.  One person said, "Goals are decisions to grow and improve, along with the plans to achieve them."

"Setting goals is a stewardship issue.  God wants you to make the most of your time.  Goal-setting falls under the category of time-stewardship."

Goals are your vision of the future.  They are your design for your future.  If you don't design your future, then other people will. 

Goals focus your energy.  They make sure you invest your energy in the things that matter most.

One person said, "You will go through life by design or by default. You will decide what’s important, or others will decide it for you.  Without goals you are abdicating control of your life.  Without goals, you are just reacting and existing and coasting.  Coasting is always getting slower.”

There are Five Types of Goals:

1. Daily goals are things you need to do on a daily basis.  
2. Short-term goals are things that you can accomplish in 1 week to 3 months.
3. Lone-term goals are things you can accomplish in 1 to 5 years.
4. Life-time goals are things that you will need to work on your entire life, such as spiritual growth, staying happily married, or retiring comfortably.  
5. Eternal goals are things that will outlast you; investments you make in people and in the church, as well as your integrity and your reputation.

There are Four Categories for Goal Setting:

1. Finances.
2. Family.
3. Fitness.
4. Faith.

How do you set goals for 2020?

1. Go through each category above, and write down all your goals. 
2. Determine the type of goal -- daily, short-term, long-term, etc.  
3. Prioritize your goals.  Decide which goals you must do, and which goals you want to do.  
4. Beginning with your most important goals, rewrite them so they are B.E.S.T.
1. Believable (realistic).
2. Energizing (something you deeply want and are willing to pay the price for).
3. Specific (something that you can measure).  
4. Time-bound.  "The difference between a goal and a dream is a deadline."
5. Review your goals every day.

2020 can be the best year of your life.  But you need to move beyond New Year's Resolutions and actually set goals.  Charles Stanley said, "Success is becoming the person God wants me to be and accomplishing God's goals for my life."