Determining what you’re going to need to conquer your goals is a critical and often missed step in goal setting.
Okay, so it’s a critical step I missed. Often.
But I discovered something amazing…when I spent a little time determining what I needed or was missing to reach my goals, I was much, much more successful.
Who knew?
Last year Tyler joined his high school’s wrestling team. It was a life-changing experience, and we’re both pumped for this season, especially since Zach is joining him!! GO PONIES! 🙂 #wrestlingmom
The team had tournaments almost every Saturday at schools I’d never been to—or hadn’t been to in a long time. I knew the general direction and address of where I was going, but nothing beyond that. And that’s not good enough. It’s just enough information to get me lost!
So every weekend I relied on Google Maps to get me to where I needed to be.
Like you, I didn’t need Google’s guidance close to home or in my surrounding community because I know the area. I live here. It’s my Home Base. My territory. However, once I was outside my comfort zone, it was a different story. I depended on Google’s turn-by-turn assistance to get me to my destination. Every. Single. Time. Oh, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have the app running from the time I pulled out of my driveway; I need to be sure I was going the right way out of town. It just means the directions weren’t quite so imperative until I was further out—in no-man’s land.
It’s no different with mapping out our goals.
But beware of your comfort zone!
The Dangerous Comfort Zone
Our Comfort Zones is just that. Comfortable. Easy. It’s a place we tend to be more lax, complacent, and lazy. Where we put our feet up and take a load off. Things are easier in our comfort zone because we know the area. There’s not much new to discover or learn. Not much left to challenge us.
This is NOT a bad thing!
But…
Our goals are outside of our comfort zone!In no-man’s land. In uncharted territory. In that place where grit, determination, fortitude, and a whole lot of prayer are required to achieve what we set out to do.
They’re in that place where outside resources are needed to help guide us.
Friend, we need outside resources because let’s face it, if we could do it all alone, with our own ability and knowledge base, we would already be there. And like Google Maps, we’d be wise to have these resources running from the time we get out of our driveway.
Why?
We know our endpoint. This is the location we type into Google maps. What we don’t know, is how to get there. And that’s what we’re going to determine today and over the next several weeks. Starting with…
Determining What You Need To Conquer Your Goals.
Before we move forward, how did your evaluation go?
(If you missed Goal Setting Part 1: Determining Home Base, read it here and/or watch the FBLive video here.)
- Did you write everything down in its own notebook or journal?
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- This is the beginning of your roadmap
- It’s important to keep everything together as we go through this series
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- Notes
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- Homework
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- Scripture
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- Encouraging and motivating verses
- It gives you a reminder of where you started from
- It provides encouragement to keep going
I’m proud of you for completing this part of the Goal Setting process.
This is NOT an easy step!
Oh, how I know! My pride and ego balked at getting down to the nitty-gritty of my good, bad, and ugly. I often had to pray against my pride as I asked God to examine my heart and help me see what He found. But I’m glad I did it because it gives me confidence my Home Base is accurate. Now I’m ready to analyze my self-evaluation.
State your End Point
This is the exciting part because here we get to dream—and DREAM BIG.
We have the opportunity to seek God and ask Him where He is taking us and where He wants us to be. Friend, can I just say, His plans for you are so much bigger than yours are for yourself. His desires for you are beyond what you can fathom. And His purpose for you is more than you could ever imagine. Your goals should scare you a bit but also excite you down to your core! They should be a stretch, a challenge.
DREAM BIG!
Tell God your dreams.
Say it. Out loud!
Say it again.
And again.
With confidence this time…
Assignment #1: Make a goal poster for all areas of your life, just like your evaluation
I know, it sounds elementary, but having a visual is important! It’s something physical you can hold, look at, and pray through. It’s something tangible you can lay at Christ’s feet as you seek Him through the whole process of goal setting and achieving. For some of you, this will look like a piece of art. Something beautiful you can hang on your wall. For others (like me) it may be a list written or typed on a page. For the rest of us, it’s somewhere in the middle.
Make copies of it.
- Tuck one in your Bible and pull it out when you pray
- Hang one on the wall of your War Room or Prayer Corner
- Hang one on your bathroom wall or mirror
- Put one in your backpack, purse, messenger bag, or briefcase
- Share it with the 2-3 friends who helped you in your evaluation
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- Invite them to pray for you and help keep you accountable
This is your endpoint. Your destination. Your goal. HOWEVER, it’s not set in stone. Nor should it be. God may have other ideas He hasn’t shared with you yet. What you think your endpoint is may be close or just a stop on the way to things you have not even imagined yet. So be flexible but determined as you create momentum and move in that direction.
Once you have your endpoint(s) declared, grab your self-evaluation.
This is where it really gets exciting.
Start in prayer. Lay your goal poster before Christ.
Then…
- Take time to determine what it’s going to take for you to get to the endpoint of each of these areas in your life.
- What resources are you going to need?
- What changes are you going to need to make?
- What other areas are your specific goals going to affect?
- Will you need professional help: counselor, nutritionist, physical trainer, financial adviser, business coach, mentor, tutor, etc.?
- What research do you need to do?
- Who is where you want to be? Can you talk to them? Follow them for a while? What can you learn from them?
Personal Example
One of the areas I needed to work on is my physical health. I’ve had gut issues for a while as well as a dull headache that continuously lived in the back of my head along with several other issues. I was going about life at about 60-70% every day. And I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I knew I wasn’t in a good place and I needed to change the way I was doing things or I was going to have some serious trouble later.
When I did my self-evaluation I had to own several truths:
- I allowed myself to gain a lot of weight
- I wasn’t happy in the skin I was in
- I nurtured and catered to a voracious sweet tooth
- I did workout, but not consistently
- I did eat well but not consistently
- I drank wine more regularly than I should
After my analysis I decided:
- I needed to engage some professional help.
- The things I used to do as a 26-year-old were not working for my 42-year-old body.
- Habits I had cultivated needed something dramatic to break them
- I needed to get a full exam to determine my true, scientific Home Base and go from there.
And I am so glad I did. I’ll share more about this when we get into that section of Goal Setting.
I also had to look at how this was going to affect (positive or negative) other areas and goals in my life
- Time management
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- Positive = Make me use my time more efficiently
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- Negative = I need to make time for exercise
- Budgeting
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- Positive = Less money spent on wine and processed sugar-laden foods
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- Negative = Clean, healthy eating is more expensive; need new clothes (or is this a positive?)
- Physical
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- Positive = Lose weight, get stronger, more fit, and flexible with MORE energy
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- Negative = I’m sore at times and more fatigued initially until my body gets used to it
- Mental
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- Positive = No more brain fog, sharper thinking (still forgetting where I left my coffee cup though)
- Emotional
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- Positive = Endorphins rushing through my system making me feel more positive and empowered
- Psychological
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- Positive = Dispels anxiety, worry, and depression. When you feel physically stronger, you also feel mentally stronger
- Social
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- Positive = Meet great people who also want what you do. Some are further than you are, and are often happy to encourage
- Spiritual
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- Positive = Taking care of the resource God gave me to accomplish His purpose for me, my body. Honoring His Spirit who indwells me by taking care of His house.
- Family/relationships
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- Positive = Not so crabby because I feel better about me. Have a healthy place to let my stress out.
- Work/Writing Life
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- Positive = MUCH better able to focus, not so fidgety
Again, I will share more on this later with more depth. But this is what I want you to do. Look at all of your goals for all areas of your life. See how things need to more and adjust to make time and space. (Don’t worry, we are going to start small. But right now, we are just laying out our map.)
Assignment #2
Verses to write out in your journal and on separate 3×5 cards (pick one to memorize this week)
Proverbs 15:22; 16:3; 16:9; 19:21
Matthew 6:33
Please share this post if it encouraged you. And let me know in the comments below how I can best serve you during this series.
Blessings xoxo
