Goal Setting - Getting Specific

This section will be about getting specific about your life and who you are and setting goals to get there. We will examine your dreams, calling, passions and how to take steps to fully live them out.

Dreams, calling and passion

Somewhere in you there is passion. This passion is also a gift of God that, when joined with your calling and skills, enables you to make the dream a reality.

If you look back through your life you will get an inkling of what has made you feel alive. There are those times that you felt that this is what you were made for. They maybe went almost unnoticed because what it was you were doing felt effortless. You were just being who you are.

Maybe it was constructing building with blocks, or assisting or leading at school. Maybe it was reading and understanding in a way that others didn't quite get. Possibly it had to do with caring for others or seeing a powerful snapshot moment that others missed.

Your passion, calling and dream are yours alone. They are what make you uniquely you and finding and living it is what you were made to do.

Goal Setting 101

Write down your dream for each area of your life and be specific. These are your goals.

Now, working backwards, what do you need to have in place in each area five years from now, four years from now, three years, two years, one year, six months, three months and one month from now to reach that goal? What do you need to do today? Write out what you will do (your goals) by each of these specific dates.

Think through the obstacles to reaching your goals so you can think in detail about how to get around, through or overcome them. Don't let obstacles stop you - think them through.

Ask yourself what you need to gain in knowledge or skill to make your goals become a reality. Who do you need to ask for help and where can you find answers? Add this as steps to the goals you identified above.

When you've finished as much as you can in detail for each goal, post in somewhere you will see it every day.

Now, take daily action. Do at least one thing every day and check it off your list.

Don't stop there

Don't worry if your goals start to change as you mature in Christ. What you had done so far has now made it possible to set new goals with Christ. Be excited about the journey, stay true to who God has made you and pursue the dreams He places in your heart with all the strength, skills, passion and calling He gives you.

Failure to plan is a plan for failure

Plan a life with direction, write down the steps and then do them one at a time. Plan for the next five years in five years you are going to be somewhere, make it a place of your choosing.

Pray for guidance as you work through this and know that the Lord is present with you. He has a plan for your life, a very specific one that ends in a goal of being with Him forever. Walk through your days with Him with a plan.