The following is parts 6 and 7 of the article by Pastor Mark Batterson concerning recommended steps in goal setting. With the new year fast approaching, the staff at churchplanting.com hope this post will get your creative juices flowing and we pray that the next year will be the best ever for you and your ministry.
#6 Write Down Your Goals
Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets.”
I am keeping a prayer journal this year. That isn’t a life goal, but it was one of my New Year’s resolutions. I used to think that writing out a prayer sounded less spiritual. But here’s the deal: most of fail to give God the credit when he answers our prayers because we’ve forgotten what we asked for by the time God answers!
If you want to remember it you need to write it down. Go out and buy a journal of some sort. Call it a goal journal. Or create a goal folder on your computer. I have a file on my computer titled “goals” with the date after it. I periodically update my list.
The first step to accomplishing a goal is simply writing it down! The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory!
#7 Include Others
About one-third of my goals are family goals. They are things I want to experience with my family. And lots of my other goals include other people. I don’t want to just accomplish lots of goals and not bring anybody else
along for the ride.
One of my life goals is to take Lora to Catalina Island. I’ve been to Catalina. And it was amazing. I loved it. But it wasn’t the same experiencing it by myself. So one of my goals is to go back with Lora.
Some of my physical goals involve my kids. One of them is to run a 10K with one of my kids. I could do it by myself, but it will be so much more meaningful to run it with one of my kids.
It is about shared experiences. It is about creating memories.
