Adjusting Goals

 

Adjusting Goals to Where Life Finds You

Today we are just over 2/3rds of the way through 2015.  Life happens quickly…I remember thinking (dreaming really) up some seriously audacious grandiose goals in December of last year. Planning for great personal growth in fitness, knowledge, and professional development.  As I penned my goals for the upcoming year the thought was, "IF I CAN DO THESE THINGS THEN 2015 WILL BE THE GREATEST YEAR OF MY LIFE!

Something happened…LIFE GOT IN THE WAY!

I’ve continued to run but no where near the amount I did in 2014 (I finished well over 3,000 miles).  I had a goal to run more in 2015.  However life did not deal me the cards needed to accomplish this personal goal.  I could easily say, well I am getting older, or my priorities have shifted…I’ve gone as far as I could go…I can't get faster...I've been injured, and while all of those would be great EXCUSES, they would not be reality!

IN REALITY…

Instead the Lord has blessed my family and I beyond anything we could have hoped for or imagined.  I believe in the power of the Bible and I am reminded of the verse Ephesians 3:20 which says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

THIS YEAR HAS BEEN HUGE and we’ve been BLESSED!

-       We moved into a new house and remodeled the entire thing (just working on finishing the master bathroom)

-       I Finished my doctorate and successfully defended my dissertation and ministry project (six years in the making).

But in the meantime I found I had less time to focus on reading and fitness (two of my passions).

What are you getting at here Ben?

I grossly underestimated the energy, effort, and time commitment some of my goals for this year would require.  I spent a lot of time focusing on my dissertation and nearly a month and a half on the house remodel.

The moral of the story is this…sometimes you just need to stop, count your blessings, and REFOCUS or ADJUST your GOALS to the context you find your life in when you are 2/3rds of the way through the year!

HOW?

-     Make an honest evaluation…where are you currently at in any given area of your life?  Personal, professional, relational, health, physical fitness, nutrition, etc.  Any area will work.

-       Where do you want to be? 

-       Make the plan that will get you where you want to be (and in some cases NEED to be) and ask for accountability from someone you trust.

The mistake I made...

 The truth is we usually have no control over the what, when, or how when it comes to the "best year of my life"...We can plan, set the goals, and do our best to reach and accomplish these...BUT when life happens AND I GUARANTEE YOU IT WILL...we need to recognize that some of these plans need to be revisited, or refocused when life permits!   I am reminded of the verse, "...Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good." Psalm 127:1

This has really been on my heart for myself lately and I wanted to share with anyone who may find them self in the same place…who needs a refocus?

Who wants to enter 2016 better then where they were at in September 2015?

Lets do this…