I used to be a New Year’s resolution person. Then I became a person who sets seven to ten goals for the upcoming New Year. This year, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I did neither. Since I just made a split with my old company, it seemed like as good a time as any to change up the template a little bit.
Before you start accusing me, as some of my friends jestingly have over the last several months, of developing a lifestyle of sleeping in every day and playing golf and watching soap operas all day, let me explain a little further.
I decided this year to ease into the New Year rather than taking hours and days of planning and writing down goals, plans, objectives and the like for weeks at the end of the year. As always, I was very reflective and contemplative at the end of the year, evaluating my achievements and those things which seemed to get lost somewhere along the way during the course of living life.
The jury is out as to whether or not this is the right approach. And whether I will come back at the beginning of the second quarter, rather than January, to set more direction and targets to hit for the remaining nine months of 2020. Instead, during the first few months, I have taken some time to evaluate the condition of my heart, my soul, and my mind.
Frankly, I have spent a great deal of time talking and listening to God. If that seems mysterious or difficult to you, let me simply say I have had the fortune to have, or better said, create, a lot of space in my life for reflection and evaluation. If you are not accustomed to doing this, no matter what you believe, I cannot encourage you enough to try it for yourself.
As I write this, I have spent the last few weeks immersed in launching and marketing my new best-selling book, Mustard Seed Faith. So it’s time to “come down of the mountaintop” and start serving in the “valleys” of life. Whether I set goals or not, whether I have targets or not, I have determined that 2020 is not going to be defined by where I end up on December 31st.
The reason I can confidently say this is I have decided that this year is going to be defined by who I become rather than what I become. Sure, I have definite plans and goals-and chances are I will have targets I am shooting at very soon. Things like a (God-sized) goal for how much money I plan to be able to donate to charity in the next several months through the sale of my book. As I aspire to hit that target, whether I reach it or not, I am focused on my development, not my destination.
As author Hal Elrod encourages in his amazing book, “The Miracle Equation,” with unwavering faith and extraordinary effort, I can create miracles in my life. No matter what those miracles become the one thing I am sure of, and frankly totally excited about, is the miracle I will become in the process.
Question: Are you taking enough time to consider WHO you are becoming? What would be the benefits of spending more time reflectively versus exhausting yourself chasing goals? Comment below, share this post with your friends and subscribe to be notified each week when the new Blog is released.
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