Another year has started and most of us are probably in one of three positions: we don’t set New Year’s goals anymore, or we did and are already lagging behind on keeping them, or we haven’t quite gotten to setting them yet despite being halfway through January. For those of you who’ve set and faithfully pursued your recent goals, great job! Keep at it! Please leave us a few humble yet inspiring comment! For the rest of us who are still figuring it out, I thought this would be a great How-To idea to explore.
When to Set Goals
Although we commonly feel the urge to review our lives and set new goals at the beginning of a new year, personal evaluation and goal revision can be done at any time. You may find it helpful to do it on a regular basis, or whenever you’re feeling a bit of what Neal A. Maxwell called “divine discontent.” This is the sense that we should be more than we currently are, a common feeling for most of us. Setting goals can help with that feeling so it doesn’t overwhelm you and actually prevent progress.
Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, explains that when we feel that sense of divine discontent, these are feelings from God and are prompting us to take action. She says “we should welcome feelings of divine discontent that call us to a higher way, while recognizing and avoiding Satan’s counterfeit—paralyzing discouragement. This is a precious space into which Satan is all too eager to jump…Our discontent can become divine—or destructive…One way to tell divine discontent from Satan’s counterfeit is that divine discontent will lead us to faithful action.”
Any time we are feeling a bit of that divine discontent, it is a good idea to seek the Lord in prayer to understand what life changes He may be prompting, whether large or small. I also find that an annual review of my character and current habits is useful. It’s not necessarily practical to do this in the midst of the Christmas season, however, when we are swamped with extra activities and obligations. No matter how wonderful a time that is, we may not have the head space or hours we need to adequately reflect. So, don’t worry too much about meeting an arbitrary New Year’s Day deadline. Instead, set aside other time to reflect on the past year and to consider the habits and character you’d like to develop going forward.
Once you’ve developed a plan for your goals, habits, and routines, consider monthly or weekly reviews to make needed adjustments or get back on track.
Why to Set Goals
There are so many reasons to set goals. When we are striving to reach our goals, we set ourselves up to experience joy and to contribute to the happiness of others. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “Begin now to establish those goals which will bring you happiness—education in your chosen skill or branch of learning, whatever it may be; a mission in which to surrender yourself entirely to the Lord to do His work; future marriage in the house of the Lord to a wonderful and delightful companion of whom you will be worthy because of the way you have lived.”
A goal-setting process can help us recognize our personal missions in life and develop a vision of who we want to become and how we would like to grow. The individual goals can be seen as stepping stones that help us fulfill our life missions. Luke 14:28 illustrates the usefulness of making plans and setting goals: “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”
Goals help us be productive and pursuing them can help us develop talents and skills that can bless our lives and others. Doctrine and Covenants 60:13 emphasizes the importance of developing ourselves rather than wasting our time on frivolous pursuits: “Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known.”
Elder John H. Vandenberg of the Seventy explains, “I feel that goal-setting is absolutely necessary for happy living. But the goal is only part of the desired procedures. We need to know which roads to take to reach the goal. In many cases we set far-reaching goals but neglect the short-range ones.”
This prompts the question – how do we set effective goals?
How to Set Goals
When you set goals, you may find it useful to divide your life into several categories. Based on Luke 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man,” the Church of Jesus Christ recommends setting goals in the following four areas: Spiritual, Physical, Social, and Intellectual. You can find out more about this on their website, where goal ideas and support are included for each area.
Within each category, you will want to take some time considering your life vision or personal missions. In a blog post Kate Boyd recommends we follow five steps in goal setting.
First, reflect on your current condition and the past years. She suggests we “Dig deep into the good and into the not quite so good to see where your efforts really paid off and what made you come alive so you can create new goals that focus on those things above all others.”
Second, create your vision. This is very similar to M. Russell Ballard’s recommendations that we set our life priorities. Prayer and contemplation will help guide your vision.
Next, set milestones and create and action plan. This is the hard part – moving beyond dreams and plans and taking the actual steps we need to take in order to grow and reach our goals.
Her last recommendation is that we surrender. “Because here’s the truth,” she writes, “we don’t know what’s going to happen, what tomorrow holds, or if God will completely redirect us at some point this year. So we are going to hold our plans loosely and our goals too…We can’t control everything, and…failure is a natural part of the process.”
One way to deal with setbacks along the path to your goals is to view each attempt to develop a goal-related habit as an experiment. When you experience failure, consider it an opportunity to learn and make adjustments to the habits you’re trying to improve. Keep in mind, it’s important to START SMALL and FOCUS on one main goal at a time. This helps you have early success rather than becoming overwhelmed by ambitions that are too big or by tackling too many life changes at once.
President M. Russell Ballard discussed balancing life in his general conference address, Eight Suggestions for Balancing Life’s Demands. I won’t describe all eight suggestions here. The first two specifically apply to goal-setting. He says:
“First, think about your life and set your priorities. Find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will need to do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often “withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate ourselves spiritually as the Savior did. Write down the tasks you would like to accomplish each day. Keep foremost in mind the sacred covenants you have made with the Lord as you write down your daily schedules.
Second, set short-term goals that you can reach. Set goals that are well balanced—not too many nor too few, and not too high nor too low. Write down your attainable goals and work on them according to their importance. Pray for divine guidance in your goal setting.”
Keep a prayerful heart as you consider you life vision and set goals to help you progress. The Lord expects us to take initiative and make efforts to direct our lives. “For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward” (D&C 58:26).
At the same time, He never leaves us to figure it all out alone. He has told us, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (Doctrine & Covenants 6:36) and he promises, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).
How to Get Back on Track
If you search online for the phrase, “how to get back on track with goals,” you will find tons of posts and compelling ideas, many of them practical and useful. But if you’re not careful, such a search can overwhelm you with advice. You might find yourself spending hours down the rabbit hole of self-improvement.
I’m not dismissing the excellent advice and experience so many bloggers freely share about redirecting our lives and resuming chasing down our goals. In fact, I’ll share just three tips here before I get to the real one. The one that makes all the difference.
One tip is to evaluate the purpose of your goal. Is it meaningful? Is it moving you toward your personal missions or your life vision? If it’s not, perhaps you need a more compelling goal. Or perhaps you need some way to remind yourself of why this goal matters.
Another tip is to identify your roadblocks. Sometimes we need a strategic re-evaluation to assess why we aren’t gaining any traction. Do we need to meditate? Spend time with like-minded friends? Take a different route to work, one that doesn’t pass the doughnut shop?
Perhaps we need to break the goal down into smaller steps. Sometimes it’s overwhelming or confusing to have a high order goal without all the steps that lead to achieving it. Break each goal into habits you’d like to nurture that can support that goal. Break it further into tasks you need to accomplish to help you develop the habit. For instance, if you want to eat healthier, you might break that down into a habit of tracking your food intake. But first, you’d need to complete the task of downloading a food-tracking app or buying a journal or notebook.
Finally, the best tip or trick for getting back on track isn’t a tip or trick at all. It’s grace. It’s repentance. It’s Christ’s Atonement. It’s seeking the Lord in prayer and asking for His strength, His help to redirect our lives.
Elder Uchtdorf said in his talk, You Can Do It Now!, “As the poet lamented, these are among those unfortunate souls who “die with [most of] their music [still] in them. No one likes to fail. And we particularly don’t like it when others—especially those we love—see us fail. We all want to be respected and esteemed. We want to be champions. But we mortals do not become champions without effort and discipline or without making mistakes.”
He goes on to explain that godly sorrow leads to a change of heart, inspiring hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Hope is essential to finding our way back to our vision for ourselves, and more importantly, the Lord’s vision for us.
In a 2011 talk, Brad Wilcox explains, “Christ’s grace is sufficient to transform us…The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled but that we can be transformed (see Romans 8).”
When we feel we have gotten off track, that is the most important time to turn to Christ. Seek forgiveness, seek courage, seek inspiration. All will come, and with it, transformation, which is the true purpose of any goal.
Practical Steps You CAN Take
- Remember – you can set and review goals at any time, not only at the New Year!
- Recognize – setting goals is a healthy part of spiritual development. As we pursue our goals, we bring joy to ourselves and others. 2 Nephi 2:25 states, “Adam fell that men might be: and men are, that they might have joy.” Discovering your personal missions and then pursuing them is an integral part of living a joy-filled life.
- Prayerfully reflect on your life. Look over your past few years and consider where you would like to be, who you would like to become in the years to come.
- Consider your personal missions in the following life categories: Spiritual (emotional wellness and mental toughness), Physical (health and fitness), Social (family, friends, and community), and Intellectual (learning, career development, talents).
- Set reachable goals that will function as stepping stones to fulfilling your personal missions.
- Seek inspiration throughout this process. Surrender to the Lord’s will for your life.
- Outline the tasks you need to complete and habits you need to develop to reach those goals. Ask God for help.
- Start Small!
- Pursue completing those tasks and habits.
- Focus on one goal at a time.
- Track your progress. Treat each attempt as an experiment!
- Turn to the Lord for grace, and strength when you experience setbacks or failures. He will help you develop and grow. Even if you have given up on your goals, all is not lost. The Lord is there for you and can give you the hope and courage to continue to grow and become like Him.
Question to consider: What aspect of your life are you feeling most prompted to focus on?
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