Goals check

As we begin the second month of the year it's a good time to review the goals you've set for 2012.  Of course, this assumes you have such goals and that they are written.  A goal that is not on paper is just a hope and a dream, so if you've not written down your goals, do it now.  If you've not set specific goals for this year now is the time to do that.  You still have plenty of time to achieve them.

If you do have written goals it is good to review them at the beginning of each month.  Actually, you should review them weekly, but at a minimum take a look at them at the start of the month.  What have you done specifically in the past month to help your goal be achieved?  You can't wait until November to begin working on your goal.  You need to work on each goal on a consistent basis throughout the year until it is achieved.

For instance, one of my goals for 2012 is "I will develop new resources for small church leaders and bivocational ministers including the publishing of at least one new book in 2012."  Here is what has been done towards this goal already.

• My next book is being released on March 1 entitled The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision.
• I have sent a book proposal for another book to my publisher for their consideration.
• I have been in discussion with an organization to produce a sermon workbook that bivocational ministers have found helpful.  We have not yet made a decision on whether to proceed on that or not.
• I developed a new workshop on "Coaching Bivocational Ministers" and presented it to a group of Methodist pastors who will begin coaching the bivocational ministers in their district.
• I developed a presentation we will use in our Region on "Healthy Churches" and taught it to a group of individuals who will be presenting it on March 10 to small church leaders in our Region.
• I have added a number of new recipients to the e-newsletter that goes out to bivocational and judciatory leaders around the world.
• I offered to coach a young man who is considering attending seminary and am waiting to hear if he wants to begin that relationship.

All of that was done in just the first month of the year towards achieving this one goal.  Admittedly, I did more towards this one than my other goals, but I have at least done something in January that will enable me to achieve each goal by the end of the year.

Sit down in the next day or two and review your goals and the progress you've made in achieving it.  You may be pleased with the progress you've done, or you may realize that you really haven't thought much about it since writing it down.  If that's the case you may need to review whether or not it should even be one of your goals for this year.  At the time it might have made sense, but as circumstances change sometimes we find that our priorities, and therefore our goals, need to change as well, and that's OK.

When you live with intentionality you will find you accomplish much more in life and ministry, you feel better about yourself, and you will have a much greater effect on other people.  Part of that intentionality is living with goals, reviewing them regularly, and working on them each day.  So...how are you doing?