Resolutions vs. Goals

A dream written down with a date becomes a goal.

A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan.

A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.

~Author Unknown

Scripture:

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,

but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

~Proverbs 21:5

Perspective:

Did you set resolutions for the New Year?  So many people do, yet this week on my local news channel I heard that only 8% of people complete their New Year’s resolutions and only 25% of people work on them after the first week of January, WOW!  So, what is the problem with resolutions? 

A resolution is defined as a person deciding to continue good practices, change undesired traits or behaviors, accomplish a personal goal, and/or somehow improve their life at the start of the new year.  It is a tradition that is most common in, but not exclusive to, the Western Hemisphere.

A goal is defined as an idea for the future or a desired result that a person envisions, plans for, and commits to achieving; a goal involves deadlines.

The reason most resolutions are broken within weeks or even days of being set is because they are wishes or dreams, they do not have a plan and deadline attached.  If you truly want to achieve something you must create and then commit to a plan to attain that goal.  Reaching a goal involves more than desire, it involves the nine factors YOU control, that can and do create the life you live: your effort, grit, perseverance, resiliency, responsibility, risk, intentionality, consistency, and self-efficacy.  There is simply no way around it, reaching our goals takes planning and hard work!  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

This past year I used a new (to me) way to reach a goal and it worked well.  It presented me with evidence as to what I was and was not doing each day, it held me accountable, and it allowed me to visually set and then achieve my goal.  After my January 29^th hip replacement last year, I was required to walk every day to rehab my hip…best thing that could have happened since in the past I had started and then stopped exercising many times, all while knowing full well that I needed to exercise to be and to feel healthy.  This time I did not rely on chance to attain this goal, instead I wanted to see the facts, so I printed out a 1-page year calendar, with a little room to write around each day and each month.  Between February 6^th and 26^th I went from my first walk around the block with a walker to a mile with a cane.  Each day that I walked, I put a diagonal line through the date and wrote the number of minutes walked above it, when I did not walk 1-2 days a week, I circled that date.  I began keeping track of how many minutes (and hours) I walked each month, as well as how many days I walked that month…just one day at a time.  I was my own competition, striving to do just a little better (farther and faster) each day and each month.  By July 29^th I was ready to add healthy eating to my consistent exercise routine, in September I started biking as well, and in November I added weights to my established routine.  I can see my growth over this past year both on paper and within my body.

This process can work with any goal and really helped me to achieve and maintain this goal and others!  I could not argue with the facts I had written on paper; they were visual and concrete.  If I put in the effort, or work, I could see it and if I did not, I could see that too.  I had to use grit to reach my goals, meaning I had to endure and adjust beginning when going around the block was tiring, then when the North Carolina sun was blazing, and then when some days dropped into the 30s and 40s and felt too cold to leave the warmth of my home.  The less-than-ideal days required persistence, I had to refuse to give up, to focus on my overall goal not on what I felt like doing in the moment or on a particular day.  I had to take responsibility for my present health condition, I used self-discipline to do what I knew I should do, and I used the calendar to hold me accountable.

I had to take risks and step out of my comfort zone, to stretch for more, for that next level.  I had to be intentional, making deliberate and purposeful choices each and every day, day after day.  Consistency is vital to every goal we set!  Every step I took, every mile I walked, every healthy meal I ate and unhealthy food I said no to, was a step in the building process to who I wanted to and have become over this last year, a year that would have quickly passed regardless what I chose to do along the way.  I kept a certain mindset or attitude all year, an “I can do it” attitude, also known as self-efficacy.  I did not let my circumstances or mood distract me from what I wanted to attain by the end of the year.  Instead, I stayed focused on my goal despite periods of plateauing, life’s ever-present adversities, mistakes I made along the way (and made sure to admit and learn from), or simply just not feeling like doing what I knew I should be doing.  And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9).

Have you achieved the goals you have set along your life path thus far?  How about in the last year?  Congratulations on those you have reached.  Do not give up on those you have not attained, instead take an honest look at what obstacles you allowed to get in your way; if you are not honest with yourself you are only hurting you.  Then, revise them, make the necessary changes to your thoughts and actions so that you CAN succeed!  For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7).

Life Applications:

> So, what are your resolutions (dreams)?  But more importantly, how will you set yourself up to achieve them, HOW will you turn them into goals with the steps to reach each?

>>What do you want your life to look like when we ring in 2022 in one short year?  What can you do each day, for the next 365 days, to get to that place, taking just one day and one step at a time?

     First, create a plan with steps (plan your work)to guide you each day!

     Goal

• Step 1
• Step 2
• Step 3
• Step 4
• Step 5

    Then take action (work your plan)!  YOU can do it!!!

>>>Think about the nine factors you control and how you choose to use them in your daily life…

• Effort (the hard work)-Are your efforts balanced so you are reaching your goals in all of the major life areas, even those that are more difficult for you?  Consider what you are doing vs. what you need to do in each area: spiritual, family, relationships, health and fitness, growth and learning, professional, financial, and other if you have one.

• Grit (stamina)-Do you endure, with passion, from start to finish when pursuing your life goals both short and long-term?  Where do you tend to lose steam?  Why?

• Perseverance (the refusal to give up)-Do you tend to quit when things get tough or do you make adjustments and persevere?  How has your approach helped or hindered your past goals and efforts?

• Resiliency (bouncing back from adversity)-How do disappointments effect your desire and determination?  Are you able to bounce back and begin again stronger than before or do they tend to keep you stuck?

• Responsibility (self-discipline and accountability)-Do you tend to do more of what you should do to reach your goals, or do you give in to what you want to do in the moment?  What is your evidence?

• Risk (the courage to take a chance)-Are you inclined to allow fear to keep you in your comfort zone or do you stretch yourself into your discomfort zone, in an effort to grow?

• Intentionality (making deliberate and purposeful choices)-Are your choices well thought out?  Do they take you in the direction of your goals in each life area?  Or do you live life by chance?
• Consistency (steady effort or doing something every day)-What do you do every day?  Contemplate where your current habits will take you over the course of the next year.  Are they leading you toward your goals, or not?

• Self-efficacy (an “I can do it” attitude)-Do you remember this: how we think, is how we feel, is how we act?  Your thoughts are so very powerful!  Where are your thoughts leading you?  You cannot control what pops into your mind, but you can control what you allow to stay and repeat to yourself.  Sometimes you even need to adopt an “I can do it” attitude when you do not fully believe it, yet!