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How to Achieve Your Goals

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Learn some specific steps to take to help you achieve your goals

How to Achieve Your Goals

Now that we’ve discussed the importance of writing goals and how to set SMART goals, I’d like to give you some practical tips and steps to achieve your goals.  It’s very easy just to write goals and set them aside, but we won’t be as likely to follow through and achieve our goals unless we take some additional steps.  Adding some action steps and some accountability will significantly boost the probability of reaching our goals, dreams, and vision for our life.  Most people leave these steps out and that is often why people don’t see their goals to completion.

Action steps…mini-goals to get to the bigger goal

To take the next step to achieve our goals, after we have written our SMART goals (made them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, & Time-Sensitive), we should establish some specific actions steps (or short-term goals) for each of them.  By working toward completing these “mini-goals” we will reach that bigger goal and achieve our goals in the long term.  Making and taking smaller action steps is a way to baby step or snowball into a larger accomplishment by taking off bite-sized pieces.

God works in steps and stages

Even God does things in steps and stages.  He knows that we can be overwhelmed easily, and He directs us in steps and stages to success…little by little.

“The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.” Deuteronomy 7:22 (NIV)

“The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23 (NLT) 

God knows that we can be overwhelmed easily, and He directs us in steps and stages.

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How to Write SMART Goals

Learn how to write SMART Goals

How to Write SMART Goals

We recently talked about the importance of writing your goals down because people who write their goals down are much more likely to achieve them.  We learned that writing goals down will help you to be Happy, Healthy and Prosperous!  We also discovered that the Bible has several references about the importance of having goals and vision and writing them down.  Today I’d like to share HOW to write goals or better yet, how to write SMART goals.

Make them with a positive tone

First, when writing SMART goals, it’s important to keep in mind that you need to write out your goals in the form of a positive statement.  In other words, write what you want, NOT what you don’t want.  For example, if you have a goal to pay all of your bills on time, use positive wording instead of negative wording:

Negative: I don’t want to be late on any of my bills next month.

Positive: I want to pay all of my bills on time next month.

Do you see the difference?  It’s the exact same goal, just said in a different way.  Your mind tends to lean or focus toward what you think or say.  In this case, “Late on my bills” will stand out instead of “pay bills on time”.

It’s kind of like advice parents are given when correcting children.  I remember hearing or reading somewhere not to tell a child “Don’t spill your milk” because the brain then unconsciously focuses on “spill your milk”.  Guess what, quite often…they spill their milk!  On the contrary, if you were to say “Be careful with your milk—be sure it stays in your cup”, they are focused on the positive instead of the negative.  It’s almost like a magnet pulling an object toward itself.  We are like magnets that will pull what we focus on toward us.  

We are like magnets that pull what we focus on toward us. Focus on positive, not negative!

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This honestly is just a good life skill anyway!  Focus on the positive, not the negative.  It’s also scriptural:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

Make SMART Goals

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