“Did you write your goals today? Remember, goals without action are like smoke in the air. They just dissipate, never becoming reality.”
Writing your goals down is the first action step towards seeing them become reality. If we don’t write them down, it is unlikely that we will follow through and do our part to see these goals fulfilled. Putting a goal on paper (or typing them onto a computer screen) is the first tangible step that we can make to put ourselves in the proper frame of mind to work towards a specific goal.
1. Writing them down helps us define what we really want. There is something powerful about taking an idea out of our mind and putting it on paper. Sometimes, just seeing it in front of us begins to give us the strategy to make it reality.
2. Writing them down will help motivate you to follow through. Studies have shown that people who write their goals down are much more likely to be successful. When we write it down or see it on the computer screen, it has suddenly become concrete. It is not just an idea anymore.
3. Writing them down will help us push through and overcome resistance. It is easy to procrastinate and talk ourselves out of following through on things that are just in our heads. Once we have committed it to paper, though, it is harder to do that. It is staring back at us. Check out The War of Art. This is one of my all-time favorite books. Author Steven Pressfield talks about how to overcome the resistance that we all face when we try and accomplish something meaningful.
4. When we write them down, there will be no wondering about whether or not we accomplished them. We either lost that twenty pounds or we didn’t. We started blogging once a week or we didn’t. We paid off the credit card or we didn’t.
5. There is a powerful satisfaction in checking off a completed goal. It is an amazing feeling to be able to look back over the year and realize that you did the things you said you were going to do. If you are serious, write it down!
6. Action Steps. After you put your list together, go back through it and add one or two action steps to each goal. What are you going to do to make that thing happen? Get specific! If you want to lose weight, what is your plan? If you want to start a blog, when will you schedule to do your writing? If you want to pay off a credit card, where are you going to cut back so that you will have extra money to pay on it every month?
After you have written your goals down, the next step is to put them somewhere that you can see them daily. It might be on your bathroom mirror or for some it could even be sticking it on your refrigerator. I have kept my list in the front of my Bible. Now, I have a note in Evernote that I review regularly. Wherever you put your list of goals, it needs to be something that you look at, pray over, and meditate on daily.
Begin to visualize what your life will look like after the goal is fulfilled. Imagine hearing someone compliment you on how good you look after losing twenty pounds. Imagine the freedom you will feel after you get a credit card paid off. This is not wasted daydreaming! If you can’t see the goal fulfilled in your imagination first, it is not likely that you will follow through and do what needs to be done to bring it to pass.
Annie and I are serving the Lord in the United States, South America, and India. Would you consider joining our team? Just click here to get involved. Thanks so much!
