Pursuing the Right Goals

Goals determine Direction

I love this quote by Zig Ziglar which says, "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."

I couldn't agree more...goals are an essential part of your life. In fact, goals determine your direction in life, it clarifies what you value and helps in your decision making.

For instance, if your goal were to run a marathon by October of next year, then you would probably be prioritizing your training and conditioning and spending time joining warm up events, instead of pursuing another hobby or interest like swimming during the same period.

It is because of your goal to run a marathon in October that gives you direction and allows you to make the needed decisions about your time and your priorities.

New Year's resolutions

As we enter the New Year, we take time to reflect on our goals in life, committing to the necessary changes in the way we live our lives, so that our direction will be more consistent with our goals.

If you are like me, you would probably have goals about your finances, your career, your relationship with your spouse, your kids and your physical health and will probably have New Year resolutions relating to them - these could be something like "I want to lose 25 lbs this year" or "I want to exercise at least 3x a week to stay fit." or "I want to go out on a dinner date with my wife at least once a month without the kids." or "I want to be out of debt and saving for retirement." or "I want to get that promotion at work."

Right Goals

Does the mere thinking about your goals, make you want to take a vacation?

Seth Godin says, "Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from."

Do you work so hard on your goals that you sometimes feel imprisoned by them?

Malcolm Gladwell says, "Hard work is a prison sentence if it does not have meaning."

So the question then is what goals would make life meaningful and worth living?

Please God

As a Christian, I believe that our goal in life to make it meaningful and worth living should be to pursue pleasing God.

The apostle Paul articulates it very well in Philippians 3:13-14, where he says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

We please God, when we are in the field of our calling our passion, not dwelling on the failures and accomplishments of the past and when we focus all our efforts in reaching forward to what God has called each of us to be and do. Stop pretending to be someone you're not and stop working on a job that does not suit your talents just to earn a living. Live the way God called you to be, the way God designed you to be.

If we make it your goal to please God, then it will simplify your life, in fact it will resolve 90% of your problems in making decisions. I believe that God has called me to be the best entrepreneur I can be, my understanding of my calling then would allow me to say no to activities that would require me to do something outside of my being an entrepreneur (which surprisingly can be a lot of things).

But why pursue pleasing God, what makes it the right goal?

Because of love and accountability.

In 2 Corinthians 5:8-10 Paul says, "8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

In v8. we find that Paul's desire to please God is because he loves Him, while v10. talks about how we will all appear before Christ and be judged...that is why I believe that pursuing the right goal is pursuing pleasing God.

This year as you prepare your New Year's resolutions, I encourage you to ask yourself the question: "Am I pursuing the right goals, that is pursuing pleasing God?"

I hope that the answer will lead you to simplify your life and love the Lord more, as you recognize that a time will come when you will be judged and be held fully accountable for your actions here on earth.

If you make pleasing God your highest and ultimate goal, then I guarantee you that God will take care of all your other goals in life. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

God bless and Happy New Year, everyone!