Then I realized that my life is very much that way. If I don't have anything to aim for or I get distracted from my goal, I tend to slow down and "drift" a little bit.
Do you ever find yourself doing that as well? I am definitely a goal setter, whether it is riding a bike at the gym, getting good grades, doing my job well, I find that I need goals or else I drift.
The verse that comes to mind is Proverbs 21:5- the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely the hands of haste leads to poverty.
So today, I am continuing to be committed to being diligent and goal setting. But also, if you are terrible at goal setting, let me show you what I do... it might help you out! When I set goals, I tend to write them out according to areas of my life.
Goals:
Spiritual- Read scripture every day. This past summer I read a chapter a day and I read a devotion as well. I have gotten away from that due to the flurry of activity in my life, but I am adding that to my list of areas that I am going to improve upon.
Emotional- Make sure that I am getting enough sleep and not overloading myself. Again, due to life being a bit crazy, I am tending to fail at both of these. I do have my alarm set for 10pm, so I am doing my best to drop what I am doing and get ready for bed when the alarm goes off. I am also making sure that I get to the gym and pool more because that is a great stress reliever.
Relational- My true goal is to find healthy friendships. I am in friend collection mode, and trying to surround myself with healthy friendships. It is important to find people that help push you forward in your faith, encourage you, and love you well. Being an extrovert, I do my best to make time for friends as well.
Educational- I currently put the breaks on education until I feel comfortable with my job. I do not want too much pressure. There are two educational goals I am considering. The first is getting my certificate to be a personal trainer, the second is to get my counseling license. I am weighing which will be most beneficial for me in the future, because there is a strong possibility that those could be a part time job next year.
Vocational- Much of my energy right now is concentrated in on being the best teacher possible. This summer I am going to concentrate a lot on improving my lesson plans and making tweaks here and there. Being the best teacher possible is my short term goal. Concerning long term goals though, I touched base with a friend this week about working part time doing counseling with her next year. It looks like a very strong possibility, but I am going to need to continue to pursue that to make sure that it will work out. I am also doing my best to be involved with church, whether it is the worship band or helping with various ministries.
Physical- Getting to the gym 3 times a week is an easy goal for me. I wish I could do more, but it is not always practical. None the less, I need to take care of myself. Also, it is a cheap hobby that reaps positive results =) I wish I could target a weight or something like that, but considering that I am way under weight, creating a routine and sticking to it is my goal.
Financial- This is a tough one. Debt is one thing that I hate, and I get really excited as I watch the numbers decrease! That being said, I set up a budget, and I am going to stick to it. Any money that I do not use in my budget, I push to savings for an emergency. The important thing to do is stay calm and know that the debt will go away if i stay consistent. I am currently targeting my smallest debts, and then once those are paid off, I am moving on to the bigger ones and allocating the money from the paid off small debt towards the bigger debts.
So thats goal setting. If you aren't good at goal setting, you aren't the only one! But I would encourage you to do it though, because it helps you focus and experience victory in areas of your life that have been defeating you. It has been a huge help to me, and I hope that it will help you too.
