I hope you had a fantastic weekend! I hope you took some time to relax and enjoy your loved ones, but I also hope you made an investment in yourself by spending time identifying the goals that you plan to accomplish in the next year. If you didn’t…it’s not too late! Maybe you could spend your lunch hour or do it before you go to bed tonight. In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m not going to stop talking to you about setting goals and planning because I believe that God has given you the potential to do amazing things and I want to see you do them! Often we can become so focused on what we have to do today that we forget the importance of planning for the future, but if we fail to plan and act we usually end up with a future that looks very different from what we dream about. So stick with the goal planning and make sure you’re taking action steps!
I know I usually only post twice a week, but I just couldn’t wait to blog again because I love hearing how these convesations are challenging you to be all God created you to be! Having dreams is important, but dreams don’t just become reality. Why? Because nothing just happens! We have to turn our dreams into visions. How do you know when a dream has become a vision? In order for dreams to become visions, it must be accompanied by a “strategy” and a “compelling why”.
Let’s look at the “compelling why” first. It's reason that means so much to you that it empowers you to make the right choices.Have you ever wanted to lose weight, needed to lose weight, but failed to take the necessary actions? The primary reason we fail to act when we know we should is that we don’t have a compelling why. Even if we have research and examples to tell us the danger of carry excess weight, until we develop a reason that is bigger than the food we have to give up, we continue down the same path. No one else can give us that, it must come from within, but once we have it, then the how becomes much easier.
Let me give you an example… Every since my last baby (Canaan) who is 3 now, I’ve said I needed to lose weight, but when it came time to make the choices that would cause me to lose weight, I failed to choose correctly. One day I realized that the choices I was making weren’t positioning me to be healthy and active for my grandchildren. That’s the day I got my compelling why. I don’t want to the grandmother who has to take my grandkids to Disney riding a motorized scooter! I want to be able to play and run with them. Once I got the why, the how because easy. Eat less and move more! That happened in April and since then I’ve lost 30lbs. I’ve still got a ways to go, but because I have a reason that is very important to me, eating right and exercising is not nearly as hard as in the past.
What about you?
Do you have a compelling reason for…
Growing spiritually?
Building healthy relationships?
Losing weight?
Getting in shape?
Becoming debt free?
Establishing a new career?
If not, spend some time thinking about the last question I asked in “What are you planning?” The question is “What do you lose if you don’t change?”
After a compelling why, you need a strategy. A strategy is simply, “specific ways of organizing your resources in order to consistently get a desired result.” Your resources include your time, your talent, God’s Word, your money, your relationship, etc. You strategy is your roadmap. It’s how you will get to your destination.
Strategy is what we will talk about on Wednesday. Until then invest in your future by doing the work to turn your dreams into visions. Some of you may just need to revisit your plans to remind yourself why you need to make certain choices. Others you actually need to get started but where ever you are today, you can move a little further with some action!
Finally, I love your comments, but PLEASE post them on the blog so others can learn from your wisdom and insight! We’re a community helping each other reach our goals and living our best life.
Until Wednesday, do something AMAZING!
