I recently
taught a lesson in my elder’s quorum. It was the first Sunday of the year, and
I wanted to teach on setting goals, really planning for the future year ahead
of us. The lesson went over well, there’s tons of material I pulled from my
mission and notes to prepare for it. I especially love what Preach My Gospel
says about goal setting:
“Goals
reflect the desires of our hearts and the vision of what we can accomplish.
Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting
and planning are acts of faith”
We had a
great discussion on the topic, and how to go about setting goals and New Year’s
resolutions. Comments of what goals they had set, had been wanting to set, what
was holding them back from achieving certain goals. It was an eye opener to me
to see these great men, many of them return missionaries struggling with
setting and reaching their goals.
So I set
out again to find out what I learned in my mission to help me reach goals, no
just set them. The more I studied, the more I found. But all of that came down
to once principle.
Accountability.
There’s a
whole section of it in Preach My Gospel, we talk about it in our lessons,
becoming accountable to the Lord for our actions, our sins, consequences, and
we study it in classes, its everywhere. But what makes the difference?
I’ll admit
there were a few times on my mission that we set goals just to throw out some
numbers to report. We had no heart, and no intention of striving to meet those
goals. But, there were many other times where my companion and I prayed for
hours, pondered and searched for the goals we should set and that we could
achieve. We were motivated by our goals, whether key indicators or personal
goals. We found joy in the work as we strove to reach our goals, and were
devastated when we couldn’t seem to reach them. In those tough instances, we
would take a second, feel bad and sorry, reevaluate the goal, maybe change it,
and press forward.
We remained
unhindered by the past performances of other missionaries and ourselves. We
were motivated by our Father in Heaven and our faith in His plan of happiness.
The biggest piece of advice when setting goals, looking forward the future,
your potential and dreams, that I can give is that which is given in Genesis to
Lot.
“Look not
behind thee.”
Simple.
Direct. Powerful. You are not your past; rather you are the lessons and memories
you retain from your past. Who you are is very much the dreams and goals you
have set for yourself, and that is unhindered by the past you have lived.
So that is
setting goals. The accountability came next. We came home each night, after a
hard day’s labor, and would account our efforts to each other, and to our
Father in Heaven. We set personal goals, and daily actions to reflect our work
on those to track our progress, those we felt comfortable sharing we discussed,
and helped each other improve. We would remind each other of our goals
throughout the day.
The key is
to review each night. I work late, getting in after midnight, and get up early
for morning classes, but each night I find a few minutes to review my efforts
that day against my goals. Did I give an honest workday, did I study what I
needed to, and did I study my scriptures in preparation for my lessons on
Sunday? I account those efforts to the Lord just as I did in the Mission. And
that, this simple action of an accountability prayer, has made all the
difference in my goals setting and achieving.
@MishReflections
@kenttbates
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