Obtaining Goals

                Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when we teach the rising generation how to set and obtain good goals.  We can strengthen children and youth by teaching the whys of setting goals, and we can do this by precept and example. 

                We are now more than two weeks into 2014.  Did you make any New Year resolutions or set goals to work towards in 2014?  Are you still working towards your goals, or have you already given up on them?  Many people are good at making resolutions but fail to follow through on their goals. 

                Andy Proctor wrote an interesting article entitled “7 Enemies to Reaching Your Potential.” “Why do great people change the world?  Why do some people succeed and others just float along in life?  Why are some people rich and most people not?  I don’t know.  BUT, most people who make an impact in this world have a grasp on their enemies and their obstacles.  Specifically those which held them back from reaching their potential.  Here is a list of enemies that you will want to eliminate this year.  You are an amazing person with incredible potential.  You have the potential to become great.  It is already in you.  So get ahold of yourself, buckle down, and make this the best year of your life!”     

     

                Proctor’s list of seven enemies which stop us from reaching our potential are: 1) Lack of vision, 2) Lack of knowledge, 3) Lack of work, 4) Lack of approval, 5) Lack of courage, 6) Lack of interest, and 7) Lack of commitment.  I inserted my own words for his in order to be more descriptive.  Each of these “enemies” could be the topic of a talk or lesson, and Proctor does an excellent job of tying them all together as enemies to success.  I suggest that you read the entire article because it has many good points.

                I wrote a post in December 2011 entitled “Setting Goals” and included the following paragraph:  “I remember well an object lesson from a meeting many years ago.  The teacher had a canning jar, some stones, some gravel, and some sand.  She tried several different ways to put all the items into the jar, but she was able to fit them all into the container only by putting the stones in first, then the gravel, and then the sand.  With the stones in place first, the gravel and then the sand filtered between and around the stones, filling every little spot.  The object of the lesson was about putting proper priority on the people and things in our lives that demand our time, our efforts, and our money.  The most important goals need to have top priority with the less important goals filling in around them.”

                Even though my methods of organization change from time to time, I have remembered this object lesson and plan my schedule by inserting the most important events or items first.  A few weeks ago I was in another Relief Society meeting when one of the sisters in the class made a comment that will change my life if I continue to follow her advice.  She was a visitor in our ward that day and said that her stake president had counseled the members of that stake to “Give God:  1) the first hour of every day, 2) the first day of every week, 3) the first ten percent of income, 4) the first consideration in every plan, and 5) the first place in your heart.”

                This counsel means to spend the first hour of each day in prayer, scripture study, meditation, etc.  It means to spend the first day of each week (Sunday) in church meetings and doing good.  It means to pay tithing before spending any money.  It means to consider what God would want you to do before committing yourself.  It means to love God more than anyone or anything else.

                This means that the first “stones” in our “container” would represent God and our relationship with Him.  When we plan our days, we should include time in the scriptures and prayer.  When we plan our weeks and months, we should include church and temple attendance.  Two of the first stones should be family prayer and family home evening.

                When making our resolutions or setting our goals, we should set long term goals, intermediate goals, and short term goals.  My long term goal is to return to the presence of my Heavenly Father and to be worthy to dwell in His presence with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, for all eternity.  All of my intermediate and short term goals should help me move toward that long term goal.  One intermediate goal is to stay worthy of temple attendance and to keep my temple recommend current.   Another intermediate goal is to keep my tithing payments current.  A short term goal would be to attend the temple this week or to study the scriptures today.

                I keep a daily schedule of all the things I want to accomplish and usually write more items on my list than I can possibly accomplish.  I also keep a weekly “project” list or list of things that I need or want to do but do not need to be completed on a particular day.  I literally love “checking off” the tasks I accomplish and sometimes write something on my list just for the joy of checking it off!

                I know that we can reach our eternal potential by defeating Proctor’s seven enemies of potential.  One sure way of defeating them is to set goals – long term, intermediate, and short term – and completing as many of them as possible.  I know we can strengthen families, communities, and nations by teaching the rising generation how to set and reach good goals by defeating the enemies of their potential.