How to Maximize Going for Your Goals in 1 Year

Plan to reach more goals this upcoming year by changing how you look at your time.

Se things differently in order to achieve more in less time.

A New Vision for a New Year

Where there is no vision, the people perish: 

but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

- Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

2013 is upon us.  We have some some serious choices ahead of us in the coming days.  For now, let us enter into 2013 with prayer.  Let us thank God for what He showed us in 2012, even tragedy and triumph.  Thank God for allowing us to see 2013.  Pray to God that He will bless us with all that we need in 2013, especially clarity of the vision that He has for our lives.

Amen.

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Join me on Swagbucks in 2013!

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Get Busy Growing

In The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren stated: "If the church isn't growing, it's dying." That is enough to shock and stun some pastors, even petrify others.  Yet, the ones who read those words and take proactive actions to set their church to growing tend to see results.  Others who dare not do anything different seem to be doomed to see their church see very few results.

If you want to see some growth in your church, you need to get growing.  Get busy doing the things that grow the church.  Don't simply pay attention to who you have in attendance.  Get in touch with those who are not in attendance.

What do you do about those who:

• Stopped coming to Sunday school?
• Quit serving in ministry?
• Never signed up for anything at church?

Get a team together to work on reconnecting with such people as soon as possible.  Work with that team on how to reach people in a variety ways.  Develop a plan for getting in touch with these people.  Schedule when to execute the plan.  Start bringing the plan to life.

Once you get that going, bring another team together and see how to reach those within the community.  Plan outreach activities where you can reach people through the Word and your good works. 

Jesus fed folks, healed some, and taught others.  He used parables many times rather than laying out a exegesis of the Scriptures through a sermon. 

Don't trip.  God has already gifted both you and your team with what you need to reach others.  You just got to get busy growing.

Three books that can help you grow:

• The Habits of Highly Effective Churches: Being Strategic in Your God Given Ministry- George Barna
• Twelve Keys to an Effective Church- Kennon L. Callahan
• When God Builds a Church - Bob Russell

God Has a Plan

"Christ came to redeem us from sin and bring us back to serve and glorify Him."

- Andrew Murray, God's Plans for You

Let's get real.  Salvation is part of God's master plan for all of us.  It isn't the whole thing, but it is a major part of the plan.  What is highly important is that we recognize that God has a plan.  Even more refreshing for us is that we are included in God's plan.

That includes your business.  That includes your special gifts and abilities.  That also includes your example that you set for others, especially unbelievers, through how you live your life.  It is all part of God's plan.

What's the point of God's plan?

He shows us love because He is love.  He expects us to live as reflections of Him.   We are to serve Him.  We are to glorify Him.

Guess what?

It's all in His plan.

 

Pet Projects Present Problems

"The greatest self-delusion is the belief that the outlook for a product improves the more resources are poured into it." - Peter Drucker, Managing for Results

Pet projects present a problem.  You can find yourself pouring good money after bad time after time.  You can lose your mind as you lose your shirt.  That can really shake up your ego, especially if your ego is tied into the project.

Drucker pointed out the failure of the Ford Edsel in Managing for Results.  He considered the automobile "the most publicized American product fiasco." He shared the Edsel as an "investment in managerial ego" amid six other "problem children" mentioned within the eleven major categories of business products.  Forget the Edsel as poor example of American ingenuity.  Think of it as an endeavor in egotism.  Ford kept trying over and over again, but America was not buying the Edsel.

Imagine what would happen if the CEO decided to oversee a project that he felt intimately attached to despite the all of the analysis and findings by the research team.  What would become of the nonprofit that allowed its chairman of the board to serve as the lead on a youth mentoring project without ever having mentored a single soul? Think about how it would be if your pastor decided to run the culinary ministry when he could never manage to boil water without scalding himself.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3 (NIV)
Ego can cause some real disasters.  It can get us into some territory where we do not belong at all.  Watch yourself before your ego leads you down the wrong road. 

Try reading some of the titles listed below to keep you on track with your goals:

Scale Down to Start Up

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing – that's why we recommend it daily."- Zig Ziglar

Starting up a business may require you to scale down your big dream.




Don't read into that.  I did not say it may require you to drop or dump your dream entirely.  I just said you may need to scale it down at the start to get things started.


You may need to slice it up into manageable pieces, so that you can get things set up and in place to advance to new levels, stages and phases.  I tend to favor a modular approach when I work with clients on programmatic funding or business planning, identifying phases where new components, services or features can be added based upon the state of the core business.  There it is.  I seem to have have given it away, but that should be the focus; your core business.  Scale things down to the core.  Get things down to the bare essentials and build from there.

I think Avon does an excellent job at providing a business model based on a similar cocnept.  You may like fashion or cosmetics, even costume jewelry.  Avon isn't trying to get you to open a kiosk at the mall or storefront on Main Street.  The company provides each "Avon lady" with the essentials to the catalogs and ordering forms as well as support that allow her to experience success on a small scale and grow from there.  It is obvious that Avon's core business is beauty products, not blue jeans or handbags.

Start out small, while continuing to think and dream big.  Post photos, sketches and anything else related to your dream above your PC's monitor, on your car's dashboard and taped to the fridge.  Keep it visible, but be sure to set things in order first. 

 

Don't get tripped up that you haven't accomplished or achieved the full dream yet.  Just get started. Get started right.  Get started doing the core business of your dream and build from there.