Goals & Milestones (part 1)
Listen to “Goals” on CD4 – Track 1 or download the MP3 here
Only a small percentage of the world’s population set any goals. You’ve probably heard that those few who set goals accomplish more than all the combined masses who set none. In the game of life, it’s like comparing the results of those enshrined in Cooperstown, NY at the Baseball Hall of Fame to the first year tee ballers who have never put on a glove.
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Zig Ziglar
“The true purpose of goals is to compel you to become the person it takes to achieve them.” Jim Rohn
“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” John Ruskin
For the remainder of this book you will be asking yourself questions and thereby directly or indirectly setting goals.
My friend and mentor, Zig Ziglar, created the best goal setting formula known to man:
- Identify the goal
- Set a deadline for achieving it
- List the obstacles to overcome
- Identify the people and groups to work with
- List the skills/knowledge required to reach the goal
- Develop a plan of action
- List the Benefits
THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART
Delight thyself also in the LORD, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:4-5 (21st Cent KJV)
Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done:
He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him.
Psalm 37:5-7 (The Message)
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible
“We are here counseled to live a life on confidence and complacency in God, and that will keep us from fretting at the prosperity of evil-doers; if we do well for our own souls, we shall see little reason to envy those that do so ill for theirs. Here are three excellent precepts, which we are to be ruled by, and, to enforce them, three precious promises, which we may rely upon.
- We must make God our hope in the way of duty and then we shall have a comfortable subsistence in this world, v. 3. (1.) It is required that we trust in the Lord and do good, that we confide in God and conform to him.
- We must make God our heart’s delight and then we shall have our heart’s desire, v. 4. We must not only depend upon God, but solace ourselves in him. And even this pleasant duty of delighting in God has a promise annexed to it, which is very full and precious, enough to recompense the hardest services: He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. He has not promised to gratify all the appetites of the body and the humours of the fancy, but to grant all the desires of the heart, all the cravings of the renewed sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and live to God, to please him and to be pleased in him.
3. We must make God our guide, and submit in everything to his guidance and disposal; and then all our affairs, even those that seem most intricate and perplexed, shall be made to issue well and to our satisfaction. The duty is very easy; and, if we do it aright, it will make us easy: Commit thy way unto the Lord; roll thy way upon the Lord (so the margin reads it), Prov. 16:3; Ps. 55:22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, the burden of thy care, 1 Pt. 5:7. We must roll it off ourselves, so as not to afflict and perplex ourselves with thoughts about future events (Mt. 6:25), not to cumber and trouble ourselves either with the contrivance of the means or with expectation of the end, but refer it to God, leave it to him by his wise and good providence to order and dispose of all our concerns as he pleases. We must do our duty (that must be our care) and then leave the event with God. We must follow Providence, and not force it, subscribe to Infinite Wisdom and not prescribe. The promise is very sweet. In general, “He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou hast committed to him, if not to thy contrivance, yet to thy content. He will find means to extricate thee out of thy straits, to prevent thy fears, and bring about thy purposes, to thy satisfaction.’’
“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” Zig Ziglar