As the end of the year approaches and we head into a new one, it’s a good time to take a look at where we are and where we are going. January 1st can be inspiring and intimidating all at the same time. It is the day of a clean slate and the opportunity to have a better year than the last one. Yet, at the same time, it is uncharted territory with many unique opportunities and challenges ahead. Regardless, it is always a good time to gauge our progress on past goals and determine our goals for the future.

What were your goals for 2020? Did you even have any goals for 2020? If you did, determine how close you came to meeting them. If you met them and feel you can move on from them to new things, then it is time to set new goals. If you did not meet them, but believe you made sufficient progress to move on from them anyway, then go right ahead. However, maybe you had a goal or goals that you fell short of and you know you really need to conquer them before moving on to something new. It’s a sign of maturity when we can identify shortcomings and make the determination to continue the effort to overcome them. Maybe, though, you need to tweak the goal, or redefine it in some way. Once in a while, the reason we fail to meet a goal is because it wasn’t well-defined or properly set to begin with.

And if you had no goals for 2020, then 2021 is the perfect time to begin setting goals. Let’s quickly discuss how to set a goal properly. If our goals aren’t crafted correctly, we can be setting ourselves up for failure. And I am not talking about New Year’s resolutions. Those are mostly wish list kind of changes we want to make but lack the needed structure for us to follow through long-term. Goals have to have substance and structure. They need to be defined so we know what our expectation is and when we expect to see it completed. Some people use the SMART method for goal-setting to make sure the goal has the needed components to be successfully accomplished. A good goal has the following:

S: Simple- Don’t make a goal overcomplicated. Keep it simple so there aren’t too many things to keep track of.

M: Measurable- make sure you can measure whether you have accomplished the goal or not. If you say you want to lose weight but don’t say how much weight, you’ll never be able to measure to see if you’ve met the goal.

A: Attainable- Make sure it is something that you can do. To say that you want to lose 100 pounds in a month is not attainable- it cannot be done. Why set yourself up for failure that way?

R: Realistic- Realistic goals are those that are meaningful. Don’t set a goofy goal that does not mean anything to you. Why try to do something that you’ll find no fulfillment in? Meaningless goals tend to go undone.

T: Time-bound- Every goal needs to have a deadline- and even deadlines within the deadline for certain parts of the goal to be finished. When we put a timeline to our goals, we are more likely to accomplish them. Without deadlines, our goals could go on for years and years without fulfillment and eventually fade away.

As we look to the coming year, let’s decide to pursue some well-crafted goals for the glory of God. Let’s make sure we head in the right direction!