I am not here to tell you to stop setting goals.
Nor am I here to tell you that in order for your goals to work, they must be S.M.A.R.T.
What I am here to tell you is that whatever you decide to do in order to get to where you want to be, just do something.
That's it.
No secret formula, no magic wands, no psychic readings necessary.
Nike has been telling us this for years:
JUST DO IT.
What is your "it"?
Is it dropping that last 20 pounds?
Ok, then just do it.
Did you finally decide to remove certain folks from your life?
Ok, then just do it.
Whatever your "it" is, just do it.
I think a lot of us (yeah, me included) get so caught up in the feeling of entering into a new year. We feel inspired, encouraged, we have a clean slate. A do over.
We feel so ready to take on the world, that we decide to write it down. We just jot some stuff down, nothing specific, no road map as to how we are going to get to our destination. We just know we wrote it down, so it's bound to happen, right?
Or we take careful thought to the words we write. So much that we become overwhelmed by our goals.
Then around mid February, life bumps up against us, we lose a bit of steam.
Then before you know it, it's spring break time. And when I am on vacay, I can eat whatever I want. Oh, you say the hotel has a gym? Oh, ok...
What's that I hear? The squeals of children as they throw their school books up in the air because it's the last day of school. Finally, mama can catch a break, a break from the normal routine.
You see where I am going with this, right?
Life happens. A few sentences written on a piece of paper you can no longer find won't do you any good if there is no intentional action behind those words.
When I think of intentional action, I think of the administration at Tween Girl's school. The school wanted to start a program based from Stephen Covey's 7 Habits called The Leader in Me. They were working with a very short time frame that included gaining the required number of votes from the school's PTA as well as having all of the teachers trained before the 2015 school year. The principal worked with her staff to write their goals and here we are. The school administrators knew what they wanted the end result to be, came up with a detailed plan and went into action. They did it. The school is finishing up their first year of implementation, which has yielded a welcomed change within the students. Tween Girl talks about being proactive and beginning with the end in mind.
That is how setting intentional goals work:
You begin with the end in mind.
Write your road map detailing how you will get there.
Then JUST DO IT.
You already know that you will hit bumps in the road. Tween Girl's school certainly did. Some parents believed that children should not be taught things like the 7 Habits, that not all children can or should be leaders. The school administrators pushed forward.
That's what you and I must do, we must keep pushing forward and just do it.
Talk is cheap. We can keep talking about doing something, it's meaningless until we actually do it.
Tween Girl and College Boy have taught me this very lesson at home. I noticed that when I told them to do something, they lingered, my request would go in one ear and out the other. I was talking way too much with no follow up. One day I decided to make my request one time. If it didn't get done, I went into action. This meant having them having limited cell phone usage or TV time. This way, they could see that I meant business. I know what I want the end result to be with these two. My first product, College Boy, is 19 and is already showcasing the lessons learned at home. Tween Girl still has 8 years to go, many more lessons to learn and many more opportunities for me to be intentional.
Go ahead, be intentional. Intentional in everything we do, including parenting, spiritually, socially, every aspect of life.
Want some inspiration?
Click here to download.
Need more? Here's a great list of goals you can use to become a better you, courtesy of The Project Girl.
Let's not just write some things on a piece of paper for this upcoming year. Let's write them down with the end in mind and then just do it.
Who can I count on to check in on me through out 2016 to be make sure I am being intentional?