How To Hit Your Targets This Year - Part 4 of 4

BY THERON GLENNY

Over the last four articles, we have been helping you formulate a plan for the new year that includes a set of goals you feel confident and excited about. Here’s a brief recap of each of those articles: 

• Wrap up the previous year and then capture on paper the dreams you have for the new year.   To wrap up the previous year, look back and write down what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you’d do differently last year. You’ll learn a ton by doing this.  Then, since the new year is a fresh start where dreams often come alive again, write down a list of things you want to see happen in the new year.  
• Identify your Areas of Life (AOLs). Segmenting the areas of your life is foundational so it’s easier to know where to put your goals.  That way we are not putting a list of work/career goals on the same list with family goals. Having one comprehensive list of goals is confusing and overwhelming.  Our brains need to be able to segment and place where things fit.  We need swim lanes.  Understanding our swim lanes/AOLs help keep us focused on our goals. 
• Downsize your list of dreams/goals so they are manageable.  When your goal list is too big, it becomes overwhelming, causing you to lose faith that your goals can be accomplished. When it’s too big, it’s also hard to know what to focus on each day. Just pick one or two goals to put in each AOL.  This may be hard for you to scale down your list, but it is absolutely necessary.  If you don’t, your list will be a junk drawer of cluttered wishes.  
• Put your list of goals in a place where you see them every day and talk to other regularly about them. As humans, we forget quickly at times.  Putting your goals up in places you frequent will decrease the odds of forgetting about the inspiration you put on paper.  Also, schedule reoccurring times with others to review your goals.  Whether it’s with your spouse, a couple of friends, or mentors, it should be people you trust and that you can receive feedback from without getting offended.  Remember, you have goals you feel passionate about accomplishing.  If you don’t look at them or talk about your progress regularly, then you risk not remembering ‘why’ you set them and you’ll get burnout and frustrated and end up not accomplishing them.

Now that you have your plan for the year on paper, the next step is to understand the reality of what those goals represent in time, effort and resources.  It’s always wise to 'count the cost' by understanding the time, effort and resources you’ll spend on accomplishing what God has put in your heart to do.  

In Luke 14:28, Jesus said "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it.”  Counting the cost is a reality check.  It’s a gut check.  I’m not advocating that you need to do an in-depth analysis on what each goal will require, but rather, having a general idea in mind so you understand what you are committing yourself to.  Without understanding what is required of you to accomplish what’s on your list, you subscribe to naivety unintentionally.  

Once you ‘count the cost’ then it’s time to take the final step before it’s time to take action - commit them to God.  Why should you commit your plans to the Lord?  Because you’ll need His guidance along the way.  

Here are two scripture verses that will serve you well: 

• Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established. - Proverbs 16:3
• Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.  - Psalm 37:5

Committing your works/ways to the Lord are committing to accomplish your goals with His help.  Set aside some time to pray.  Get with God alone and be honest with Him.  If you are like me, you know that you need His help.  Personally, there’s no way I can accomplish what’s on my list without His help.  Let’s commit to Him our plans and trust that He will give us what’s needed to bring the plans to pass.  

We hope these articles help make this year the best yet for you.  Please reach out if you have any questions or if we can help in any way.  We are cheering for you!  With God’s help, you can do it!  Philippians 4:13 says “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who gives me strength.” 

How To Hit Your Targets This Year - Goal Setting Part 3 of 4

Learn From My Failures: How To Hit Your Targets This Year - Goal Setting Part 3 of 4

By Theron Glenny

Here at Joshua House, we are passionate about helping people find purpose and live their purpose out.  Your life is like an arrow.  It’s got a flight and it’s meant to hit targets. In the last two articles, we have helped you take your dreams and goals for the new year and create a manageable list you can realistically pursue and accomplish.  We did this by…

• helping you identify the areas of your life (AOLs) in the season you are in, and…
• encouraging you to only choose one or two goals to put under each of your AOLs

Many make the mistake of having too many goals, which can become overwhelming very fast.   Now that you have a solid list of AOLs and goals to target, your focus is pointed.  

This next tip I’m about to give you is crucial.  For me, it was a missing ingredient in helping me accomplish my goals.  For years, I've identified my AOLs and been selective with goals by only choosing one or two goals for each area of my life.  I learned this next tip from my job selling sales engagement software to sales and marketing leaders in mid-market to enterprise level companies.  Every sales person has a quota they are trying to hit.  They have a revenue number they are going after.  It’s their goal.  Their yearly goal is broken down into monthly goals.  Every sales person knows their number very well.  Why?  Because they are responsible to hit it in order for the company to grow and because every week, they meet with their leaders to discuss where they are in relation to their goal.  

My point in telling you this is that a sales person’s goals and where they stand in relation to their goals are viewed by more than just themselves.  Their colleagues, manager and senior leaders know. Everyone has visibility.  Because there is visibility, there is accountability.  Without visibility and accountability, you run the risk of not focusing on goals you spent a ton of time identifying.  

Here’s what works for me, put your list of goals in a place where you see them every day.  For you, maybe it’s on your refrigerator, on your bathroom mirror, or on your desk at work.  If you can, put them in multiple places.  Put them where you have to look at them.  The point is for your goals not to get lost or forgotten causing you not to remember the inspiration you had at the beginning of the year.  

The second recommendation is to schedule re-occuring times with others to review your goals.  Whether it’s with your spouse, a couple of friends, or mentors, it should be people you trust and that you can receive feedback from without getting offended.  Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed."  Remember, you have goals you feel passionate about accomplishing.  If you don’t look at them or talk about your progress regularly, then you risk not remembering ‘why’ you set them and you’ll get burnout and frustrated and end up not accomplishing them.  Author Jon Gordon says, “ people don’t experience burnout because of what they do, but because they forget why they do it.”    

Pro tip: If your goals are important to you and your family, utilize your calendar to block time off to regularly work towards your goals.  My philosophy is, if it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t get done.  Block time off.  Schedule it.  In your brain, blocking time off on your calendar gives you permission to work on your goals.  It will help you prioritize your schedule to work on what matters most to you.

How to hit your targets this year - Goal Setting Part 2 of 4

Learn From My Failures: How To Hit Your Targets This Year - Goal Setting Part 2 of 4

By Theron Glenny

Growing up, when we needed a rubber band, battery, screw or nail, there was one place to look, the junk drawer. Do you have a junk drawer?  Maybe you even have a cabinet where you throw your clutter. It’s likely the place where you stuff items when a visitor comes. We have one too.  Everyone does.  They are very useful at times.  The problem with junk drawers and cabinets is when you really want to find something, good luck!  They’re a mess.  Stuff is everywhere so it’s hard to find what you need when you need it.  

In the last couple articles, we’ve been discussing dreams and goals for the new year.  In our last article, I shared the importance of segmenting the areas of your life so it’s easier to know where to put your goals.  Having one comprehensive list of goals is confusing and overwhelming.  Our brains need to be able to segment and place where things fit.  We need swim lanes.  Understanding our swim lanes help keep us focused on our goals. I call these swim lanes, 'areas of life'.  In every season of life, we have areas of life (AOLs).  Some examples of AOLs could be your family, career, volunteer work, hobby, etc. Failure to identify AOLs will cause confusion about the main focuses you have in the season you are in.  

Now that you have your areas of life defined, take your list of dreams and goals for the new year and put them under the right AOLs.  This helps your brain see where they fit.  Many times, we make a goal list and it’s so big and unorganized that its like a junk drawer.  In the past I’ve made the mistake of having too big of a list.  When your goal list is too big, it becomes overwhelming, causing you to lose faith that your goals can be accomplished. When it’s too big, it’s also hard to know what to focus on each day. 

Don’t go overboard with goals or there will be too many and you will get overwhelmed.  The result will be frustration and dissatisfaction because you didn’t accomplish it. I’ve been there.  I’ve made this mistake way too many times.  

Here’s the secret.  Just pick one or two goals to put in each AOL.  This may be hard for you to scale down your list, but it is absolutely necessary.  If you don’t, your list will be a junk drawer of cluttered wishes.  

Pro tip: If you are unsure of what to focus on for the year and there are multiple projects you desire to go after, consider writing a 1-page business plan on each one defining each project, it’s scope, why you want to do it, what it will accomplish in it’s impact to others, financial commitments, etc…and then present each plan to some close friends/advisors to get their opinion.  I’ve done this and it really helped me clarify what I’m to focus on.  This allowed me to take a list of dozens of possible goals for the year down to 4-5 that I can be laser focused on.

In the next article, I’ll share with you a secret in how to keep momentum to accomplish your goals this year.  Hint:  It’s where you put them and who sees them.

How to hit your targets this year - Goal Setting Part 1 of 4

Learn From My Failures: How To Hit Your Targets This Year - Goal Setting Part 1 of 4

By: Theron Glenny

 

Here at Joshua House, we are passionate about helping people find purpose and live their purpose out.  Your life is like an arrow.  It’s got a flight and it’s meant to hit targets. What targets do you want to hit this year?   In our last article, How to prepare your family for a new year, we left you with a list of questions to ask yourselves to help you think about your new year.  The questions were designed to tap into your heart and get you dreaming and thinking of what could be this year.  

In this article, we focus on how to take those dreams and act on them. Before we get into ‘how', you have to know first, that I have hated goal setting for years.  Hate is a strong word I know, but is very appropriate for how I felt towards goals.  Why is it that people who teach goal setting make it seem so easy?  This drives me nuts.  Why the sour taste?  In the past, I have rarely hit or completed goals I've set.  If you are like me, you also hate the feeling of losing and not being successful.    

This article, the first in a series of four, is a labor of love because I’m sharing with you my failures and how my failures can help you…

1. Not make the same mistakes I did, causing you not to succeed
2. Turn the dreams God puts in your heart into goals you can target and ultimately hit. 

I personally love dreaming and getting ideas that God gives me out onto paper.  The challenge that many people never overcome is vetting the ideas, turning them into goals and then executing them.  I’ve struggled with this as well. This is not an easy thing.  But, today, let me give you a starting place.  If you haven’t already go back to our last article and spend some time answering the questions we give.  It will help you tremendously with what I’m about to share. 

Failure #1 - Not identifying your areas of life. 

Having one comprehensive list of goals is confusing and overwhelming.  Our brains need to be able to segment and place where things fit.  We need swim lanes.  Understanding our swim lanes help keep us focused on our goals. I call these swim lanes, 'areas of life'.  In every season of life, we have areas of life (AOLs).  Failure to identify AOLs will cause confusion about the main focuses you have in the season you are in.  

For me, my AOLs right now are: 

1. Family (includes my marriage, parenting, finances, and personal stuff)
2. Work (my occupation) - normally with your occupation, you’ll have a set of goals you and your company leadership set together. 
3. Ministry/Community service - for me, this is my work with Joshua House and our church. 

Everything I do in life falls in one of these three buckets.  Yours may be similar or different.  

For a teenager, it could be: 

1. Personal
2. Family
3. School
4. Sports

Again, these are just examples.  Now it’s time to identify yours.  What are your areas of life?  Take a few minutes to identify your areas of life and write them down.

Next, take a look at the your answers to the questions we asked in our last article and see if you can put your answers (your dreams/ideas/wishes/goals) into your AOLs.  Where do they fit?  Put them in the correct swim lane. Here’s an example:

1. Family (includes my marriage, parenting, finances, and personal stuff)

• Go to the gym 3x/week
• Take family on vacation in July
• Save $____
• Read 5 new books

2. Work (your occupation)

• Generate $_____ revenue for company
• Develop new product line ______.  

3. Ministry/Community service - for me, this is my work with Joshua House and our church. 

• Give $_____ to ________.
• Volunteer 10 hrs/mth every month @ _______. 

In the next three articles in this series, we’ll help you take what you’ve identified and give you specific tips (learned from my failures) to help you accomplish your goals.