3 Achieved, 2 Failed, 1 Abandoned

In less than three weeks a new year will begin. 2012 is going to be epic, especially with the end of the world considering the Mayan calendar running out and all (I'm not too worried; they didn't even have Suri back then). 2011 has been an unbelievable year for me. At the beginning of this year, I encouraged my readers (all two at that point) to create goals instead of New Years' resolutions. I stink at keeping resolutions, but goals I can manage.

Here are six of my goals that I shared with you along with their current status in being achieved.

• Marriage: Learn to do my two little girls hair. Success! I killed this one right away. I often do my little girls' hair. No, I don't get fancy with any braids or curls, but I can help to get them ready. I'm even a self-educated man when it comes to pigtails. I didn't even have to get my Youtube degree to be able to do it.
• Family: Pray every night with my family. Success! Almost, every night I pray with my girls. It is a sacred time. A time I wouldn't give up for anything. The most precious thing about it is that my oldest daughter, at the age of four, is already convinced that when you are afraid of something you should pray. Not only that, but she EXPECTS God to answer her prayers. Didn't the grown up sweet baby Jesus say something about a childlike faith?
• Fitness: Do 300+ pull-ups and 300+ push-ups a month. Major fail! I didn't even make it out of the first month. In fact, I ended with 225 pull-ups and 210 push ups. When I quit, I literally heard my arms say, "Thank you!" I could still make it if I do 3,375 pull-ups and 3,390 push ups in the next two weeks. Did I just hear the Rocky theme song come on?
• Reading: Read 25 books this year. Minor Fail! Currently, I'm at 20 books with two weeks off and I'm reading five books. (I hope Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas lives up to all the hype in the end.) I'm going to release my favorites out of those 20 soon.
• Bible Study and Prayer: The AM is for HIM. I want my ministry to come from the overflow of my relationship with Jesus Christ. Success! I wake up every morning to spend time with Jesus. There are days that I'm a no show, but almost every morning I body slam the snooze button and arise victoriously.
• Ministry: Create the “plumb lines” that will drive my ministry and establish my board. Abandoned. At this time last year I thought God was leading me to start my own nonprofit. But after spending a lot of time in prayer and fasting, I decided to wait on this one.

Box Score: 3 goals achieved, 2 goals failed (with one still attainable), and 1 goal abandoned.

What have I learned?

I learned that I need more time in the day. Surprisingly, unless you are narcoleptic, we all get the same amount of time every day. Do you know what common resource the most successful and the least successful person in the world has? The same amount of time.

Some of my goals were too rambunctious, while others were de-prioritized. Goals are important and as Proverbs says, "Without a vision people parish." I have goals set for a year, three years, and even for the next 30. I'm intentional about my goal setting. My goals are consistently reviewed, changed, and sometimes even deleted. Regardless, I always spend time in prayer before writing one that will consume a lot of time and energy.

We are three weeks out from the new year.

You have to do something!

Don't create a resolution that will be a waste of time and become a momentum killer (yet another thing you failed at). Do you know why I don't mind sharing my failed goals? Because I was successful in achieving others. Begin praying and seeking God for direction in the types of goals that you should set. Write them down along with timelines. You'll be amazed at how you can achieve your goals when you are realistic and intentional about accomplishing them. You'll be even more amazed when they are Spirit directed, how the impossible can happen. 

I don't know if that was inspirational to you or not, but call me Chuck Norris because I'm off to do pull ups and push ups while reading five books all at the same time. Isn't Chuck Norris awesome?

Question:
What goals would you like to achieve in the coming year?