Leadership Tips & Training Two Months Out – Goals Revisited

Sunday March 1st, 2009

Okay, it’s now March and I have to ask the hard question: How are you doing on those goals you set in January? As First Place 4 Health Leaders, how can we encourage others toward a goal when we ourselves are not reaching our own? George Barna in his book, *Leaders on Leadership quotes Gary Willis – “Leadership is mobilizing others toward a goal shared by the leader and followers.” In order to be the best leaders, we need to set the example in goal tending. To achieve these goals, they need to be revisited daily, if not weekly. If you have discovered that your goals now have become a thing of the past and are not alive and well, here are some helpful suggestions to getting them going again:

Forgive yourself.
The important thing here is not to be distracted by a few unreached goals. If you have not followed through on your goals because of disobedience or laziness, then repent. Repentance means moving away from the sin and towards God. He is there waiting to renew your hope and your strength.

Start new.
His mercies really are new every morning. That is totally the reason for a new day.

Be more specific and have a plan.
If you do not have good goal-setting skills, get some help. Remember, achievable goals need to be SMART goals---Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. Here is an example of one of my personal SMART goals for 2009:

Lose 20 pounds by August 1, 2009. How will I accomplish this?

  1. Stay within my caloric boundaries of 1600-1800 calories a day and keep a record of my intake.
  2. Do not overfeed my body on candy and high fat foods, such as ice cream.
  3. Teach FP4H and Body & Soul at Church of Praise
  4. Exercise seven times a week.


Remind yourself of the benefits of reaching your goal.

  1. My clothes will fit better and I can wear the clothes in my closet.
  2. I will have more leadership integrity.
  3. It will ease the pain in my knees.


Review your goals every day. We need to keep those goals in front of us. Can you imagine a football player running down the field without a goal post? His eyes are focused only on getting across that well-defined line. I keep my list of values and goals on the desktop of my computer so I can have easy access to them. I review them several times a week. If I don’t, they will likely become meaningless. They will have no impact on my life and the changes I know God wants to bring about in my life and in my world.

Celebrate the small victories. Most of us set too many goals. Suppose I set 10 this year, but I have only made progress on seven. That is really quite remarkable. So many times we focus on what we have not accomplished. Even the small wins can be significant in moving us toward our larger goals. *Thomas Gilmore calls “small wins and large gains” the best way to pace our achievements.

As you move toward your goals for 2009, remember to give God the whole year one day at a time. He does not require perfection from us -- only progress and cooperation in the transformation process of becoming the likeness of His Son, even Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Vicki Heath


Vicki is our First Place 4 Health Director of Leadership Development.
She also is a Body & Soul Instructor and is on our two First Place 4 Health Aerobic DVD's. She is one of our First Place 4 Health conference speakers and leads Aerobics and speaks at our F.O.C.U.S Wellness Weeks each year.