GAME PLAN:

GAME PLAN:

 It is a New Year and everyone is excited to start with a clean slate! Now, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news here but you are caring stuff over from the prior year/s into this new beginning. If you really want to get yourself setup for success as you steamroll into 2013 then you need to understand what you are carrying with you and then decided what you need this year to accomplish what you want.

CARRY OVER:

Each year people welcome the New Year as an opportunity to do some new things or at least do some things differently; go to the gym more, eat a better diet, save more money, take more vacations, spend more time with family, etc… you know what I am talking about. The thing is when people begin this new way of doing things they fail to change their thinking about the end goal they wish to achieve and their approach to obtaining their desires remains the same. We carry over from the previous year or years the beliefs about our desires, abilities, and resources needed to accomplish these so called New Year’s Resolutions. In Romans 12:2 Paul writes “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”As we enter into the new year we need to come with fresh (renewed) perspective; a clean lens in which we view our approach to accomplishing our goals. If we conform to the world or to those around us we place limitations on our ability to think more creatively about how to approach our goals. Also, it is important to break out of our own patterns that have become the conditioned responses that further limit us. Some are familiar with the saying “The definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Patterns can trap and bind us making the efforts we make seem like we are truly trying to work hard toward our goals when in reality we are only doing what we have always done before (this is the Treadmill effect – working really hard and going nowhere). If you continue to do the exact same things over and over doing it harder or faster doesn’t change the fact that it is the same old process. The parable of thenew wine in old wine skins can be found in Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-39 the essential theme of this parable helps us to understand that if we take new ideologies or beliefs and mix them in with old beliefs we can corrupt the new understanding to the point where it can actually cause damage rather than preserve good. Year after year people set goals only to abandon them by mid February. Most of the time people are ready to pursue something new, to make some type of change but, unfortunately, they add these new desires and new ideas with their old ways of thinking and doing things, which eventually leads to failed pursuits. Paul is giving us a strategy for goal attainment in that he is saying we need to first begin with changing how we think about our goals and the beliefs we hold regarding them. Our thinking leads to beliefs, good or bad, and ultimately develops into the motivations that lead us to action. Paul was inspired by God to share this information with us; it is NECESSARY to get your thinking right before you begin to drive yourself toward any of your planned goals.

RENEWED UNDERSTANDING:

In order to renew your thinking you need to dig in for a moment and really understand what you believe about your particular end result. Here is a step by step guide to help you identify what it is you believe about your goal/s.

1. Identify what the goal is and write it down - Lose weight, eat healthier, make more money, take more vacations, spend more time with family, etc.
2. Once you have written down your goal ask yourself what you believe you will gain from achieving this goal. “I will be able to do activities that I would never have been able to do before if I lose weight”, “I will be healthier if I eat better making me feel better”, “I can afford more if I make more money”, “I will feel like I contribute more, or matter more, or I will be a good parent if I spend more time with the family.”
3.  Identify the emotions you will feel once this goal has been achieved.
   1. Happiness, fulfillment, love, contentment, accomplished, etc… you can feel more than one main emotion.
4. Identify which of the 6 Human Needs the goal attainment will fulfill for you (can be more than 1 so prioritize them).
   1. Certainty/Comfort. We all want comfort. And much of this comfort comes from certainty. Of course there is no ABSOLUTE certainty, but we want certainty the car will start, the water will flow from the tap when we turn it on and the currency we use will hold its value.
   2. Variety. At the same time we want certainty, we also crave variety. Paradoxically, there needs to be enough UNcertainty to provide spice and adventure in our lives.
   3. Significance. Deep down, we all want to be important. We want our life to have meaning and significance. I can imagine no worse a death than to think my life didn’t matter.
   4. Connection/Love. It would be hard to argue against the need for love. We want to feel part of a community. We want to be cared for and cared about.
   5. Growth. There could be some people who say they don’t want to grow, but I think they’re simply fearful of doing so—or perhaps NOT doing so. To become better, to improve our skills, to stretch and excel may be more evident in some than others, but it’s there.
   6. Contribution. The desire to contribute something of value—to help others, to make the world a better place than we found it is in all of us.
5. To complete the evaluation of your understanding you now need to find alternatives.
   1. Look at the needs fulfilled and the emotions that are attached to the goal accomplishment. Are there alternatives to meeting the same needs and emotional responses associated with the goal attainment? If there are no alternatives and accomplishing this goal is a MUST for you then your ability to be motivated and to sustain your motivation is high. However, if you can identify 1 or more alternatives it is possible that those alternatives can pull you away from your intended goal.
   2. It is very common that when people set out to meet a particular goal that they abandon that goal in lieu of something else that meets the same needs with less effort (let’s face it, we are a instant gratification society). When something is a MUST for you, you do whatever it takes to make it happen. But if you believe that the end result is optional and you do not actually need it you will quite pursuing it at the first real signs of adversity. This step is critical because you want to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success; don’t pursuing a goal that you know you will ultimate abandon a couple of months down the road. Before you begin that actual process of goal planning write down your goal and what it means to you to accomplish it. Fully describe what it will mean to you emotionally and how obtaining what you want will improve your life. Once you have completed this task then you are ready to begin the process of establishing goals that are truly attainable and sustainable.

Illustration:

Goal: To learn Spanish so that I can be more competitive in the job market.

Achieving this Goal Will: Allow me to gain a promotion at work so that I can take on the role of team leader/manager and make more money.

Emotional Fulfillment: I will feel more appreciated and needed.

Human Needs: Significant, certain, contribution, growth

Alternatives: There is another position that I can apply for with my employer and a couple of competitors that I can apply for that do not require me to speak Spanish.

Conclusion: I don’t need to speak Spanish to gain a promotion or to feel significance or certainty. To feel more significant I can volunteer at work and church and I am already certain about my current role and the financial stability in my life. If I step up my productivity then I know that I will not be in jeopardy of losing my current position.

Do I set a Goal Plan then to learn Spanish? NO – there are other ways that will assist me in meeting my needs of significance, contribution, and certainty

NEXT STEP/ GOAL SHIFT: I can Apply for the internal Job posting at work and to the other companies that I have identified. Additionally, I can look for volunteer opportunities at work and church. I can still learn Spanish but it is not a must for me.

FINAL WORDS:

In this example this person really only wanted to take Spanish for the sake of taking Spanish (which may fulfill their need for growth). The individual had a false perception that a new language skill would make them more competitive in an market that showed great opportunities for a non-Spanish speaker. In the end, they were able to save the money and time it would have taken to acquire the new language skill and it freed them up to pursue goals that would ultimately satisfy more of their NEEDS.

Clearly, this scenario was only presented as a demonstration of the process used to evaluate what your underlying motivations are. Once you have identified what you REALLY want/need then it will make it that much easier to create a direct path to getting it. Keep in mind that God wants you to have the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”) and he wants you to live in abundance.