A few years ago I read "The 15-Minute Organizer" By Emilie Barnes and it changed my life. The book helped me get some order in my live and my home. One of the things that I ran into is that it was to much at the same time, so I have made a discition to help break it down into small peices for all of you who are interested. I will be posting a few things each week from the book and talk about how it helped me. If you want please make comments, and pray with me that together we can reach so many women in need of order in their lives.
Emilie Barnes is the author of 60 books, including:
- The Twelve Teas of Friendship
- Fill My Cup, Lord
- Help Me Trust you, Lord
and her popular Minute Meditations books. Emilie and her husband, Bob, are also the founders of More Hours in My Day time-management seminars.
So here we go....
"While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!" Isaiah 65:24
"Do you want to set goals byt shy away from it because of past failures in following through with your goals, or just because you don't know how to set a goal?
With a little information you can learn how to properly set goals for your life. Proverbs 29:18 states that if we have no vision we will perish. You are either moving ahead or falling back; there is no middle ground. I label the meaning of a goal as a dream with a deadline. Sometimes our goals aren't very achievable because they aren't very measurable. We have goals such as "I want to lose weight." "I want to eat better," "I want to be a better wife," or "I want to be more spitirual". These are all good desires, but we can't measure them and they don't have any deadlines.
There are two very important parts to goal-setting. Goals must include:
- A statememt of quantity (how much)
- A date to complete (deadline)
A proper statement of a goal would be "I would like to lose 15 pounds by March 15. This way I can determine whether I have reached my goal". But remember that goals aren't cast in concrete; they just point you in the tight direction. You can always rewrite, restate, or even cancel any goal.
As the beginning point of goal-setting, I recommend that you write down your goals that you want to accomplish withing the next 90 days. As you get progicient in 90 days go out to six months, then nine months, then one year. Bite off little pieces at first; don't choke on a mouthful.
You might ask the same questions that a lot of people ask who come to my seminars: For what areas of my life should I write goals? In my own goal-setting I try to concentrate on eight areas:
- Physical goals
- Marriage/Family goals
- Financial goals
- Professional goals
- Mental goals
- Social goals
- Community support goals
- Spiritual goals
These are not listed in any special priority, but are randomly listed for consideration when I want to get a grip on my life. An example of a 90-day gaol for each of these areas would be:
- I want to do 50 sit-ups by March 1
- I want to plan a 25th wedding anniversary party for my parents by April 15
- I want to save $250.00 by February 28
- I plan to enroll in an accounting class at the community college by April 2
- I plan to memorize the state capitals by May 5
- I plan on inviting the Merrihews, Planchons, and Hendricksens to a roller skating party on March 26
- I will take the Red Cross fliers to my neighbors on February 14
- I plan to read the Gospels on the New Testament by April 11
Notice that each goal states a quantity and give a date for completion. Each goal is measurable. As you complete each goal, take a pen and draw a line through that goal. This action will make you feel good about goal-setting.
As you complete each goal, you might want to write a new goal to take its place for the next 90 days."
BY EMILI BARNES
This was the first chapter in the book. To be honest with you I started a few times, but then I got it! It's what God whant's me to do and I need to follow through! I hope and pray that in the next few days you will be able to make reasnoble 90 day goals for yourself.
Blessings to all of you,
No comments:
Post a Comment