Goals

I feel like most of us have the same goals – graduate from college, marry in the temple, spend at least one weekend night out with friends (or at least don’t admit to too many people that you stay home in your pajamas with a big bowl of popcorn watching Gilmore Girls…).

But goal setting should mean more than that: “Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish” (PMG pg. 146).  Ultimately, we can decide the person we become.  Either we can make goals to change ourselves, or we can go with the flow and see who we end up becoming.  And to me, that last option sounds a bit scary.

There is always a chance to fix the path you’re on.  Isn’t that why we set goals?  To better ourselves?  It’s a simple act of faith.  Setting goals helps us realize that we are a part of a greater purpose.   “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”

Sound familiar?  We make goals to better ourselves which therefore helps us achieve a greater sense of perfection.

Not only do we have to realize that we want to be better, which then motivates us to take pen to paper and set sometimes ridiculous goals, we actually need to have the faith and the trust that we can change.  Goal setting shouldn’t just be something we do every New Year’s Eve because everyone else is doing it.  Make daily goals when you wake up in the morning!  (Ever heard of a to-do list?).  Write little reminders and put them all over your room so you are constantly reminded that you need to sit down and relax for 5 minutes a day, or call up an old friend to chat and catch up.  Ask Heavenly Father in your nightly prayers to help you become the person that He needs you to become.  Ask for the ability to find time in you day to accomplish everything on your list.  Be accountable to someone.  Stop buying junk food at the grocery store!  And most importantly, we are “that we might have joy.”  Setting goals, and then accomplishing those goals will help you feel better about yourself because you will realize that you are one step closer to becoming like God and His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. 

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential.  When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life” (Elder M. Russell Ballard).