Reflections:Let Goals Boost You Higher

                 

Setting goals is a very important step, because if you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. A goal doesn't become a goal until you have set a deadline for its accomplishment.

How true the saying, “To achieve all that is possible in life, we must attempt the impossible.  To be as much as we can be, we must dream of being more.” However, attempting the seemingly impossible can appear like a daunting task or a far-away dream. We may wonder how to start and question if we’ll ever get there. If that’s the case for you at the moment, you may want to set some goals for yourself rather than tackle the seemingly impossible all at once.

Why goals? Well, there are many good reasons for setting goals. We can tend to be short-sighted. If we focus only on today, we may miss seeing the forest for the trees right in front of us. We may tire in well doing and lose the vision.

Goals are like the steps that get us from the bottom of the mountain to the top. If we find ourselves at the bottom of a mountain and there’s no gradual incline, but the sides of the mountain are sheer and steep, we figure there’s no way we’re going to make it up. Goals are steps cut into the mountain, which enable us to climb the mountain one step at a time. Goals are the notches where we can place our feet and our hands. Goals give us something to grip, something to grab a hold of, something to take our next step on.

If we wonder how we can ever make it to the top, well, we don’t have to feel like we have to do it all at once. All we need to look at and deal with is the next step ahead of us. We can trust God to make it to our next goal, our next step, the next level. That next step isn’t too high to reach, is it?

So setting intermediate goals is really a key to success because it puts on a believable, attainable level what might otherwise look unobtainable. If you’re having a hard time figuring out how you’re going to climb some mountain in your life, then break down the mountain into step-size goals. Don’t worry about reaching the top all in one jump; just take one step at a time.

With each step you make, each goal you attain, there’s a feeling of fulfilment, accomplishment, and satisfaction—because you’ve come that much closer to your major goal. Pretty soon you begin to believe that you might actually make it up to the summit, because all those steps add up. Before you know it, you will have climbed quite a ways.

Goals spur us on and keep us from getting discouraged or giving up and relying on past accomplishments, because there’s always more to do. That’s why we should never stop setting goals. To keep from stagnating, we always need to have a goal, a vision of what could be and what will be if we keep climbing ever upward, one step, one goal at a time.

If in spite of having specific goals it still looks like a steep and difficult climb, try making even smaller goals—mini-goals, if you will. That will help alleviate the feeling that you have to tackle everything at once. Setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals will make your long-term personal goals more manageable and will give you more confidence that they can actually be reached. Let goals boost you higher.