In 2011, I wrote a booklet entitled Learning to Walk in Freedom. It's basically been finished for months, but I needed to sit down and read it all in one sitting to check for continuity and last-minute changes.
One of my goals for 2012 is to finish this booklet and get it published as an eBook. At the end of 2011, I kept putting the booklet aside. I had reviewed the edits from the two folks who gave them to me, and implemented those changes. But I just hadn't made the time to sit and do the final read-through.
Everything else felt more pressing.
I began to ask myself why I wanted to wrote this booklet. What motivated me to write it in the first place?
Back in October, 2010, my leadership team for the ministry I direct and I all wrote personal purpose statements. Here was mine:
To see the Church & its individuals learn to walk in the fullness of freedom that is available to every believer in & follower of Jesus Christ, finding healing in the context of community, seeing themselves reflected in the image of God and the cross.
It's still a work in progress, but I would tweak it a bit now to say something more like this:
To see the Church & its individuals learn to walk in the fullness of freedom that is available to every believer in & follower of Jesus Christ, by discovering who God truly is, and who God created them. This is done through study of the Word, through the transformation of the Holy Spirit, and through the healing context of community.
This is what drives me. More than anything, I desire to see people walking in the freedom that Jesus died to give them. This inspires me to write when I'd rather be watching the DVD's of my favorite show I received for Christmas. It motivates me to get up ridiculously early and study God's Word, talk to Him, and write about Him.
What motivated you to create your goal? As Michael Hyatt would say, what's at stake if I don't finish this goal? What will happen if you don't reach that goal? What will happen if you do complete the goal?
Are you beginning the race with the end in mind?
"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14 (NASB)
You can apply this principle way beyond goal-setting.
Why did you join that recovery group?
Why do you want to gain some control over that bad habit?
Why did you start counseling?
What initially motivated you to choose this goal in the first place?
Remembering your motivation can also help provide you with a reality check: was my heart in the right place when I chose this goal? Hashing it out with a friend or through writing a pros & cons list can also help you assess what is discouraging you and how to press through that discouragement.
I finished the final final edits of my booklet this week. Now, it simply needs footnotes added and the cover art created.
What goal are you working toward this week? Ask yourself: what is motivating me? What's at stake?
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