Time to Review and Plan. . .

As the New Year begins I take the time to review the past year and make plans for the new. Seems basic enough but don’t confuse this process with New Year’s resolutions. They seldom last and usually have little meaning because they focus on a finished byproduct rather than the change that is needed. For example losing weight is the byproduct of improving our eating and exercise patterns.

Some years ago I set aside a weekend to really nail down those things that were really important to me. To verbalize them in a way that I could pen them down and use as a point of focus. Having done that, I review them consistently and take a hard look at them each year at this time. The main thrust is this, those things that I spent my time on in the past year and accomplished – was it in harmony with those items most important to me. I ask the question, “Did these unrecoverable points of time draw me closer to being a man who lives those key elements that I determined that I value.” If the answer is yes, then I have cause to celebrate. Where the answer is no, I look at how to purge those activities from my daily schedule.

Finally I set the goals for the year that are in harmony with what is truly important to me. I put dates on those activities. Perhaps most important, I set key measurements to know when those goals have been effective. For example, has the change in diet and exercise resulted in planned weight lose and an increase in energy. That was the measurement. By the way, the point that is important to me is not to weigh a certain weight. The goal that is important is to have the energy level to be in the workplace, to go out witnessing, to meet the opportunities that help me to serve my Lord.

Let me challenge you to do the same. Regardless of what we do, if the Lord tarries and we live another year, we will use this time. We can either waste it or invest it. Watch it go by, blame the byproducts on other’s influence on us or take charge of our destiny by choosing our focus throughout the year.

Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Copyright 2009