If you don’t have yearly goals yet please don’t write any. Don’t be pressured by people who already have several goals to make one for yourself. You don’t need it.

Goal setting is a means of escape from doing what you are supposed to do. Check out the previous years that you have goals. Did you achieve them? So if you have set goals for yourself already, please do away with it.

I am going to show you a better way to do it.

There is a story in the bible about the early days of men. When men were still very few on the face of the earth. It was a story about how these early men wanted to build a skyscraper. It would have been the tallest that would have ever existed. They wanted the roof to reach the heavens.

They wanted a skyscraper and they will get one. They got land to use. They got the best bricks available. They got the best workers one ground. All they wanted was a skyscraper.

God never wanted what they were doing but here is what he has to say about it.

Genesis 11:6 “And the Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this which they began to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined doing.”

The end of the story is that they were not able to complete it. But there are a few things to pick from their story.

God is not the only factor that determines the success of your goal. You are the most important factor.

Going to church to shout “Amens” and “I receive it” on the first day of the year is not a guarantee that you will achieve your goals.

Another thing to pick from this story is that they wanted just one thing. They wanted a building whose top reached heaven and they were going to get it.

They had one language which means focus. They had one thing in mind. Not two.

Real goals are always SMART. Smart is an acronym for SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, REALISTIC and TIME BOUND.

Specific means you do not try to achieve 15 things at once. Pick one thing that you want. Stay on that one thing and get it. After, you can get another one thing you want. Goals are not wishes. Wishes are always endless while goals are specific.

Measurable means you should have a meter to track your achievements. Don’t fall into the trick of saying I want to make more money this year. Instead, have an exact amount of money in mind that you want.

The third one is achievable. No goal is unachievable. Sometimes, because of our current situation, we tend to underestimate or overestimate what is achievable. Because you make #20,000 - #30,000 per month (the real story of many serving corps members in Nigeria) you may be quick to assume that it is impossible to double or triple this amount.

To be achievable simply means how far can you see into the future? Can you draw a 12 months plan for your goal and be sure of what you will achieve every month?

Realistic means it should be realistic. This one also can, as the one above, be different for each person. Don’t lie to yourself. Sometimes, we set a specific goal that has met all of the above but it is not real. You may need to have more skills and qualifications than you currently have to achieve a particular goal.

Time-bound. Time is the real currency we bank on as humans. Time is the reason why everything exists. We all have a limit. We all have a particular period we will exist. Your goals too should be guided by the same principle of time.

Insightful read. Thanks OP.

Clinolit:
Insightful read. Thanks OP.

Thank you for reading