Mapping out your dream by setting goals. Goals will create a road map for your success.
Turn to Ex. 13:17-22. Moses, after the burning bush, returned to Egypt to lead the Israelites out to the Promised Land. (READ)
Their success did not take the shorter road, and it was mapped out by a cloud in the day and a fire by night. The cloud and fire led them in the direction they were to travel. Where is it you are traveling? What is your road map that will lead you to success?
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes had misplaced his ticket while traveling on a train. A train official said, "Your honor, if you do not find your ticket, you can simply mail it to the railroad, we know you and trust you." Holmes said, "I am not so concerned about your getting my ticket. I just want to know where I am going."
Goals take care of this problem because they make it possible for you to always know where you are going. How many of you have established goals in your life? Let me tell you what goals are going to do for you.
1. GOALS DRAW OUT YOUR SENSE OF PURPOSE. Joshua and Caleb saw a land flowing with milk and honey, the 10 others who went with them saw a land flowing with giants.
Pulitzer Prize winning writer Katherine Anne Porter said, "I am appalled at the aimlessness of most peoples lives. 50% don’t pay any attention to where they are going; 40% are undecided and will go in any direction; only 10% know what they want, and even all of them don’t go toward it."
Goals give you something to focus on--they help you know where you are going. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going."
2. GOALS GIVE YOU GO. Joshua and Caleb survived while their generation died out. They had a preview of the promise land of God when they went out with the spies, and they had the go to press on and lay ahold of it.
Andrew Carnegie said, "You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb himself." You won’t go forward unless you are motivated to. Goals not only give us mental motivation by making dreams obtainable, they keep us motivated by building motivation.
3. GOALS SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO They help you determine priorities, directing you to see what is important.
4. GOALS GET YOUR FOCUS ON IMPROVEMENT, NOT ACTIVITY.
5. GOALS CREATE MILE MARKERS OF PROGRESS
Each time you reach a goal, you can not only tell that you’re merely progressing, but you can see how far you have traveled.
Are you ready to create you own personal road map?
Your dream determines your goals. Your goals map out your actions. Your actions create results. And the results bring your success. Here is what you need to do. You need to be like Joshua and Caleb. You need to do these things.
1. RECOGNIZE YOUR DREAMS Everything starts with a dream. President Woodrow Wilson said, "We grow by dreamers."
2. OBSERVE YOUR STARTING PLACE. Ask your self these questions:
a. How great a distance will I have to travel? For instance, if you want to retire in 10 years, you will need to determine how much money it will take. Or if you want to be a culinary chef, you need to contact schools, get information on programs, tuition costs, admission policies, and so on. No matter what you want to do, you will have to travel some distance to make it happen.
b. What do I have working for me? Don’t just look at your inherent abilities, but look also at your circumstances, resources, and contacts.
c. What must I overcome? You will always have things working against you. If your dream is a college degree, and you are having trouble reading, that’s an obstacle you will have to overcome.
d. What will it cost to make the trip? Everything has a cost. It may be in terms of time, energy, finances, choices, sacrifice, or a combination of these factors. You have to decide what you are willing to pay. After you have recognized your dream, observed your starting place, then you are ready for the next step.
3. ITS TIME TO MOVE INTO ACTION. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, "Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action, is the most difficult thing in the world."
Maybe that is why so few people follow through in attaining their goals.
4. PLAN TO REVIEW & UPDATE YOUR GOALS IN AN ALMOST CONTINUAL BASIS.
J. C. Penny said, "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk."
I want to challenge you to prayer, prayer for the goals and plans God has for you. Write them down, map them out, set a road map to get you there, then just do it.
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