Monday, April 12, 2010

Write down your Goals

"What does your personal list of goals look like? What's on it and how do the things you've written down make you feel? If, right now, all of those "wishes" were part of your reality, how would you feel then? Now, no doubt there are many people - even in the world of AdvoCare where we actively promote the process of establishing your goals - there are probably a hundred people who don't have such a list for every one who does. It's one of those mysteries of the mind as to how people can wish their circumstances were better, who pray for them to get better, who have a multitude of deep, emotional reasons for making things better, who devoutly profess to believe that if they "ask they will receive," but still haven't bothered to ask. My best guess is that those who don't have a written list of their goals are taking the position that they know what their goals are in their mind, and that's good enough; well, it isn't good enough. A wish in the mind is little more than an exercise in self-delusion; wishes in the mind are "fantasies," and the chances of attaining such undefined goals are virtually non-existent. I suppose another reason people don't have a "mental roadmap" of what they intend to have, what they intend to become, what they intend to feel, and what they intend accomplish is because they're so busy going to work to earn a living that they've ignored the vastly more important process of designing their life; and, designing your life is just what an architect does; he or she finishes on paper the building he or she is going to build even before the first shovel of dirt is dug up on the lot where the building will be. If you don't really know what you want, let me share a few things that, if they could "get it" and if they would learn to "give it" and then to "live it" would make life far more enjoyable for those who take a serious approach to "making things better." Being completely free of debt - the one freedom that makes all others possible. Becoming a stay at home parent. Not having to drop the children off at a day care center. Having enough money to live in a better place. Being able to spend more quality time with your family. Not having to come home mentally exhausted at the end of each work day. Being able to associate with people who think more positive thoughts. Driving a car that isn't mechanically unsound Having an investment plan that's going to make your future more stabile. I could actually come up with a much longer list, because all of us have an imagination that can provide us with hundreds of goals and wishes, just as we have the blessing of creative powers that could lead us toward the means of achieving those things our imagination presents to us. What the combination of a written goal list, along with our own imagination and creativity, can do to change how we live and how we feel about life and our future is rather incredible, and the barrier so many have learned to live with is that we've forgotten to "ask." And - what can a person who hasn't learned to ask expect to receive? About what they now have, because for things to change, we have to change. Don't be one of those who curse the effect but nourish the cause, and of whom it can be said, "They have not, because they ask not"." - Ron Reynolds

4 comments:

Deanna said...

Question: How is "praying for their circumstances to get better" different from "asking"? (See red text.)

Kristy said...

I think what Ron was trying to point out is that if we don't write down what we want or what we'd like our life to be and there by begin to take action we will just sit with a lot of wishes/thoughts in our head with little or no action to follow. To write it down ... to speak it aloud begins designing your life towards it. I do believe praying is asking God...if that's what we do. Of course praying that it is God's will we follow first and not our own selfish will is also best. But writing it down solidifies it and births something more real then a fleeting thought in your head. Did that answer your question?

Deanna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deanna said...

Don't misunderstand, I understood what he was TRYING to say. It's just not WHAT he said.

I get really unhinged when it comes to prosperity gospel and this type of talk rings heavily of it. EVERY example he gave of ideas for goals was earthly. Sad.

The real questions should be more like...
If Christ were on earth "designing" His life, would He adopt ANY of these goals? What would His goals be? And, do mine line up with His?