“Proverbs 25:28; “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”
(This is a continuation from my previous blog about the two steps in achieving a new goal; start and continue. The next several posts will deal with what it takes to continue.)
Has the following scenario ever happened to you; you make a decision to change, you pray about it, God actually starts intervening on your behalf through other people, places and things but you are unable to control your urges to go back to your old ways? You begin “constructing new walls to your “city” as Solomon talks about in Proverbs 25, and then the walls begin to weaken and eventually they come crumbling down…again.
One of the keys in keeping our walls strong and in place is to develop self-control and self-control only happens for me if I have a PLAN. My past of virtually destroying and losing everything serves as a great reminder to me how much self-control I have. My self-control is totally dependent upon having and working a plan.
Plans give us boundaries, they allow us to keep our priorities straight, they give us the ability to say no to outside forces that try to pull us away from the plan.
The planning process initially requires the willingness to commit an hour or two and sometimes more, to prioritizing what needs to happen and then envisioning what you want to happen and then reducing it to writing…i.e. transforming the dreams into goals. For example, maybe your number one goal for this year is to become a better spouse. If this is the case, then you need to take time to envision what this looks like and reduce this picture to writing. There is something “magical” about writing things down. For me, writing somehow indelibly etches the goal in my brain and the more I write the better my chances become at achieving my goals.
(I carry a journal with me everywhere I go and I’ve done this for years. I am always writing things down…keeping the plan fresh…keeping me “bound” to my plan. In this journal I have a “master” goal page dedicated to the various goals I’ve set for the year. This allows me to take a quarterly “look back” in order to track my progress.)
The next step to effective planning is to commit an hour every Sunday towards creating a day-by-day plan for the following week. Planning the days in hourly increments is the most effective way to stay “bound” to the plan. I find this hour on Sunday also helps me better prepare for everything I have going on in my life throughout the week. It prevents me from over-committing and/or under-committing, it keeps me on time and on task during the week.
Next, the planning process involves the daily ritual of reviewing the plan for the new day, in the morning, (preferably after morning prayer and devotion…during which the plan is committed to the Lord…see Proverbs 16:3 and Mark 11:24).
Finally, as the day is about to close, it is important to take a few minutes to take an inventory of the day and make any needed adjustments to the plan for tomorrow. The final step involves prayer where we thank God for His help with our plan for that day and seek His help and guidance for tomorrow’s plan.
I love the quote by Lewis Carroll, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”
Make a decision today to decide where you want to go by developing a plan. Make a decision to “continue to continue” by planning weekly and daily. If you do this you are “bound” to see major improvements in your life.
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
