Goal Initiation Stage: SOLIDIFYING

It gives great fulfillment to see a goal come to pass. Humans are goals-seeking creatures. This is so because fulfilling goals gives us hope and leaves us with a sense of significance. The most difficult lives to live are those not motivated and directed by goals. The psychologist, Ernest Becker notes that, “What man really fears is not so much extinction, but extinction with insignificance.”

In this article I shall continue on the goal initiation stage.

COMMIT YOUR BURDENS TO GOD: When you identify areas that lay burdens upon your heart, do not make the mistake of running off into achieving goals. Goals are not simply to make people famous. They are primarily to correct things that have gone wrong. You need direction on how to carry this out. Pray to God to clarify what exactly you can do and to direct you on how to get going. In addition, you will easily notice that your goal expands beyond your logical ability. This means you can pray that God increases your strength and enlarges your capacity to accommodate your goal. “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” remains true. If you acknowledge the Lord in all your ways he will “Direct your path.”

In addition, it is God that makes people. You cannot make yourself achieve a worthy goal. Peter learned this early on when Jesus told him, “Follow me and I will make you …” You need to be made. Fabricated. Branded.

KEEP YOUR GOAL TO YOURSELF: Many folks (yours sincerely once included) have the tendency to go raving about announcing their goals to just about anybody that gives an ear. We think doing this will make us get closer to it or commit us to accomplishing the goal but the opposite is true. When you go sharing your goal to just about everybody you stand a much higher chance of failing as opposed to when nobody knew about it. This is because many folks will show you reasons why your goal is ill-thought of and on the path of certain failure. In a bid to help, they help you abandon ship.

Also, when you indiscriminately tell people your goals and they wow at your ingenuity, your brain registers a feeling of accomplishment – the same as it would have if you in reality accomplish it. This way it rewards itself and you end up with a deflated momentum. Cake eaten (and what do they say about eating your cake?), pleasure gained, goal untouched. Preserve your precious goal by shutting your mouth.