In recent years, I have written about goals and have shared my opinion that goals are more specific, while resolutions tend to be somewhat vague. (A few years back, I posted a blog entitled “Welcoming the New Year” where I discussed that issue more fully. I also provided a Goals Worksheet. If you missed it, you can find it here – https://lifeandmiles.com/welcoming-the-new-year.) But whatever you call your plans for the new year, whether you set goals, or make resolutions, it’s that time again.
But before I address 2021, I suppose I need to evaluate how successful I have been in achieving the goals I set last year. It’s easy to set new goals. It’s another matter entirely to follow through and do what we say we intend to do. I’m convinced that if we aren’t honest with ourselves, we’ll think we’re making progress when we are literally spinning our wheels.
To effectively grade myself on 2020, I need to consider that this past year was probably as challenging as any year I have ever faced. I’m sure the same is true of you. In addition to selling our house where we lived for almost 34 years and buying another (with subsequent remodeling), we also dealt with the death of my wife’s mother, a cousin and her uncle. All of this occurred in the midst of the first pandemic of my lifetime, as we dealt with Covid-19 and all the limitations and adjustments that it required, and continues to require.
Even allowing myself a measure of grace due to these circumstances, I can still only give myself a grade of “C” for 2020. To be honest, I thought I had done much better. But I really came up short in a few areas. Here are some of my 2020 goals and the final results.
- Read my Bible daily. I dropped the ball on this one. I did not follow through with a reading plan. I will for 2021. Give myself a “C” on this.
- Run 3-5 days weekly. I did run a couple of virtual races, but I can’t grade myself any higher than a “D”.
- Drop weight. Solid “F”.
- Read 50 books. Barely half that number. Again, a “C”.
- Sell our previous house. Mission accomplished. A solid “A”.
- Buy another house. Just a “B” though, since too much or our stuff is still stored in the basement and not where it belongs.
- Control my tongue. I’ll be generous and give myself a “C”. And that’s not because I did that well, but because I was at least more aware of my shortcomings.
- Set priorities and use my time wisely. Maybe a “B” for effort and limited success.
- Write more. Another “D”. This blog was neglected and a couple of other writing projects never came to fruition.
Enough of that. It’s almost depressing.
But it’s doesn’t have to be. As stated in the title of this post, 2021 is a new year. And while the COVID-19 virus continues to take its toll on almost every aspect of our life, it’s up to us to not use it as an excuse for not doing everything within our power to keep moving forward.
So, I’ll get the ball rolling. Here are a few of my goals for 2021. Some are repetitive, and that’s OK. Some goals are never fully accomplished and require continued diligence and effort. Here we go:
- All the above with the exception of selling and buying a house. We lived in our last house for almost 34 years, so we’re not the adventurous type when it comes to buying and selling homes. But the others all need to be repeated and hopefully better accomplished in 2021.
- Make changes to this website to make it more enjoyable for you, the reader.
- Post a blog every two weeks.
- Seek guidance in the area of ministry and service. This requires much prayer and is not in my hands. But I do want to be diligent in seeking and discerning God’s will regarding how He wants me to serve.
- Address some specific financial goals that need my attention.
- Take some road trips and more extensive travel (as the pandemic eases)
- Lose 25 pounds. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
- Develop and grow at least two new friendships
- Learn to play the ukulele.
Obviously, I have not shared all the specifics, but I have attempted to be transparent. I believe life is a journey and we should never think we’ve arrived. As a matter of fact, the fun and excitement lie mainly in the journey. And regardless of our age, we will be on this journey from the cradle to the grave. We can only keep moving forward and doing all we can to accomplish what we can with what we’ve been given. And I’m sure I’ll drop the ball from time to time. But again, the objective is to keep moving forward and keep trying.
A word of caution. I believe that we have to be careful when we set goals and measure our performance. I think we have to step back and ask ourselves why we are doing this. Even good motives might be wrong motives. For example, if the purpose is to demonstrate to others how motivated and accomplished you are, then you’re doing it out of pride. We all know that kind of pride is wrong.
If you’re doing it because you feel you have to prove something, then that may not be a good motive either. Who are you trying to impress? What happens if you fail?
My point is that we cannot let our goals and our accomplishments (or failures) define us. If they do, one of at least two things can happen. If we’re successful, then we may tend to think too highly of ourselves than we should. We may also look at others with a critical eye if they fail to be as goal oriented, or if they are less successful in achieving those goals. And if we come up short on our own goals, the wrong perspective can cause a devastating result. And trust me, we will come up short. We can be overly critical of ourselves and become obsessed with things that are not that important. I have to remind myself occasionally to celebrate small accomplishments and to not be too critical when I evaluate myself. Some things are simply beyond our control and may have a significant impact on how we measure our success.
Bottom line is that our accomplishments don’t define us. If we allow them to, we are putting ourselves in a very precarious position that can causes us to miss the point. We can make ourselves the focus and miss out on those things that really matter.
My life is not defined by what I have accomplished, but by my relationship with my Heavenly Father and how I seek to honor him with my life. One aspect of that, in my life, is to set goals that accomplish that purpose. Some are obviously self-serving, but that should not be my intent. But as long as my identity is found in Him, I can find balance in my life. Even if I fall short, I know that my relationship with him is unchanging. Why? Because He doesn’t change and He doesn’t love me based on what I do. He loves me because of His grace and His character. There is great comfort in knowing that. It is also liberating. It allows me to plan and pursue with enthusiasm, knowing that my purpose should be to honor Him and that even if I fail, my life is not over or even diminished.
I hope you have that relationship. I pray that you have experienced that grace. If not, I would encourage you to seek Him. This comes not at the expense of doing the best we can with our lives, but rather as the motivation and energy to do our best at accomplishing things that honor Him.
I wish I could find the words to better explain the relationship between living in His grace and doing what we can with our lives. I just don’t have the vocabulary to do that. But I would say this. I need to do all that I can. I need to set goals and pursue them. I need to measure my success so and know that I can do better. But at the end of the day, I can trust Him when I have done all I can. And I can trust Him when I haven’t. He understands our shortcomings. His grace is not dependent on us. Rather, we are dependent on His grace.
With this in mind, I plan to attack 2021 with as much vigor and passion as I can. But I also know that I won’t accomplish all my goals and that will be OK. I’ll try again. The graph of my efforts will be very zig-zagged. The graph of His acceptance and grace is a straight line that never changes or fades.
That is my motivation. That is my encouragement. That is my confidence.
Happy New Year!