How to Discern Your Goals for the Year

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

Stage 1: Evaluate

It’s important before setting goals for yourself in the future, to look first in the past. Oftentimes we try to look ahead and try to innovate new things for our lives, as if starting from scratch, when we can look back on past experiences and try to observe any patterns. At this stage, try to see whether or not you were making decisions throughout the year that aligned with your goals in the beginning. By doing this, you will be able to have evidence to determine whether you have been intentional with your decisions, or just haphazardly grabbing opportunities as they come.

1. Read through your goals at the start of the past year.

2. Evaluate your life in the year and what activities you engaged in. You can look back on old journal entries, old social media posts, or any form of documentation during that time in your life.

3. Look at major life events and decisions in each month of the past year. List them down.

4. Do these events and decisions accord with your goal/s at the start of the year?

Stage 2: Reflect

This is the stage where you take the things you engaged in the past year, and start asking yourself your “why”. Identify what core values have you been learning, and what value/s God might be leading you to pursue in the coming year. Note that this isn’t just a value that you think you should pursue, but something that has been powerfully relevant to your life.

1. Before setting goals, identify your core values. Remember, your goals must align with your values. Otherwise, you will burn out doing things that mean nothing to you.

2. Test your values. Search the Scriptures to see if and how your values align with God’s heart.

Stage 3: Resolve

Like Daniel before committing to his calling in Babylon, you have to resolve to focus on one important goal that will be your north star guiding you every single day, in every single thing you find yourself doing.

1. Conform your will to the will of God. Above everything, your ambition must be to glorify God next year. Write this down at the top of your values.

2. Resolve and agree that this is worth prioritizing.

Stage 4: Identify

Now, taking your list of core value/s and your “north star” of glorifying God, list down whatever specific projects (work, personal, passion, family, home, etc.) that align with these focuses. Be sure that these projects and goals fall under a certain category, and isn’t just something you mindlessly want.

1. List down all your goals for the next year.

2. Filter the list to those that align with your values.

3. From the filtered list, encircle those that will truly increase your love for God and will build up the body of Christ and win souls for God. These are your top priorities for the next year.

Stage 5: Pray

We can have so many plans in our lives, but God is still sovereign, and has the freedom to give or take them away. It is imperative that you involve God in your goal-setting.

1. Entrust this list to God. Pray over your list and ask God to give you wisdom, strength, patience, diligence and perseverance to live your life meaningfully even if it goes against the patterns of the world.

2. Carry on by faith.

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