Wow, 2012 RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!
What do you Think about that?! Are you AMPED, PUMPED, NERVOUS, EXCITED, CONCERNED, or ANTICIPATING Something GREAT?
Every New Year brings with it many questions and of course…. resolutions, “Is THIS year going to be like LAST Year?, I wonder if I can Lose the weight FOR REAL this year? Im Gonna Save $10,000 by the end of the year! Im gonna get a Raise this year! Im gonna kick the habit this year!”
You will hear all of these things in the following weeks. Jan 1 will find people racing to the Gyms, Signing up for 30 week seminars on Financial Success, getting up and praying, eating that nice little salad with a teaspoon of ranch dressing….All for the sake of a decision and a dream to look better, feel better, and live in comfort.
Well, there is nothing wrong with these resolutions or goals. The only thing wrong is that about 2 weeks later, the treadmills at the gym will be free, that 30 week seminar will reschedule multiple times due to “no shows” and the savings account that the person started is in the negative due to an “emergency situation”.
What’s wrong with this picture? Well, Ill tell you because I
was one of those people who MADE a Decision to lose weight, save more, spend
less, and eat right, but I didn’t MANAGE
that Decision.
Here’s what I mean…
Making a Decision is easy, everyone makes them whether right or wrong, but MANAGING a Decision requires a few words that I used to DETEST which are: PLAN, WORK, DICIPLINE, and CONSISTENCY. These factors make a GOAL a Reality!
I was a person who wanted things to work themselves out, I didn’t want to sweat, I didn’t want to have to press. I wanted to “prime the pump” of weight loss with my temporary discomfort of running that mile, and then sit on the couch and watch the fat melt off…Well CLEARLY that didn’t happen.
This past year has taught me to PLAN ahead, which deals with
literally THINKING through my intent of execution and asking myself “How is
this going to happen?” It’s not enough just to write a Goal down, you have to
think through its execution and the steps you WILL Take to get there.
WORK is a Dirty word to many people. Many believe that after you get saved that God is going to rain down manna from heaven every morning with a side of Orange Juice. Guess what…Its NOT going to happen! You have to WORK! The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “if a man doesn’t work He doesn’t EAT!” Meaning that, if I don’t WORK, I will NOT Produce, and What I Do NOT Produce, I Cannot ENJOY! Proverbs 14:23 Says this “IN ALL Labor, There is PROFIT, but mere TALK leads to Poverty”. SO THAT Scripture ALONE brings more clarity to WORK! As long as you WORK hard, there is SOME SORT of Benefit attached to it, but do NO Work and Regret will be your companion!
Discipline is the ability to CONSISTENTLY ENFORCE OBEDIENCE! This means I have to develop the mental and physical strength to DO SOMETHING That IM Not NECESSARILY EXCITED about doing at the moment!
THIS is something that is PARAMOUINT!
Many People lack results because they lack discipline! If you DEVELOP Discipline in 2011 and carry it over into 2012 YOU WILL BE AMAZED at your OWN Results, but you HAVE to be consistent! John 8:31 paraphrased says “…If you CONTINUE in my word, Then are you my Disciples.” Disciple, in short, means “learner, follower, devotee, or disciplined one”, so we see here that the key to being disciplined is CONTINUING, which leads me to my last point.
CONSISTENCY is the act of continuing doing something over and over again until the desired result appears! This is a tricky one, because you can persist at working out, lose 10lbs of your 30lb goal and STOP because you feel good! You CANNOT do this in 2012! Your body and goals are not a YO YO, so stop PLAYING with it!
You WILL hit your goals this year if you commit to these few things and I GUARANTEE you will LIVE in the reality of your dreams and Eat the Fruit of your labor. The practice of these principle will PROVE to be the determining factors of 2012 being your Year of BREAKDOWN or BREAKTHROUGH!
SO raise your Apple Cider and TOAST to 2012!!!
-TS
