Goals
Upcoming Events
Tuesday January 2 Bible Study at Judy Camp’s house
Saturday, January 6 Sports Day. Info To Be Determind (We’ll also have a short leadership meeting after the games)
Goals
When I was in school January 1st never really seemed like the beginning of the year. After all, it was right in the middle of the school year. September was always my logical “first of the year."
No matter what time of the year feels like the beginning, a tradition is very common among the peoples of the world. Some call them New Year’s Resolutions others eat 12 grapes at Midnight on December 31st and make wishes. Regardless of what the tradition is called, we are looking ahead into the future and trying to plan for it.
Some ways of planning are better than other. Resolutions typically work for a few weeks and then become forgotten. Goals, however, tend to be much longer lasting. Take, for example, a survey taken in 1979 of 1,000 graduates from Harvard University. Of these thousand students 84% entered the real world with no defined goals. 13% had unwritten goals in their head. and 3% actually had written goals for their future.
In 1989 the same group of students were contacted again and asked about how much money they had earned in the past ten years. The 13% with unwritten goals, on average, had earned two times as much as the 84% with no goals. But, the 3% who left college with written goals earned an average of ten times more than the other 97%.
The moral of the story is to make plans for the future because it pays. This story was obviously about making money, which Jesus regularly talked about. (Matt 25:14 – 30, Mark 10:17 – 31, 12:1 – 12, just to name a few) But setting goals for ourselves can carry over into many areas of life, some which are more valuable than money.
Consider making goals this year about your relationship with God. What about being a leader in our church or youth group? School work? Time with your family? Your relationship with your parents?
Also, be aware that when we make goals there are always two ways we easily break them. We usually break them if our goals are not specific and also if we don’t tell anyone else.
So I encourage you to write down three to five goals for this year in a place where you will not loose them. Then tell someone you trust what you want to do or become and have them ask you from time to time if you are accomplishing your goals.
May God bless you and our youth group this year. I believe God has very big plans for us individually and together.
- Matt
Tuesday January 2 Bible Study at Judy Camp’s house
Saturday, January 6 Sports Day. Info To Be Determind (We’ll also have a short leadership meeting after the games)
Goals
When I was in school January 1st never really seemed like the beginning of the year. After all, it was right in the middle of the school year. September was always my logical “first of the year."
No matter what time of the year feels like the beginning, a tradition is very common among the peoples of the world. Some call them New Year’s Resolutions others eat 12 grapes at Midnight on December 31st and make wishes. Regardless of what the tradition is called, we are looking ahead into the future and trying to plan for it.
Some ways of planning are better than other. Resolutions typically work for a few weeks and then become forgotten. Goals, however, tend to be much longer lasting. Take, for example, a survey taken in 1979 of 1,000 graduates from Harvard University. Of these thousand students 84% entered the real world with no defined goals. 13% had unwritten goals in their head. and 3% actually had written goals for their future.
In 1989 the same group of students were contacted again and asked about how much money they had earned in the past ten years. The 13% with unwritten goals, on average, had earned two times as much as the 84% with no goals. But, the 3% who left college with written goals earned an average of ten times more than the other 97%.
The moral of the story is to make plans for the future because it pays. This story was obviously about making money, which Jesus regularly talked about. (Matt 25:14 – 30, Mark 10:17 – 31, 12:1 – 12, just to name a few) But setting goals for ourselves can carry over into many areas of life, some which are more valuable than money.
Consider making goals this year about your relationship with God. What about being a leader in our church or youth group? School work? Time with your family? Your relationship with your parents?
Also, be aware that when we make goals there are always two ways we easily break them. We usually break them if our goals are not specific and also if we don’t tell anyone else.
So I encourage you to write down three to five goals for this year in a place where you will not loose them. Then tell someone you trust what you want to do or become and have them ask you from time to time if you are accomplishing your goals.
May God bless you and our youth group this year. I believe God has very big plans for us individually and together.
- Matt
posted by Murray @ 12:26 PM
2 Comments:
At 1/14/2007 11:20 PM,
Anonymous said…
good idea! Maybe writing them down will make a difference because so far I haven't stuck to them.
At 1/15/2007 9:23 PM,
Anonymous said…
That sounds like a good idea. i'll try it and also try and use it for our cross country team.
Daniel
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