Goal Blockers – Top Five

“No man became great or good except through many great mistakes.” William E. Gladstone

Why do thoughts about setting goals and resolutions get on our nerves? Or awaken vague feelings of fear. Perhaps we remember past attempts to achieve certain goals all too well. Maybe we skipped the diet, experienced business failure, or yelled at the kids too much. Maybe we missed a great opportunity in the stock market. Or fell for the late-night infomercial widget. Possibly we have not been successful in living up to our potential and feel the pain of the gap. And we all have some memory of when our best intentions blew up in our faces.

Like in 1978, when firefighters went on strike in England. This attack made possible one of the greatest animal rescues of all time. Emergency firefighting efforts were nobly taken up by the British Army. On January 14, an old lady in London called them to get the cat back from her. They arrived in record time, and with great ingenuity and delicacy, they rescued the cat from her. When they started to walk away, the lady was very grateful; she waved them down and invited the heroes for a cup of tea. Walking away later with lots of smiles and warm memories of his brave deed, they ran over the cat and killed it.

So what do you and I do with our mix of failures, disappointments, and blunders? Can we drag them into a nearby ditch and trade opportunities for new starts? And what’s more, where do we find time for goals beyond laundry, work schedules, and driving to Miss Teenager? We dare to laugh a little at ourselves and wonder at the pomp God could have in store.

Before we throw away dreams and goals… let’s remember that each of us already possesses the capacity, wisdom, and ability to live a life aligned with the greater purposes for which God has designed us. However, Five Goal Blockers stumbles even the most sincere.

Using the acronym GOALS, let’s make a clean slate of:

TOP FIVE GOAL BLOCKERS…

• GUILT… We point to guilt as if there is a reward for it. Confess and shave the beard of yesterday’s guilt. Guilt and its cousin remorse, like a ball and chain, drag us down, paralyzing our best intentions for new beginnings. Should have, could have, could have… Waste of time! ARE YOU GUILTY? “Guilt is as useless as a shower curtain made of toilet paper.” Pam Young, founder of Deviant Domestic Executives

We spent a lot of time with this goal blocker. Turn the tide and spend a few moments savoring your growth over the last month, six months, year!

• OTHERS… Who we are a year from now will be greatly influenced by the people we surround ourselves with. Think about the friends and acquaintances in your circle. Should these continue?

• ALWAYS… Longing for the good morning? When we are forever trampling on the past, the gifts of the present are hidden. Youth, jobs, dreams, relationships, the city we live in, having children at home, everyone can have their season. Nostalgia, however, at some point, must bend the knee. “Look, I’m doing something new! Now it’s springing up; don’t you see it? I’m making a way in the desert and streams in the wilderness”. Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)

• LOSSES… When we yearn for a new life, it’s hard to imagine, let alone chart a better tomorrow. Heavyweight champion, grillmaster and now pastor, George Forman, after the breakup of his first marriage, found the grief of his wife’s departure overwhelming. He finally made a deal with God. If God took away bread, he would tell people that they can go through anything. The next day he woke up and felt new strength inside him. It still hurts. But he did it. And George kept his promise. He still tells others, they too…will make it. Thanks Jorge!

• SAY NO… “People with common sense know when to say no.” Who or what did you say “Yes” to when you should have said “No”? Perhaps, at best, we can say “No” to the “little extras” in life. Extra debts, jobs, clothes, hobbies or pounds that don’t suit us. What “little extras” can you say “No” to? A little more of this, a little more of that, and the best we can hope for is that our goals smile at us from a far corner.

Which of the top five goal blockers do you face?

Like it or not, you and I are developing Black Belts in Life Management. When dealing with the top five target blockers, the best thing we can do is make friends with our past and appreciate the joy before us. We can see the failures and losses of the past as the conclusion of a chapter, not the end of possibilities for the future.

So, lift the lid on your trash can every day. Take care of those infuriating goal blockers. They are masters at undermining our trust and decide to start over. The Old Testament prophet Joel must have had some run-ins with these guys. His advice: “Let the weak SAY, I am strong.” Joel 3:10 (emphasis mine)

Folks, we worry about the big stuff, but those little wackos, those Goal Blockers that plague us year after year… Now we have something to say about it!

Just don’t run over the cat!

Libba Narron Lewey ©All rights reserved worldwide

“Who do I have to become to achieve these goals? The answer to that question excites me more than the goals!” T. C. Cummings