Happy New Year's Resolutions

The new year is just around the corner, and many of us are thinking of our new year's resolutions. While goals and resolutions are great, it's important that we make specific, realistic goals to make sure we don't get overwhelmed or discouraged. I would like to share some ideas from an Enrichment Night I had last year. (Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the sister who presented these ideas, and it's not on the hand-out, so whoever you were, I'm not trying to claim your ideas as my own, and THANK YOU! They've made a difference in my life.)

President Hinckley taught us how to set goals

When President Hinckley asked every member of the church to read the Book of Mormon, he inspired thousands of us to stretch ourselves, and most of us did! Part of the reason we succeeded was that President Hinckley created a goal with some elements that set us up for success:

*He asked us to read the Book of Mormon by December 30 (The goal was time-bound)

*He asked us to read just a little more than a page-and-a-half a day. (The goal was realistic)

*He told us, “...there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." He told us our families would be blessed. (He made the goal inspiring).

*He asked us to read the entire book. (The goal was measurable–either you did it, or you did not).

Here are some hints for making your goal easier to reach:

T = Time Bound Choose a deadline and mark it on a calendar
R = Realistic Choose a target you’re pretty sure you can reach
I = Inspiring Pick a goal that really matters to you. For example, instead of saying “I will lose 10 pounds,” you could say, “I want to jog for 45 minutes at least three times a week in preparation for a 5-K charity run.”
M = Measurable Will you know it if you’ve reached your goal or not? “I want to learn to play the guitar” is not measurable. “I want to learn to play two songs on the guitar” is.

This great sister also suggested a way to help you decide what kind-of goals you might want in your life. She created a target with four rings. The things she put in the middle ring were the most important, and the things in the outside ring were the least important. (She didn't give examples, everyone's priorities would be different.) Don't write what you think your priorities should be, write what you really think is most important to you. Then you can decide where you need to invest your time.

Happy Goal Setting!