I start writing my goals for the new year on October 1st and try and have them all completed by October 27, which is my birthday. I run my goals from October 27th to October 27th instead of January 1st. I just finished them and I have 74 because I am going to be 74 on my birthday. The increase of my number of goals by one each year is my statement that I am going to do more as I get older, not do less.

About 35 of my goals are a repeat of last year such as, “I will read 12 chapters every day in my Bible,” “I will pray three times each week with Patty,” “I will pray for everybody at JBC each week,” “I will pray for everybody at Agape Family Fellowship every week,” “I will pray for my 8 kids, their 8 spouses and our 29 grandkids every day,” and I have 30 more like that. There are two reasons that I repeat those 35 goals each year, the first reason is because they are such important disciplines and I want to be sure that I stay faithful to them. The second is because I hand out my goals to a lot of people to encourage them to set goals and I use my goals as a model and I want them to set similar goals.

39 of my goals are new or semi-new and they are the ones I really get excited about!

Some of my new goals that I am excited about this coming year are; “I will restore my 1950 Ford Club Coupe with a Flathead V8 engine,” “I will put in a 1/4 acre fish pond and stock it with bass.” “I will bicycle the Pacific coast from Canada to Mexico,” “Patty and I will go to Hawaii this winter to visit our youngest daughter, Sally, and her family,” “ we will go to Fairbanks, Alaska to visit Shelley and her family around May,” “I will work hard pastoring Agape Family Fellowship, preaching each week with a goal of an average attendance of 100 by the end of 2023,”

Goals are a great tool for managing your life and doing what you want instead of what everybody else wants from you. Take the time and write out at least a dozen goals and read them every day. I would love it if you would send me a copy.