City Harvest Church KL Blog

Dear Church,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

How are you doing? I pray that this week’s Pastor Writes finds you blessed and in the best of health. 2010 has just begun. I know many of you are still in the midst of writing and fine tuning your New Year resolutions. It is perfectly fine. It is better to pen down well-thought resolutions than simply scribbling and doing it because we have to. For those who are still working on your list, let me share with you some pointers here. One of the principles that I have learned over the years when it comes to writing down my goals is to adopt the S.M.A.R.T principle:

i. Specific
Be specific and try to be as accurate as possible. Don’t have a general goal. It can be meaningless. If your goal is to lose some weight, then it is better to set a target of say, maintaining our weight at 75kg. It is more effective that way than just by wanting to slim down.

ii. Measurable
Our goals ought to be measurable. If we want to be on top of our finances, then we need to have a plan of how much we want to save by which month. That way we will know if we are on track.

iii. Action Plan
What is your strategy? How are you going to achieve your goal? Are you going to invest your money or are you going to sign up to a gym membership?

iv. Realistic
We ought to be people with high ideals and big visions. However, our goals have to be realistic at the same time. We cannot aim to save RM1 million if we have yet to learn how not to live in debts!
v. Time-Conscious
Every vision is a goal with a deadline. We do not have forever to do something. We cannot take our own sweet time to do a simple task. We need to work within a reasonable time frame. If our goal is huge, then we may need a few years to achieve it. However, every year’s hard work must contribute towards that goal.

Church, let’s be smart when it comes to goal-setting. Let’s be practical. When we know how to strike the balance, I believe we will look at each new-year with new zeal and new excitement!

Let’s make 2010 a fun and fulfilling year.

Blessings,

KEV