This Is Not the Life I Ordered, But... It's Never Too Late to Begin Again!

  "Even in the darkest of circumstances, when life is not what you ordered, you can learn to begin again."                                                          

                                              -- Jan Eves, a remarried widow with five children

Several years ago, I endured one setback after another: medication problems, relationship issues, and personal projects that failed to materialize. These piled up and resulted in a major faith crisis for me.

Month after month, I battled giving in to despair. Sharing my inner pain with a few friends and my therapist helped. But, except for two friends, most changed the subject, or simply gave trite "spiritual, judgmental" answers like: "You shouldn't feel that way...You need to read your Bible and pray more..."

Feeling isolated and misunderstood, I read whatever I could find to keep my hopes alive and buoy my spirits. To stay afloat, I read numerous books, articles, and poems by people who had made it through the dark nights of their souls.

Some of their words infused my heart with a new optimism. Reading their stories and perspectives jarred me into being open to some new opportunities for my life. Out of that tortured, lonely time, I wrote a book, Abandoned and Betrayed by God: Surviving a Crisis of Faith to offer help and hope to fellow strugglers.

Finding new hope in life to replace your traumatic experiences can be a valuable exercise that keeps you moving through your dashed expectations to the other side. This is not always possible. Your pain may be too deep, and you may be wise to see a therapist for insights and support. However, most of the time, after a while, you can begin to think in new terms about your future.

Recall Your Past Successes, and God’s (or your Higher Power's) Past Interventions

Unquestionably, when you are in the midst of any kind of critical time, it’s easy to be so inundated with your current problem that mental-spiritual amnesia blots out all your previous personal successes, and awareness of God’s working in the past. Catching brief glimpses of His actions can make a huge difference.

The Simon Wiesenthal Foundation in Los Angeles is dedicated to keeping the memory of the WWII Jewish holocaust alive in order to prevent future atrocities. Its motto is:

“Hope lives when people remember.” (italics mine)

You can use your memory in one of two ways: one is not helpful, the other will make a huge difference. The first way you can use your memory is simply to do what comes naturally in difficult times. You keep recalling instant replays of all your failures, hurts, and unfair treatment, focusing your anger at life, people, and God, and how they've misled you and orchestrated your broken dreams. Unfortunately, this use of your memory can keep you locked into in the bad past, trapping you in self-pity, bitterness, and cynicism.

Whenever I started doing instant replays of the events that I felt caused my inner misery, I noticed how quickly my thoughts turned negative. I soon sank into the spiritual quicksand of despair. All I could do was obsess over my losses and dread the future.

Sadly, some people have worked so hard and are so fixed on their goals that when a setback wipes out their plans, they collapse in self-pity, anger, substance abuse, or other mechanisms to numb the pain of their loss.  This doesn't have to happen.

The second way you can use your memory will instill you with hope and endurance. This way takes deliberate effort to change your focus. It means calling to mind the instances when God has acted on your behalf, as well as through the difficulties of other people whom you know. This mental exertion can give you strength to gut it out through your terrible upsets and give you hope that things will eventually get better.

  

Strangely, reasoning with my memory actually helped my outlook become more upbeat. When I chose to think about past instances of God’s faithfulness to me and others, I was able to hang on, do whatever I could to survive, and wait for Him to intervene. I thought through that since I’d lost hope in the past and still recuperated, I could recover from this testing. If I could be rescued once, then I believed, I could be delivered again. This mental exercise actually helped my attitude to become more flexible, more optimistic.

Visualize a New Outcome for Your Life

Periodically, I pondered how I might move beyond my wounds and even use them to help others.

It may seem too simplistic, but ultimately, I found all strategies, sooner or later, meant that I had to give myself adequate time to process my pain, and exercise my faith in new ways.

Professor Kathryn Greene-McGreight, authored, Darkness Is My Only Companion. In her book, she shares her struggles with serious depression and mood swings, and candidly described her reactions to God’s seeming absence in her life of pain:

 “…even in my abandonment, I remembered even if only foggily that God had good plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11), plans for welfare and not for evil, to give me a future and a hope. It was painful to remember this, and I had to keep reminding myself over and over.” (italics mine)

Visualizing a different outcome for your life can be a useful tool in moving forward through a difficult personal crisis. Obviously, surviving any kind of setback is a highly individual matter. There’s no simple formula. You'll probably need to try a number of routes until you find a path that works for you.

The Bottom line for me and countless others: Life is all about recovery. Living in a broken world as a damaged person means that life is a series of new beginnings!

And rebounding from devastating losses and ruptured faith is, at core, an attitude-faith issue that requires resolve, discipline, and perseverance...as well as input and support from others.

Yes, I and countless others have found that it's never too late to begin again. And no matter what your circumstances, if you are willing to work at accepting reality (but not necessarily "liking" it), changing your outlook, and redeeming your shattered dreams, there's always the opportunity to start over...and over...and over.

As you consider re-tracing old steps, or taking new ones, please ponder these...

Words from sideline “Watchers, Wannabees:

"Any powerful idea is absolutely fascinating, and absolutely useless until we choose to use it!"

                        -- From Richard Bach's book, Jonathon Livingston Seagull"

I shot My Arrow                                                     Spring is past

I shot my arrow into the sky.                                  Spring is past,

I hit no thing. How it did fly.                                  Summer is gone.

I hit no thing for I did not try.                                 Winter is here,

I just shot my arrow into the sky.                            And my song that I was meant to sing

           -Author Unknown                                         Is still unsung.

                                                                                 I have spent my days

                                                                                 Stringing and unstring my instrument.

                                                                                            -Author Unknown

Words from “Try-ers,” Do-ers…

"When it is dark enough, men see the stars.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 “If you don’t learn how to flex, you’ll always be bent out of shape!”– (Author unknown)

“Behold the turtle—he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”

            -J.B. Conant, former president, Harvard University

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

            -Author Unknown

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of the deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold, timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

“Man’s finest hour, his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear, is that moment he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.”

            -NFL Coach Vince Lombardi

How about trying these suggestions for making a new start:

·      Recall God’s past interventions in your life or the lives of others

·      Visualize a new outcome for your life

As you step out, may you discover:

            healing for your hurts,

                        improved energy,

                                    a new openness for possibilities,

                                                rejuvenating adventures,

                                                            faith-stretching experiences,

                                                                        deep satisfaction,

                                                                             and the fresh fun of laughing at yourself and life!

       

"BUT HOW CAN I FORGIVE MYSELF?"

From a talk given by Dr. James T. Stout

If only I'd spent more time with my kids...
If only I'd not pushed so hard for the divorce...
If only I'd written him more letters before he died...
If only I hadn't compromised my morals...
If only I hadn't lost my temper so badly...
If only I hadn't smoked that first marijuana joint...
If only I could forgive myself!

Are you bothered by an "if only?" Are you weighed down with guilt over something in your past? Does your conscience torment you? Can you identify with King David who centuries ago penned these wrenching words from the 51st Psalm, "my sin is ever before me"?

The writer of the 130th Psalm certainly could resonate with King David’s anguish. Listen
to his cry: "Out of the depths have I called to Thee, oh Lord; Lord Hear my cry. Let thy
ears be attentive to my plea for mercy."

Maybe it was a great failure in his past.
Maybe it was some horrible sin he'd committed.
Perhaps it was just the build-up of repeated wrongs.
Can you imagine the thoughts that might have ravaged his mind?

“How can I ever pick up the pieces again? At night I can't sleep because of the echoes from my past. During the day I try to keep busy to avoid the awful regrets, the painful remorse. But the memories won't fade. At times the regret of it all sweeps in and almost overwhelms me. I vacillate between aching remorse and utter self-hate. Tears bring no release. Can I ever erase these memories? Could I ever start my life over again, fresh?”

I suppose the psalmist grasped at almost anything that would salve his crippled conscience. Maybe at first he blamed others for his problem. Maybe he tried to rationalize that what he'd done really wasn't so bad after all. Perhaps he used his guilty feelings as an excuse to plunge into further sin and rebellion. If you’ve ever dieted, you know how that works. You slip and eat an extra roll. Then you say, "well, I've gone this far...might as well let out all the stops...pass the apple pie alá mode.” Probably there were many times when he almost gave up and kicked his life in neutral gear to drift into mental oblivion of his past. Or maybe during his darkest moments when he could see no hope for a new start his depression reached rock bottom. Perhaps in those lonely times he considered taking his life. Maybe you're having great difficulty closing the door on your past. You can’t God's forgiveness and you can’t forgive yourself. If that's the case, then I believe the words of the 130th Psalm can be especially meaningful to you.

How did the psalmist find release from the guilt that tortured him? He took four specific steps to find freedom from the burden of his remorse.

I. HE CAME TO GOD ABOUT HIS FEELINGS OF GUILT

First, he came to God with his problem, "Out of the depths have I called Thee, O Lord: Lord hear my cry." I have a friend in Miami who had a severe guilt problem. He went from one psychiatrist to another trying to find relief from his mental anguish. No luck. Finally, he turned to God. Got things "off his chest." Aired his feelings. Squared things with Him. Today he's a different person. I don't care how "bad" you feel or how many times you've failed, come to God. Tell Him you're "hurting." He can handle your doubts, your feelings of failure, your loss of hope.

II. HE ADMITTED THAT BASICALLY HE'D DISOBEYED GOD

The second step the psalmist took was to assume personal responsibility for the cause of his guilty feelings. Catch what he says, "Let Thy ears be attentive to my plea for mercy. If Thou, Lord, shouldest keep account of sins, who, Lord, could hold up his head?" He was willing to admit, "Lord, underneath it all I've been wrong. My attitude toward difficult circumstances and toward others, and my actions were wrong. I'm to blame." He doesn't look for excuses. He takes the ultimate blame for his actions.

Dr. Hobart Mowrer, a noted research psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, has made some startling discoveries in the field of psychiatry. Mowrer believes that the majority of patients in mental hospitals are there not because they're organically ill but because of their failure to cope with their guilt.

Psychoanalysis, as helpful as it is in understanding oneself, does not eliminate guilt. It shifts it. Often classic psychiatry seeks to delve into one's past to pin the blame on parents, grand-parents, school, church or adverse circumstances...instead of the individual himself. Mowrer says: "a patient's problems are moral, not medical. He suffers from real guilt, not guilt feelings (false guilt). He is not a victim of his conscience but a violator of it. He must stop blaming others and accept responsibility for his own poor behavior. Problems will be solved, not be ventilation of feelings but rather by confession of sin."


Mowrer has backed his theories up with solid proof. In two Illinois state mental hospitals, he put his ideas into action. He dealt with patients who'd been hospitalized for years and had undergone extensive psychoanalysis. These people were classified as "sick" with some form of psychosis or another. Many were considered "incurable." In a matter of weeks, Mowrer found that the patients' problems were basically due to their own making, their own bad attitudes or actions. Their guilts surfaced in many ways, manifesting numerous "deep psychological problems." Some had been involved in immoral activities or ethical compromises.


But once patients were confronted with this and were willing to assume personal responsibility for their actions, dramatic healing and restoration occurred that was unparalleled in either institution.


Dr. Karl Meninger, founder of the "Meninger Clinic" in Topeka, Kansas, authored the bestseller, "Whatever Became of Sin." The point of his book? Simply that we've got to realize we can't shift the blame for our guilt onto others for our wrong actions. We have a free will. We must come to grips with our own culpability. We must be willing to say "I was wrong. Underneath it all, I'm responsible. Basically, I've rebelled against God's will for my life. I'm to blame."


To be freed from your guilt feelings, you must face up to your part in causing your problem.


III. HE REPENTED

The third step the psalmist took was to repent, "If Thou, oh Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand. But there is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared."


The writer of Proverbs put it this way, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper but he who confesses them and forsakes them will obtain mercy."


Janet Dyer is a friend of mine. She's a Christian. An alcoholic, working her way to being an ex-alcoholic. She's struggled with her drinking problem for years. Recently she faced the fact that her habit was not a direct result of the influences of her alcoholic father. She came to grips that her excessive indulgence was also caused by her own decisions to drown her frustrations with alcohol. Her decisions.


What did she do? She repented. She made a U-turn. An about-face. She was willing to re-structure her life. She dropped some friends that were negative influences on her. She stopped visiting the lounges she'd formerly frequented. She began spending time with several other Christian women who could help her when she was in a vulnerable moment. Today's she's found freedom. She's a different person. But it started with her being willing to make a mental U-turn, surrender her life and problem to God and get involved with positive, safe people whom He sent her way.


If you want to find freedom from your guilt, you've got to repent, make a clean break with your wrong past actions and attitudes, and turn to God and safe people for comfort, guidance and instruction.


You say, "I've tried those things. I've come to God dozens of times. I've told him how sorry I was. I've admitted I was wrong. I've tried to change. But I still feel guilty. I can't stop hating myself. What can I do? If you're a Christian and can't seem to forgive yourself, there may be some valid reasons for
your feelings.


If you've confessed and repented of your sin and still are unable to experience God's peace, then maybe you're listening to some lies of Satan. The Book of Revelation calls Satan "the accuser of the brethren." It is he who will put thoughts in your mind like: "You don't think God could forgive you after what you’ve done? You can't make a new start. You've been too bad for God to forgive you."


Maybe you can't pardon yourself because you're living by your feelings instead of what God says in His Word. Self-hate. Self-condemnation. A relentless desire to punish yourself for having failed.


You say, "How can I learn to accept myself again?" Do what the psalmist did.


Step One–Tell God how you feel. Tell Him you want to accept his forgiveness and forgive yourself.

Step Two–Admit you've been the cause of your guilty feelings.
Step Three–Be willing to make the necessary changes in your life that His Spirit points out.

Step Four–Trust what God says instead of your own guilty feelings.


IV. HE TRUSTED GOD'S WORD OF FORGIVENESS RATHER THAN HIS OWN
FEELINGS OF GUILT

The psalmist wrote, "I wait for the Lord. My soul waits and in His Word I hope."


The Bible is called the Word of God because it is His written Word to his people. Hundreds of times checkered throughout the Old and New Testaments, God promises his never - ending, love and mercy. Here are some of the Old Testament promises that the psalmist may have leaned on as he penned the 130th Psalm:

"As far as the east is from the west so far does He remove our transgressions from us." (Ps. 103:12)


"Come now let us reason together saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." (Is.1:18)


"I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 31:34)

"I even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins."(Is. 43.25)


The New Testament's also loaded with God's promises of forgiveness:

"If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn. 1:9)


All these promises of God's love and forgiveness were fleshed out when God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ went to his death on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine.

The Cross was God's way of saying "I'm willing to go this far to prove my love for you...to restore you to Myself...there's nothing more you can do to earn my love, my forgiveness." That's why Jesus cried from the Cross, "It is finished." There's nothing more you can do to earn God’s forgiveness of your sins. Christ shed His precious blood so that God could forgive you. That's why John the Baptist said of Him, "Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world."


When I was student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, one of my professors had a leather bullwhip hung on the corner wall of his office. Sometimes students would seek out this professor when they were discouraged. He'd say "What's the matter?" "Well, 'prof,' I've just had a bad fight with my wife. It was my fault. I just can't forgive myself. I feel terrible inside." The wise scholar would ask, "Have you confessed it to God?" "Yes." "And you've still found no relief for your feelings?" "That's right...I still can't forgive myself. I believe that God's forgiven me, but I still hate myself." The professor would say, "Let's look at what God says about this in the Bible." He'd turn to
some verses of forgiveness. Then he'd say, "God says if you've confessed your sins and repented of them, he promises to forgive you, doesn't he?" "Yes." "And yet you still can't forgive yourself?" "Right."


Then I suggest that you've got one or two choices to make.


"Either you can believe what God says about His forgiveness...or you don't. Simple as that. You can walk out of my office believing God's forgiven you...and start loving yourself,... or you can leave here bogged down in self-hate again. If you decide not to take God at His Word, why not physically beat yourself. It'll work better than mentally torturing yourself!" Then he'd take the leather whip down from the wall, "Here, use this...flagellate yourself! It'll make you feel even worse!"


The psalmist had to trust what God said. Instead of his own feelings of unworthiness. If he let them influence him, he'd sink under the weight of his overburdened conscience.


The Harvard psychologist, William James, devised a sound psychological method: the James–Lange Theory. If you act as if something is true about yourself, you'll soon feel that way and actually become that way. If you're a coward and want to be brave, act as if you are brave. Soon you'll begin to feel brave and be brave.


The same principle holds true in areas of human guilt. If you've confessed and repented of your past yet still find it hard to forgive yourself, act as if you've been forgiven...take God's promises of forgiveness literally and act as if they're true. This is faith in action. It takes practice. And it works.
When your feelings of guilt start to surface, claim God's promises. Act as if you are forgiven.


It doesn't' matter how badly you've messed up your life. Or how many times you've sinned. Or how awful your sin. God's in the business of re-cycling lives. The Bible says that there's only one sin that God will not forgive; "the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." In essence, this is one’s final rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

God loves you. He wants to forgive you. He wants to give you a new start.


If you're having a hard time forgiving yourself you've got one of several choices to make. You can continue blaming the circumstances that "caused you to sin." You can try to rationalize that what you've done really isn't "that bad" and try to forget by shoving it under the carpet of your mind.


Or you can follow the four steps that the psalmist did. You can come to God. Admit your wrongdoing. Be willing to make a U-turn. Take God at his Word that He really will forgive you.


How about it? How are you going to handle your guilt problem? The choice is yours.

Planning, Goal-setting, God and You.

Question:

What should I say to a friend who believes the Bible teaches that it’s wrong to make plans? She
quotes Jesus’ words as proof that Christians ought not to set goals or make plans, Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its
own. (Matt. 6:34 NIV)? My friend points out the admonitions about planning that are repeated
elsewhere in Scripture such as in James 4:13-14,

Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’

Because of these teachings, she will not make any plans for tomorrow even like accepting an
invitation to come to my house for dinner. It’s very frustrating.

Answer:

Your friend has latched onto an unfortunate translation of the Greek. The verb translated in
the King James translation as “take no thought” is better translated in the New International
Version translation as “do not worry.” Jesus is not advising us to stop making plans and setting goals.
He is advising us not to worry about anything, including plans or coming events. You might remind your friend of Bible passages that put planning and goal-setting in proper balance between faith
and anxiety, between planning and trusting God for outcomes.

In fact, Jesus had goals and made plans. Dr. Luke records, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51) Jesus made other plans as well. For instance, Matt.6:17-19 and Luke 22:2-13 show that Jesus had already made prior arrangements with the owner of the house where he was to eat the Passover with his disciples.

The Apostle Paul was constantly setting goals and making plans. In Romans 15:20-24, Paul wrote,
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation...But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain...(Romans 15:20-24 NIV)


Rev. Steve Brown of Key life Ministries agrees that we Christians ought not to be excessively
anxious. But he also believes in the importance of goals and plans. He notes, “Needs are not met
by accident. Things just don’t happen in a church. They happen by planning and organization. It
sounds very spiritual to say that the Holy Spirit will do everything needful, but it just isn’t true in
a biblical sense. On almost every page of the gospels we see Jesus as a Man with a plan.”

Isn’t it noteworthy that our salvation was all part of God’s plan? Ephesians 1:11 states,
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

Here are a few Bible Statements about Planning & Goal Setting:


Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits
wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Get good advice and you will succeed; don’t go charging into battle without a plan. (Proverbs 20:18)

We should make plans–counting on God to direct us. (Proverbs 16:8)

We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God’s hands. (Proverbs 16:1)

Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)

A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. The simpleton never
looks, and suffers the consequences. (Proverbs 27:12)

Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits
wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. (Proverbs 24:3,4)

Plans go wrong with too few counselors; many counselors bring success. (Proverbs 15:22)

Ask the Lord to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out. (Proverbs 16:3)


David said, Because the hand of the Lord was upon me and he gave me understanding in all the
details of the plan. David also said to Solomon, his son, Be strong and courageous, and do the
work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail
you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. – Chronicles 28:19-20 NIV


Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to
the Lord; trust him and he will do this–Psalm 37:4,5

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)


The Dangers of Not Setting Goals and Planning

I Shot My Arrow


“I shot my arrow into the sky.

I hit no thing. How did it fly.

I hit no thing for I did not try.

I just shot my arrow into the sky.”
      -Author Unknown


Spring Is Past

“Spring is past,

Summer is gone,

Winter is here,

And my song that I was meant to sing

Is still unsung.

I have spent my days

Stringing and unstringing my instrument”

      -Unknown Oriental Poet


“For all the sad works of tongue and pen,

The saddest of these: It might have been!”
      -John Greenleaf Wittier


“I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail, than attempt to do nothing and succeed!”
     -Author Unknown

The Benefits of Planning & Goal-Setting


“Behold, the turtle-he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out!”
      -J.B. Conant, former President of Harvard University.


“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore!”
      -Author Unknown


“To do and dare–not what you would, but what is right.

Never to hesitate over what is within your power,
but boldly to grasp what lies before you.

Not in the flight of fancy, but only in the deed

there is freedom.

Away from timidity and reluctance!

Out in the storm of event, sustained only by the

Commandment of God and your faith,

And freedom will receive your spirit with exultation.”
      -Dietrich Bonfoeffer, Lutheran Pastor


“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or
where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions,
and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place
shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
      -Theodore Roosevelt


“Man’s finest hour, his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear, is that moment he has worked his
heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.”
      -Vince Lombardi, Head Football Coach, Green Bay Packers


Suggested Steps for Setting Goals and Making Plans

1) Crystalize your thinking into a focused goal.


What is it you want to do? Boil it down in your thinking. Discuss your ideas with friends. Pray about it. Streamline it. Then, write it down! It’s easy to forget mental or even discussed ideas, but written goals remind us and keep us on course. Divide your goals into high priority and low priority.


2) Develop a concrete, measurable plan of action and a specific, deadline for achieving your goals.


Nothing great happens by accident. Success requires specific action!
A plan of action bridges the gap between wish and fulfillment.
Anticipate and identify obstacles and devise solutions.

Keep a notebook of your plan of goal(s), plan(s) of action and deadline(s).

* * * * * * *

“To every man there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on
the shoulder and offered that chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his
talents.”
      -Sir Winston Churchill


Therefore, “Carpe Diem” (“Seize the Day”)!...Go For it!