I have some bad news for you. If you haven’t started to plan your 2016 or to work on your 2016 goals, then you’re already behind my dear! But no worries because we’re about to fix that!
One of the greatest keys to success is clarity of vision. If you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you’ve reached it? Better yet, how will you make your plans to achieve it if you don’t know what you want?
Once you determine what you want, you can start to set goals to help you get there. I like to call it my “cause and effect” strategy or simply working backwards. Don’t wait until 2016 to start planning 2016, determine what you want to happen in 2016 and start setting your goals now.
Get specific with your goals. “Gaining weight” is not an effective goal neither is “Getting closer to God” or “Be happy.” Neither of these goals is specific and measurable with deadlines. Your goals must be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Specific.
Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. That’s why it’s vital to set your 2016 goals now, not on January 15th. I set my 2016 goals about a month ago. Once I did that, I set my December goals as action steps to help me accomplish my 2016 goals. Instead of looking behind, press on towards the rewards of your future. You have to be proactive in manifesting your vision for 2016. Vague goals will produce vague results.
Instead of a goal being, “Getting closer to God” change it around to be “I will spend 15 minutes a day in prayer and meditation on God’s word, five times a week.” Or instead of saying “make more money,” change it to “I will get new job making an annual salary of at least $70,000.” The latter goals are more descriptive and it dictates the action that you need to take to accomplish your goal.
Also, start to expect goodness, miracles and favor to come your way for 2016. Expectation sets the atmosphere for a miracle and too many of us have been bamboozled to think negatively or have limited thinking. Limited thinking will breed limited results.
Speak out loud what you want to see happen in 2016. Write out a list of things that you want to see realized in your life and read it out loud daily until you see it happen. Confess it and declare it in faith. You are to walk and live by faith, not by sight. If there’s one thing that I challenge you to do differently, is to change the way you think and speak. Stop focusing on what you can do in your own strength, and start to speak out what God can do for you simply because of His grace. You don’t earn it; you just believe it and receive it.
You’ll get what you expect and you’ll attract what you believe. It’s time to leave the limited thinking and the faithless attitude in 2015. If you’ve been disappointed in 2015, don’t let your disappointment steal your expectation. Without expectation, change will never be made visible in your life.
Last year, I shared this exercise with you and I want you to do it again to help you determine what areas of your life need a little bit more transforming than others for 2016. Below is a photo of “The Wheel of Life” which is broken down into the following areas: career, finance, personal growth, health, family, spirituality, social life, and attitude.
Within each category, there are numbers between 1-10 which are there to help you rate your life in that category; 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. After you rate your life in the corresponding category, you then color into the number you rated the category which is depicted in the wheel above. If there are categories that are low, then it’s time to live with intention and fix it. Why is it low? What do you think you need to learn from this situation? What measures are you going to take to raise that category in 2016? If you have several low ranking categories, then attack one category at a time and start with the easiest one first and move on to the next.
I declare that 2016 is your year of restoration, reconciliation and recompense. This is your year for change and although you’ve been praying for change, it’s time for you to exercise the power and ability living inside of you to create change with your thoughts, words, actions, expectation and attitude.
2016 is your year to become legendary!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy