Every year, people have New Year’s Resolutions. They have a word that they are declaring over their life, and they’re super expectant and excited about all the things that they are going to accomplish. Shoot, I’m right there with them! But how do you really dominate your goals? How do you figure them out and make them happen? Well you’ve come to the right blog post! Here are my 3 tips!

1. Write Down Your Goals

We all know the scripture that says write the vision and make it plain (Habakkuk 2:2), but just to reinforce or remind you of what you already know, there is so much power in writing down your goals! Let me share a story with you.

In 2019, I didn’t write any goals down. Looking back, all I can say is LOL, but I really wanted God to be my sole focus and didn’t want to have any other goals except for Him. So I didn’t write anything down and you can guess what happened. Nothing!

Okay, don’t give me wrong. I still felt like I was living a purposeful life because I was serving/working at my church, serving/working for my mentor at the time with her business and ministry, but nothing was really happening for myself. It wasn’t until August of that same year that it hit me that I wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be (I realize now it was because I didn’t have any goals).

But once I had the realization thanks to a helpful friend, I immediately took out a piece of paper to write down what I wanted, and I kid you not, two of them happened within two weeks of writing it down. Now I would be lying if I said that you’ll accomplish every single one of your goals in two weeks after writing them down, but I truly believe that God used that moment to show me the power of writing down what I wanted.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

And if that isn’t enough to kick you into high gear and find the nearest piece of paper, a study done at the Dominican University in California found that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.

To dominate your goals, you have to first know what your goals are and writing them down allows you to think through exactly what you want to do. It brings them to life! It gives you a sense of vision, direction, and a target to hit. Having them helps guide your actions and allows you to discern and align what your priorities should be.

PS. I encourage you to write down no more than 3-5 goals at a time! Having too many goals can easily overwhelm you, and it may even cause you to lose productivity and efficiency. Think about it. You can either give 20% of your energy to 5 goals or you can give 100% of your energy to 1. No matter how hard you try, you only have 100% to give!

2. Make Your Goals Specific

After writing your goals down, putting them into clear, actionable steps is vital. It’s one thing to have vision for what you want to accomplish, but if you don’t have the HOW figured out, you’ll still have those same goals by the end of the year lol.

One of my favorite ways to do this is through the pyramid example. For example, say you’ve written down your top 3 goals for the year and one of them is to grow closer to God.

GOAL: Grow Closer to God

Now that is a great goal! I love that goal. Shoot, I want to help you with that goal, but if you don’t know how you’re going to get closer to God, sooner or later you’re going to feel stuck or worse, discouraged, when you find yourself struggling to make it happen. 

But in the pyramid example, you would make that goal more specific and actionable by writing down some sub-goals that ultimately help you reach your top goal. In our example, maybe you’ll:

SUBGOALS:

1. Fast 2 Times This Year
2. Start a New Bible Study Every Quarter
3. Join and Attend a Small Group Every Week

But if you want to be more successful, you’ll make your sub-goals even more specific by writing down clear action steps. If we’re still following our same example, it may look something like this:

ACTION STEPS:

Fast 2 Times This Year

• Research different fasting plans to try by (insert date)
• Schedule the time/date of the fast by (insert date)
• Go grocery shopping for the fast

Start a New Bible Study Every Quarter

• Research some Bible Studies to try (free or for purchase) by (insert date)
• Schedule the time/date to start each new Bible Study by (insert date)

Join and Attend a Small Group Every Week

• Join a church or sign up for a small group
• Commit to actively participating whether it’s offering discussion, hosting, etc.

Do you see how this is like a pyramid? The below visual may help you see that better too but overall, your action steps will help you accomplish your subgoals and your subgoals will help you achieve your ultimate goal!

3. Get Accountability

Now last but certainly not least, my 3rd tip for dominating your goals is getting accountability. Accountability can come in different versions whether it’s people like friends and mentors or resources like project management platforms or goal-planning journals.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17

The importance of accountability is that it helps you to keep going when you don’t feel motivated to do anything (aka me after 5 months into the year when all I wanna do is watch Grey’s Anatomy reruns lol). Accountability also provides you with support and encouragement you need to maintain your emotional well-being.

You cannot do everything God is calling you to do by yourself! You can try, but you may find yourself miserable along the way. The truth is when you’re following God and everything He has planned, the road gets bumpy and having support around you will help you when the going gets tough.

By the end of this post, I encourage you to do the following to incorporate accountability in your life:

• Text a friend to hold you accountable to achieving your goals. Meet with them bi-weekly to discuss your progress!
• Download or sign up for some project management platforms (I love Asana) or purchase a goal planning journal that will allow you to write down your goals and make them actionable.

Let’s Discuss!

What are some goals you have and how do you plan to make them clear and actionable?