Welcome to 2016!
Despite everything that has happened, it’s a Brand New Day! New Years is always exciting and special for me because it forces me to embark upon new challenges, ideas and strategies. Although I’m a stickler for goal setting, I know how painful it feels to look in the mirror after all the resolutions you’ve set and see that the weight didn’t drop, the money was still spent and some of the ideas didn’t come through. We all know how crazy it is to feel disappointed!
Nevertheless, you still have to pick up the pieces and keep on fighting! Some things take longer to do and require extended timelines and won’t always be accomplished in a year. Therefore, I believe that in order to maximize your 2016, it’s better to be strategic than to allow things to just fall into place. We all will live our lives by default or design. Once we become intentional then we will see results! Here are a few things to consider in order to maximize your New Year:
1. What do you SEE? Vision is absolutely essential to sustain anything you intend on accomplishing. Do you have a Vision for your life? What is your intended destination? Have you done an internal audit? Oftentimes we’re still trying to complete goals that are totally irrelevant to our present season. Have you dusted off your old dreams and looked over your past mistakes??? What does success look like now for you?? Please be realistic. Some things require our due diligence to look at certain areas in our lives to determine, am I fruitful? In order to maximize your 2016, you must have a Vision for your Life! Vision trumps everything! It sets direction, builds consistency and establishes boundaries. A person with vision is arrested by it and establishes discipline to accomplish its agenda.
2. How are your relationships? As a pastor, I’m frequented with Prayer Requests. When I took time to read through some recently, I noticed a pattern. Most of them dealt with either Relationship issues (Husband/Wife/Son/Daughter), Health issues or Money issues. Think about that. Relationships, Health and Finances. It then became apparent to me that if I tackle these issues we would see more people become at peace in their lives! Sooo what’s your vision for your relationships this year? Is your parent still alive? How many dates are you taking them on this year? How often will you call your aunt who is widowed to check on her? How often will take your children to do something new and experience it with them? If your married, when’s the last time you took a vacation to somewhere different? Or, went to a new Restaraunt? What about that sibling who doesn’t talk to anybody? What do you SEE in your relationships? Do you have a prayer list for your family and friends? Let’s not get too crazy with cutting people off this year and learn how to COMMUNICATE with the people that God sends us! A good friend of mines once told me, “God blesses us with some people and challenges us with others.” Are you throwing away a healthy challenge? Build your Relational Capacity this Year!
3. Do you have a vision for your Personal Development? What are you doing to ENHANCE YOU this Year?! How is this Year REALLY going to be different? What are the Top 3 books you will dissect in 2016? Last year, I read over 125 books. However, this year I’m going to read far fewer books but spend more time DISSECTING them. Skimming isn’t reading! You have to develop the discipline to extract principles and make them applicable to your life! What about your health? Your finances? A vision for your personal development is MAJOR because you’re able to track exactly how you made progress. For example, every 90 days I review, discern and check my steps. I’ve been doing this consistently the last 6 years. I’ve been journaling consistently the last 11 years. I document everything! I once read in a book that this is what separates the wealthy from those less affluent. Noted author and coach Keith Cameron Smith once said that the very poor think day to day, poor think week to week, middle class think month to month, rich think year to year, and the very rich decade to decade. Do you have a vision for your personal development???
In essence, I hope that this Year brings great favor and great lessons. Things happen. It won’t happen overnight but if you take these steps I guarantee that your year will be much sharper because of your consistency. And as I’ve said for the last few year, Stop making RESOLUTIONS and start a REVOLUTION!
Take some time and craft a Vision for Your Life, a Vision for Your Relationships and a Vision for Your Personal Development.
Happy New Year! Want to download the Vision Worksheet! Visit http://www.dasherron365.com (http://www.dasherron365.com/).
It’ll be uploaded later today! Stay in touch! I’d be happy to serve you!
D. A. Sherron is the founder and senior pastor of Global Fire International, and the convener of the Global Alliance in Brooklyn, New York. His messages are broadcasted weekly with a digital audience of over 75,000. A bridge builder, his ministry blends theology, history, and technology into a creative Kingdom enterprise. He recently his new book, Color Outside The Lines this Winter. For more information, visit http://www.dasherron365.com (http://www.dasherron365.com/).
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