As January 1 approaches everyone is jumping on board with New Year’s resolutions! The start of a new year always inspires people to set new goals.
Have you set any yet?
I hate to break it to you. They wont work!
I’m not trying to deflate you. You know they won’t work! New Year’s resolutions are a cliché in our culture because of the countless goals people set and drop within a couple of weeks.
Everyone wants to lose weight, save money, or start to read; something productive! In the Christian world the most common goal is to read the Bible in a year. Great goal, right? How often do people make it past Leviticus? I even saw this tweet:
What’s the problem?!
Goals are just wishes.
Examples:
- “I want to lose 10 pounds.”
- “I want to read the Bible this year.”
- “I want to save $10,000.”
You could substitute the words “want to” for “wish I could” and nothing would change. Goals point us to some end result, but they do nothing to change our lifestyle.
So what can we do instead?
You need to quit setting goals. Instead you need to set habits. Habits change your behavior. Habits are what get you to your desired goal!
There are several areas you can set habits: spiritual, physical, relational, emotional, or financial.
Here are some examples of habits I’ve set over the past year:
- Review scripture memory verses every day
- Stretch for 10 minutes before bed
- Write in a journal everyday
- Record my food intake each day
- Read 10 pages of a book a day
- Post a one sentence summary of my devotional each day
- Do physical activity (weights or cardio) everyday
- Write for 20 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
I didn’t do all of these at the same time. I added or took some away as I wanted to focus on certain areas of my life. As you can see, most habits are daily.
Setting a habit may not feel that much different than setting a goal but there a few key distinctions that make them better:
- Habits are easier to track
“I will read the Bible this year” is a great goal but it’s too far away. If instead your habit was to read 3 chapters of the Bible every day you could track that easily. I put a habit tracker on my mirror and check off each day to help keep my priorities in front of me.
- Habits are more motivating
Because goals are so distant in the future it’s easier to lost motivation. People stop going to the gym because they don’t see instant results. They are focused on the result and not the process! If they had a habit of going to the gym after work and could track that each day they went they would see themselves making progress. That gives energy to keep going!
- Habits promote better feedback
Let’s say you set a goal to read the Bible in a year. What happens when you miss a day or two? In the back of your mind you know you have time to catch up. That’s the problem. You can push it off.
A habit gives you instant feedback. You are doing it or you aren’t! When you miss a day or two you see it on your tracker and it helps get you back in the routine.
So what habits will you start in 2020??
Andy Stanley says, “direction, not intention, determines your destination.” Habits are the direction towards your destination!
Let’s start a new direction this new year with some new habits, and leave the goals behind!
I’d love to hear what you are planning to do! Leave a comment with what habits you are planning to start!
**In the month of January I will walk through the 4 habits I want to focus on for the new year and how we can do them together!
