Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 05, Issue 01: Setting up for Success

We are still in January and some of us are still in the process of fleshing out our goals for the New Year. I usually prefer to carry out this exercise of reflecting on the past year and thinking about what I want to see happen in my life in the coming year. This time around I have found myself putting in the bits and pieces a couple of days and weeks into the New Year and I am not done yet. I am sure there are a few others like me this year, and so I believe it’s not too late to publish this article to help nudge us on.

Starting a new season without a thought out sense of direction is doing your life a dis-service. You want to reflect over how the past season was for you, and strategize for the new season. The beginning of a new year is always exciting because it gives each of us a chance to get it right, again. It gives us an opportunity to put behind us the failures and frustrations of the past year and behold a new beginning with countless opportunities for success.

If you don’t know where you want to go, how will you know when you get there? And how will you know if you getting off-track? We want our lives to count for something. We were made for greatness and we need to know how we are doing on our journey to greatness. We need to set up for success in 2015.

I am a neat freak. I clean and organize all the time. I am also detail freak. I plan for and write down every detail of what I want to achieve and how I am going to do it. Whenever I feel I am over doing it, I remind myself that God is also into details. God expects us to put down our plans and dreams. I think when God gave Moses the task of the items that needed to be made for the tabernacle, it was all about details. The Bible lists varied types of materials and measurements for various things (how many cubic feet high, how many cubic feet long, how many cubic feet wide, and so on). Moses or his assistant must have written them down, taking copious notes, careful not to miss the details. Clearly God is into details big time. Why does he care how long the curtain is for instance?

There are many examples in the Bible that shows that God is into details. Like the instructions for the first temple that he gave David that his son Solomon constructed. We are made after God's image; we are at our best when we are like him. So let's embrace the details. Write down our plans, our dreams, what we want to see happening in our lives in 2015; and the details of how we will get there. When are finished writing, let’s go to work in doing all it takes to achieve our dreams.

Where do we start? If you haven’t done so already, take some time to reflect on the past year. 2015 can’t start from nowhere. Start with where you are coming from. Write down your highlights for 2014. While you are at it, make your gratitude list for 2014 and spend time before the Lord giving thanks. Without Him these are just plans, ink on paper. He is the one who gives us the power to do anything. He keeps us in health physically and emotionally for us to be able to do the work it takes to achieve our dreams. We have nothing to show for our lives without the goodness of God.

List your challenges for 2014, the obstacles you encountered in trying to get it right; and reflect on the strategies you will employ to overcome them in the New Year.

Next, put down your areas of focus for 2015. These are what we popularly refer to as New Year resolutions. These are your goals. Take it a notch higher this time. Classify your goals, all about details here. Make your life’s list if you haven’t already. This comprises of your long term goals and the goals you want to achieve now in 2015. List your career and business goals, your financial goals; your health and fitness goals, your fun and recreation goals, your relationship goals, your personal goals, your contribution/legacy goals, goals for your spouse, and goals for your children.

Finally, wrap up by documenting your theme for 2015. This is basically a sentence that summarizes your goals for year, what you want your life to be all about in 2015. Happy planning.

Lillian Chebosi