It’s a brand new year, which means new goals and resolutions for most of us. We want to lose the weight we gained over the holidays, we want to spend more time with our family and less time in meetings, and if you’re a church leader, you want to see your church grow both spiritually and numerically this year. These are all great goals, and most of you are going to fail to achieve them.

I’m not trying to be the bearer of bad news, but someone needs to tell you the truth. More than likely, you’re going to give up on your resolutions way too early, and you’ll convince yourself your goals are a dream that will never come true. You’ll then resign yourself to thinking things will never change and you should just stop trying and save yourself the disappointment.

Sound familiar?

If it does, it’s because you have experienced this same cycle before. You get your hopes up, but it never seems to work out.

I want to help you change that. In order to do that, we have to avoid some common mistakes that keep us from reaching our goals.

1. Not Writing Your Goals Down – Are goals really goals if you don’t write them down? They shouldn’t be. If you’re really serious about accomplishing something, take the time to write down exactly what your goal is. Then, put it in a place where you will see it often.
2. Not Asking the Why – While you’re writing down your goals, take a few minutes and write down why you want to achieve them. You’re more likely to accomplish your goals if you have a reminder of why they are important to you. Simon Sinek wrote a great book on this concept called, Start with Why.
3. Not Making the Necessary Changes – Goals don’t just magically get accomplished. If the church you serve had an attendance decline last year, it would be silly to think things are going to be different this year without making some changes. You don’t lose weight by eating the same things that made you gain it. What has to change?
4. Not Staying Focused – Life is busy enough without the pressures of ministry. There are going to be all kinds of things that will knock you off track and make you want to give up. That’s why you have to review your goals, you have to review your why, and you have to stick to the changes you make.
5. Not Asking for Help – If you’re a pastor trying to do ministry alone, you’re making a huge mistake. You need someone in ministry you can talk to, especially if you’re trying to initiate change in your church. One of the best decisions the church I serve ever made was bringing in an outside voice. They helped us identify issues we had missed and helped us create goals that would lead to growth.

What goals have you set for this year? What are you doing to make sure you accomplish them? If there’s any way I can help, please reach out to me by visiting my contact page and sending me a message. Let’s make this year a success.