Featured Article – It’s time for a check up

by Kandi A. White

 

This is not the type of check up you need to see your doctor for.

I’m checking up with each of you to give you a word of

encouragement.  Encouragement to keep the dreams alive and not

to give up on the goals you set at the beginning of 2005.

 

How presumptuous of me to think that you need encouragement.  I

suspect that most of you, like myself and others I’ve spoken to

lately have been extremely busy over the past few months.

 

Being busy is a fact of life as we endeavour to be full-

time professionals, full-time parents, and full-time goal

achievers.  Now for some of us, this busyness can affect our

personal goals we set back in January.

 

It can even cause people to give up, to say ‘what’s the use, I’ll

never find the time to finish.’ For some, it gives them relief

and an excuse to give up.

 

And so we continue the cycle of setting the goal, starting the

tasks to complete it, then ‘life happens’.  The goal is put on

permanent hold or cancelled altogether.

 

Does this sound like something you’ve experienced?  I know I

become totally frustrated when I have to put a project on hold

or reprioritise something that is near and dear to my heart. 

I guess it’s the impatient side of me.

 

I’m also aware that Satan is ready to pounce whenever I’m doing

something useful.  He’ll pull out all the stops to try and block

my way. But God is my stronghold, He is greater than Satan, and

I will always be thankful.

 

I took a course and read a book some years ago called ‘The 7

Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen R. Covey.  In one

of the habits, Mr. Covey tells us to ‘begin with the end in

mind.’  I’ve really come to appreciate this statement in the

past few months.

 

And this is my encouragement to you.  If you’ve set a goal and

for some reason, have put it on hold or if you’re thinking of

giving up.  Remember the words of Sir Winston Churchill, Don’t

Give Up!  Think about it in your mind and formulate a picture

of completion. If the goal is to lose weight, picture your new

figure, picture feeling lighter.  Picture holding a 5lb bag of

sugar and saying this is what I am going to lose or 2 bags or

10 bags.  Begin with the end in mind.

 

If the goal is to spend more time with your kids, picture

reading with them, playing games or watching a great movie

together. See the smiles, hear the laughter, and feel the hugs.

Begin with the end in mind.

 

If the goal is to save money for a new car, picture sitting in

the car and driving out of the show room.  Picture putting

money aside each payday.  Picture making sacrifices to save

enough money.  Begin with the end in mind.

 

By doing this, no matter how busy we get, we will find the time

to work on our goals and achieve them.  This is a principle law

of success.  I know this because I’ve read countless biographies

of successful people who didn’t give up when the going got

tough, who kept their dreams alive and who are teaching others

today to do the same.

 

Sometimes life’s busyness can get us down, but I encourage you

not to become disheartened. As Les Brown encouraged me and many others, if you fall, land on your back because if you can look up,

you can get up.

 

May God continue to give you strength to endure, and to awaken

your heart and mind to be all that you can be. 

 

=================================================================

Kandi White is the author of Hours of Pure Gold, a book of

Inspiration, Motivation, and Gratitude, a resource to help you

find your true purpose in life.  http://www.hoursofpuregold.com

 

---