Featured Article – It’s time for a check up
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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.
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