• Resolved: NO Resolutions!
Resolved: No Resolutions!
It seems our society places some emphasis on New Year’s resolutions! However, in my experience, most these idle plans are not well thought through and do not really last, but for a few week into the New Year. I think of resolutions as temporary, not fixed, so we tend to loose them, when we get busy. Often our resolutions just lead to frustration, guilt and depression. We might be resolving the same thing for several years running with no real progress forward.
Six Reasons for NO Resolutions
- Resolutions tend to be a To Do List for the first week of January.
- Resolutions are not effective for the Procrastinator
- Resolution Lists tend to get lost.
- Resolutions are too easily renegotiated with new information as the time passes.
- Resolutions can break down because of low self-esteem loss of resolve.
- Resolutions give you more to track, when broken you can have more free time.
My Resolution Challenge:
I would challenge you to Focus on making your resolution that this year you will not make any resolutions. It would be better to focus on smaller attainable Goals, not resolutions. So try working on some new goals, ones that have the potential to move your ministry forward and up to another level. Therefore, consider formulating some really well conceived goals, ones that are thought through and written out, as you have been learning. It is better to have a few well-conceived goals than to have many illegitimate-shallow wishes—ones that are too soon abandoned.
I tend to plan annual goals and break them into monthly goals during this time of the year. I usually use the holiday, between Christmas and New Year’s, to reflect on how my previous year’s goals have gone and what I would really like to accomplish for the New Year. I find myself asking God for a new vision for the year. Then I break it down into monthly goals and write those down in a monitoring form, for quick reference, for a glance to measure how I am doing. Inviting someone to keep you accountable also helps you stay the course.
For example: Read 12 books this year, averaging one a month. Write 12 object lesson routines this year, averaging one a month. Write 12 one page articles about some aspect of children’s ministry for my teachers this year. See what you can come up with this year that takes many smaller deliberate attainable goals that you repeat and be successful. This will help you move forward and step up in some new and fresh ways.
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