Set Purposeful Goals for Yourself

IF WE want to make progress, if we want to lead a full, useful and meaningful life, we must have goals set before us. Rather than follow the lines of least resistance, “taking it easy,” as the saying goes, being content to drift downstream, we must swim upstream, and to do that we must have goals that motivate us.

The first human pair, Adam and Eve, had some very purposeful goals. These were set for them by their Creator, Jehovah God. He commanded: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection . . . every living creature.” That command gave them a real purpose in living. Unfortunately they did not appreciate the privileges and opportunities that those goals represented and, losing sight of them, they forfeited life and all its blessings.​—Gen. 1:28; 3:1-19.

Of course, most of us have our daily routine. We get up, bathe, dress, eat and go off to work if we are breadwinners. Or, if we are housewives, we care for domestic duties, or, if we are students, we go to school. But do we perform such daily functions as if pushed along against our will by necessity instead of eagerly doing so in order to reach a worthwhile goal? And what do we do with our leisure time after we have taken care of these necessary things?

There simply is not enough time for everything we could or would like to do. So unless we set goals, we may find that the things of lesser importance crowd out the things of greater importance. As an old saying has it, “It is never this AND that, but this OR that.” This is a principle behind the counsel, “Never too busy to pray.”

Recently a Christian minister was surprised to learn that one of his friends was associated with a Spanish-speaking congregation and another friend with a French-speaking congregation. He had no idea that they spoke these languages, as they are Anglo-Saxons. How did they come to know these tongues? They set themselves goals of learning to speak these languages so that they could be more useful. In their city there is a crying need for ministers speaking these languages. In less than a year they had learned to speak the languages fluently, thereby greatly increasing their opportunities to help other people.

You may not have a religious motive, but making it your goal to learn another language besides your native one can be most rewarding. Learning another language increases your thinking ability, thus enriching your life. It may also come in handy in other ways, even becoming a means of earning a higher salary in one’s secular employment.

Among other purposeful goals that people have set for themselves are those of learning the touch system on a typewriter or acquiring the ability to write shorthand. By setting such a goal and working at it, these individuals utilized time that they would ordinarily have wasted, and eventually they acquired a useful skill that has proved rewarding.

Among the practical goals that quite a few might set for themselves is that of getting regular exercise, unless their days are filled with physical activity already. A regular program of exercise is beneficial for both mind and body, will enable you to enjoy better health and make you less susceptible to colds and like ills. By setting a goal of just ten minutes a day, a program of exercise, such as the “RCAF Exercise Plans for Physical Fitness,” for both men and women, can do a great deal for you.

Or are you working at a certain routine job, doing the same thing day after day, and that in the same manner and at the same pace? Such may well be boring and make you discontented. So why not set yourself a goal that will make it more interesting or more rewarding? Could you find a way of increasing your production? Or could you improve the quality of your work? Could you become more efficient at it, doing the same job with fewer movements? Setting yourself some such goal will make work more interesting, resulting in your having a better frame of mind, and may even result in material benefit to both yourself and your employer.

Are you a housewife? Among the goals that you could set for yourself would be to increase your efficiency so that you get your work done in far less time and with less effort, thus giving you more leisure time for reading or a hobby. Another goal would be to reach out for variety in the meals you prepare for your family, every so often preparing a surprise for your family. Or you may find yourself having a problem in caring for your correspondence. It is easy to neglect this because of your daily chores, your watching TV or visiting over the phone. But by setting goals for yourself as to answering letters, writing “thank you” notes, “get well” cards or sending congratulations, you can bring a lot of happiness to others and even gain more happiness for yourself.​—Acts 20:35.

Today many people pay high interest rates on personal loans they get, all because they do not make it their goal to live within their means. How much wiser for them to take time to reason on their finances, decide how much they can afford to spend for food, clothing, shelter, amusements, and so forth, then make a budget and put forth a real effort to live within it. The result would be more money to use, because interest payments would be eliminated. And how much anxiety they would spare themselves!

Dedicated Christians, as well as others, can benefit from goals that they personally set. Goals as to personal study, Bible reading, attending congregation meetings and time spent in sharing the Bible’s good message with others can help them to make good use of their time. And goals in producing the fruitage of God’s spirit​—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control—​can contribute to their spiritual growth.

But let it never be overlooked that setting a goal is only half the battle, in fact, only the first step, so to speak. There must be a following through, a persevering therein. It takes stick-to-itiveness, self-discipline, and at first there may be failures. But keep trying, learn not to yield too readily to your inclinations or to the influence of others, which, while well meant, might not always be wise. Having set a goal for yourself, keep at it, unless as time goes on you should discover that your goal was set too high or was impractical. The Christian apostle Paul once gave good advice in connection with making contributions for needy fellow Christians: “Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart.” If you have set a wise and worthwhile goal, do just as you have resolved, stick to it!​—2 Cor. 9:7.

Do not drift downstream. Be purposeful, set wise goals for yourself, and lead a richer and more meaningful life.