How to make and achieve goals

Are you having trouble accomplishing your goals? Do you feel like you keep making the wrong decisions or missing out on valuable opportunities?

First let’s talk about faith and financial goals:

1. A faith goal is any objective toward which we believe God wants us to move.
2. A financial faith goal is a faith goal related to financial matters based on seeking to know what God would have you do.

When you set a financial faith, goal is it important to do some process thinking. Process thinking is a focus on fully executing each step of a process, not on the potential outcomes or rewards.

It is important to set SMART goals. SMART goals are not just smart they’re a great acronym to easily remind you that the best goals to make are:

• Specifically defined and written. They have quantified
  • Measures of progress towards
  • Attainable targets. And they are
  • Relevant to your purpose, with planned
  • Times for completion

There is also a 7-step process for Setting and Reaching Financial Goals:

• Step 1: keep praying and listening.
• Step 2: put your current financial situation on paper.
• Step 3: write your goals down.
• Step 4: prioritize your goals.
• Step 5: find an accountability partner.
• Step 6: regularly review your progress and adjust goals, as necessary.
• Step 7: develop actions plans to implement goals.

Now comes the “hard” part: You must make decisions. You must make conscious choices that will seem hard or exhausting but ultimately will add wealth to your life in more ways than one! Ron Blue, a renowned Christian Financial Planning author and educator, says “You can spend your money any way that you want, but once it is spent, it is gone, and your financial destiny is determined.”

Believe that God owns it all. Remember step one? It is step one because it’s number one. Prayer must come before anything else. If you skip prayer, then you’re skipping wisdom. If you have skipped wisdom, then your goals and decisions are just shots in the dark hoping to get lucky. God is all powerful, He makes each money decision, and He will help you make wise decisions and be a good manager of His resources.

Finally, follow the principles of decision making. It is important to use effective decision makers to help minimize any mistakes and regrets:

The first principle is to involve God in the decision-making process by seeking His will on any given decision.

Secondly, gather the facts: to learn the ideas of others involved and to follow a logical method of deciding. All too often, rushing to decide strictly based on intuition of feelings about the choices means you’re jumping to conclusions.

Lastly, ask the right question: Asking the right question helps avoid the binary trap of only two choices, either yes or no, being available to you.

• Set priorities based on your objectives and goals: The idea is to be sure that you know what God thinks is important and what can impact your life in the most positive way.
• You can ask, “God, what is the best use of this money?” The answer can provide an unlimited number of alternatives because, according to the Bible, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

To summarize: The Process for Making Effective Decisions is to…

Get your heart right!

Pray

Define the Decision or Question

Clarify Your Goals

Prioritize Your Goals

Get the Facts.

Identify the Alternatives.

Evaluate Each Alternative Against Your Goals

Take Actions

Make a Preliminary Decision

Assess the Risk.

Make the Final Decision

Test the Decision.

You have got this! And if you ever need more help on understanding how to create a SMART goal or what decision would be honoring God and helpful for you contact a CPFM peer coach. Our goal is to help you serve God through your financial decisions!

This blog was written by Center for Personal Financial Management student advisor, Kat Brigman. To learn more about resources available through CPFM, click here.