TIP 13. GOAL SETTING
It is important to know the direction you want to go as a family. Having a plan of what you want to achieve over the next 20-30 years is crucial, a plan that includes many of the different areas of family life. As we develop our own individual parenting style we should be careful to include family goals and the dreams we hold dear in our hearts, dreams that we are hoping will come true. Nobody packs a car to go on a holiday with their suitcases and surfboards, their roller skates and footballs, without first having made some concrete plans of where they want to go.
If we did that, we may be considered 'a little strange', yet many of us have no real plan where our family is going in life. Notice I said 'no real plan' and not 'no real idea', as these two words mean totally different things.
We all have many ideas floating around in our heads, probably some good ideas and bad ones too, but an idea will only ever be an idea until it manifests in the natural world. Have you ever heard of a new invention on the market and thought "Gee I had that idea years ago", "I wish I'd followed it through!"
The difference was, that the inventor actually took the idea and made it real in the natural world, and because he did he is now reaping the benefits of the idea.
Goal setting for your family is the first step toward developing a plan or strategy about where you want to be in the future. To take it beyond the idea stage and write it down on paper initiates the process of bringing it to pass. Note that I said 'process' and not one time 'event'. Goal setting is like laying down a railway track that your want your family to run on, it gives you an element of certainty and assurance that you will ultimately arrive at your destination, and not end up in Perth if you are aiming for Tasmania.
To begin goal setting for your family, it is important to get some input from every member of the family if possible, especially your wife. Discuss your hopes and dreams openly, and don't hold back or overly rationalise initially. Dream a big dream, believe for the very best for your family, in every area you can think of. The more detailed your life goals are the better, as in going through this process you will draw out from your heart the things that really matter to you.
Dads' Call To Action:
Write down your goals for every area of your life, physical (health), financial, relational (marriage/family), assets you want to acquire, holidays you want to go on, spiritual positioning with God, etc. Also do a simplified version that you can put up in a prominent position, where it will catch your eye regularly. Pray over your goals daily and release your faith that God will help you bring them to pass. Begin to plan a step by step process of seeing your dreams become a reality. After you are doing all these steps, stand back and watch what will happen.
(Habakkuk 2 v 2)
Then the Lord answered me and said:
"Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it."