“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. “Ecclesiastes 11:4
Are you tired of making resolutions with no results?
Research shows that only 16% of people follow through with their resolutions. Most people give up within 1-6 weeks of beginning their new goals.
For 84% of people unfortunately, this year will be yet another year that their goals will fall through —unreached health goals, unwritten books, unachieved dreams, unsung songs, unpublished poems, and unexecuted business ideas.
I’m concerned that the only excitement majority of us will ever enjoy is the joy of thinking of how grand our idea was. The thrill of explaining how revolutionary the business is, and the eagerness of calculating how much the venture would fetch. Then sadly getting to the end of the day and the next and then the next month, realizing we’ve been replicating words like later, tomorrow, not now, not in the mood, I don’t feel like. Or we realize, at the end of today, January, the 1st quarter or December that we have nothing to show. Nothing. But great desires and mighty businesses that never took shape.
Determination and consistency are crucial to achieving your goals. To achieve your goals this year, you must incorporate a habit that ignites your determination and consistency.
Moreso, Pareto principle, or the law of the vital few, states that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. By extension, this means that a 20% change in a vital few habits ( keystone habits) can cause an 80% change of outcome.
Therefore, for you and I to finally escape running around the endless resolution circle, consider these 3 Rs of productivity and fulfillment. These three Rs will supercharge your determination and consistency and help you produce your desired results.
1. REVIEW
Start each day with a REVIEW. Review means assessing, appraising, examining, and evaluating the subject.
Start by appraising your life, whether it’s a new day or a new year. There’s no way to be better if you keep repeating the same mistakes. Reviewing the previous day, week or year helps you gain perspective and learn from experience. It enables you to identify important patterns that bump your progress. Review your life by looking at your:
- Benefits
- Behavior / Habits
- Planned projects/Goals
- Different composites of your life —finance, Academics, parenting, relationships, health, etc.
i. Review Benefits
As people of faith, we agree that all we have belongs to God. Starting our day, week, and year by thanking God for today, yesterday, and the future positions us to receive the new benefits of the day ( Psalm 68:19). Like a blank slate, we welcome the chance to engage the help of God. We accept the strength to try again.
Acknowledging God for your life, health, resources, family, and mind establishes your trust in Him; it also gives your joy. Developing a heart that sees the goodness of God in your life brings wholeness and completeness (Luke 17:17-18). Despite the failures of the past, the difficulty of today, or the bleakness of tomorrow, God’s joy is the only thing that strengthens you and gives you hope.
ii. Review Behaviour, Habits, and Processes
Ephesians 4: 22. says to strip yourselves of your former nature ( put off and discard your old unrenewed self), which characterizes your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion.
We cannot strip off if we do not look within to notice that some things need to be stripped off.
As Christians possessing the Spirit of truth according to John 16:13, He not only tells us the truth about God, but the Holy Spirit also convicts us of our wrongs. He shows us our habits and attitudes that get us stuck.
Read here my hidden selfishness revealed I looked within
Review can take the form of morning meditation. You are quietening your spirit and mind before your creator and asking Him to show you, you. Let God’s Word be the mirror to show you your inefficient processes and the ways you waste time.
More than you talk in the presence of God, listen. Could it be fear, excuses, procrastination, lack of motivation, laziness or low esteem stalling you? Ask the Holy Spirit to point out the areas you need to adjust. Make time every day, preferably in the morning, to worship Him, thank Him and review your daily processes. Also have a writing pad with you
The SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) bible study method is a great way to use God’s Word to address specific areas of your life. Download your Free SOAP template here.
iii. Review Goals and Projects
Commit to your goals and plans to God’s hands (Proverbs 3:5). Planning means setting in definite terms how and when you intend to accomplish your plans.
Use tools like Calendars, To-do lists, Onenote Evernote to recall commitments and tasks.
Then ask yourself some questions.
- How did you do with your previous goals/ projects?
- To what extent did you meet or not meet your goals?
- If you met your goals, what did you learn?
- If you didn’t, what hindered you?
- Did you underestimate the work needed,
- Did you underestimate the time required?
- Was it inadequacy of competency
- Efficiency issues
- Lack of focus
- Chasing too many goals?
Setting SMART goals can help you clarify your goals. Check out this post to learn how to implement SMART goals. You can also download our free SMART goals template.
iv. Review Different Composites of Your Life
Review your finances, career, relationships, word life, prayer life, character, health, and mind. Excelling in the different aspects of your life contributes to the overall success of your life.
- Are the different areas of your life growing?
- If they aren’t, why?
- What could you do?
- What steps do you need to take?
- Do you need to learn?
- Cut out some time-wasting activities?
Consistency is key. You may need to review some aspects of your life daily; others you can check weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Just as a person on board a plane begins to see patterns forming as the plane ascends, reviewing elevates you, helping you see wrong thinking patterns, counterfeit words, and time and money thieves. You’ll begin to see the negligence and complacency that stalls your growth.
2. RENEW
Renew brings to mind ideas of cleaning, restoring to freshness, refreshing, and replacing the old with the new.
Ephesians 4: 23 tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. This means there has to be a shift in our thinking. We will get yesterday’s results if we use yesterday’s mindset today. God’s Word has a plethora of transformative mindsets we must put on every day to be productive spiritually, in parenting, in finances, or in relationships.
Renewal entails replacing your wrong habits and mindset already identified during the review — complacency, inconsistency, fear of failure, fear of people, doubt, impatience— and replacing them with what the Bible says is the correct disposition.
Start the renewing process from your heart (spiritual life), where all other issues spring from ( Proverbs 4:23), but don’t end there. Renewing should also spread into other areas like business, academics, and friendships. Renewal entails learning new things to be up to date. Refresh your mind with updated information about your trade
Consistently renewing your mind is critical because it will fuel your determination by connecting the new habits/mindset to your why (God-given vision).
Consistency is what makes an average person excellent. Just as you feed every day to remain strong, you must renew your minds every day to keep you passionate about your goals. Set daily times to renew your mind in the Word. Refresh your knowledge regularly for your career and business, like reading two parenting books every year, reading a book related to your career every quarter, watching informational videos, and attending lectures and webinars. The idea is to do whatever you need to replace old stale processes with current practices, and you’ll always find the strength to soar above any negative self-thought or a lack of motivation.
Renewing our minds is like cleaning a water pipe; it allows God’s ability and competence to flow freely. This is how you and I can multiply, fulfill, and dominate the Earth as God intended us.
3. RADIATE/ RAMIFY
You have set up a routine to identify inefficient processes, and you have set up a method of exchanging the old with the new; now is the time to use the renewed mind —updated thinking pattern to be productive.
Ramify invokes ideas such as
- Spreading out,
- Branching out,
- Reach out further
- Growing and developing in complexity or range
- Multiply and distribute more work
The goals you have set, this is the time to put the hand to the plow to
- Bring to execution
- Take the steps required
- Do even when you don’t feel like
- Produce often
- Do it today, do it the next, and do it the day after
Here’s the time to design a system to assign time to your task. Block out time for your task, define your goal, and set a deadline. As previously mentioned, the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely )goal technique is beneficial in helping you achieve your goals.
Learn how to use the SMART goal template
Finally, don’t forget to routinize your actions.
Set up regular and specific times, daily or weekly, when you’ll roll up your sleeves and do work.
Research shows that completing work increases motivation. So develop a habit of completing work by routinizing the steps of Reviewing, Renewing, and Ramifying daily to quickly capture your self-destructive habits, replace them with new ones, and produce work toward your goals.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post.
Have a productive day!
