This week has been harder than expected because of some unexpected challenges. I was blindsided by things I thought I had dealt with and actually lost my footing for a day or two. Yes, I stopped for a couple of days.

I have learnt that there are going to be days when the drive to move is hit out of the park by an unexpected happening that could be a physical condition or even an emotional state. It takes a lot more to get back on track and continue with the tasks at hand. As I have been working to get back on track, I have understood that I am not invincible. I have also learnt that over the last year I have honed some of the key things I need in this season and I must apply them. I will share the keys I have learnt.

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• Clarity: What am I working towards? Who am I becoming? Robin Sharma talks about automaticity and I have found that it works. Automaticity is based on the principle of working on goals for 21 days to change the habit and 45 days or practice to shift to being able to naturally do something. This means that I can honestly achieve four goals a year. These main goals enable me to keep on task, learn deeply and provide lessons that I can apply to other areas of life. This demands that I must be clear what I am working towards.

• Components: What actions do I need to take or things to become? Lasting change is a matter of practice not chance as highlighted above. The things I do are either accelerators or hindrances to my progress. The hindrances must be overcome and new action items for the new targets set in place. It is important to know what to do and what to avoid to attain the mark. For instance, for weight loss goals, one must figure what to eat, how hard and how often to work out, what is the target weight etc.

• Companions: Who am I walking with? This is a very critical aspect to consider. I must decide to connect deeply with those who help me keep things going in the right direction and disconnect or adjust the connection with those who don’t contribute. It is to keep the friend who helps me remember the target and keep walking toward it close and all others who think it’s unattainable far. It includes finding the mentor who will not take my excuses and push me to the peak not the one who won’t even remember my goals and walk. It also means that I must be helping someone else who is a little behind on the path to grow into the fullness of who God says they are. This helps keep me focused.

• Commitment: This is a declaration to stay the course. It varies from person to person but I find that writing down the plan has a powerful way of moving plans from wishful thinking to something my heart and mind connect to and remember so it becomes achievable. The other aspect of it is sharing the key goals with my core support team to keep me accountable. As I let others know what I am working towards and allow them to ask questions and hold me accountable I build in an additional layer of accountability and drive.

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It is easy to think that this is too simple and not real but think about it for a moment. Wouldn’t it be that it is in the simple things that we find the greatest energy to keep going and do more? 2018 taught me that change is in the single daily step taken no matter what. I am not yet everything God has said I am so I keep working to reach the mark He has set.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV