Are you prepared for a successful New Year?
Statistics show that 80% of people have given up on their New Year’s resolutions by February, according to US. News. While only 8% of those who set goals actually achieve them.
So what about the other 92%?
The truth is most people don’t plan to fail. They simply, fail to plan. And today, we want to share three ways we prepare for a successful New Year!
Our Preparation Story
Every year we have a family meeting to review our; spiritual, family, personal, financial, and business goals.
However, before we meet, we take time individually before the Lord to ask, what He would have for us in the New Year.
Instead of telling God what you want to accomplish in the New Year, ask God what He wants from you this year! Click To Tweet
We’ve learned, when we ask God for what He wants from us, instead of us telling Him what we want, we have a better success rate of meeting our goals.
How We Prepare For A Successful New Year
Typically, we each choose to fast from something during the time we are seeking God. And when we do this, there are a few resources we use to prepare our spirit, our minds, and our finances!
How We Prepare Our Spirit
While we seek God through prayer, we are mindful to spend quiet time before the Lord, so we can hear from Him. We do this through reading His Word, and just being still doing nothing.
Bible: Since we made the Bible the final authority in our home, we use it as our standard for setting goals. God’s Word will never contradict itself.
So when He gives us something for the New Year, we make sure we heard Him right, by lining it up with His Word.
Embracing God’s Priorities: Although we wrote the book, we too need to remind ourselves of God’s priorities.
It’s the foundation of who we are as a family, and quite frankly, the reason we’re able to do all God has called us to without neglecting what matters most.
In the midst of striving towards our goals, we purpose not to lose sight of God’s priorities. By keeping this in the forefront of our minds, it prevents us from getting frustrated with the chaos of life.
(Although our ebook is available to our email subscribers for free, we keep a paperback copy of the book on hand with our Bible for easy access!)
How We Prepare Our Minds
According to Forbes.com a survey shows visualizing success works.
“The survey results show that business owners who take the time to visualize their company are more successful and more likely to reach their goals than those who don’t,”
Sounds good, but Forbes wasn’t the first to say that. God did.
“Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.” ~ Habakkuk 2:2 (NKJV)
Whatever God has dropped in our spirit, we purpose to keep it in the forefront of our minds during the year.
Each of us will write down what God has given us in our own journals. Then we’ll write everyone’s goals on a family vision board.
Vision Board: This vision board is displayed on a white board and hung in the most prominent place in our home, our loft. That way, everyone can see it daily as a reminder.
We simply write down what God has given us for the New Year, giving no thought to the how.
From our experience, we’ve learned not to put God in a box. Our job is to let Him know our deepest hopes and dreams, and have faith in His Word.
“Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]” ~ Ephesians 3:20 (AMPC)
God’s job, is to see how our hopes and dreams come true. The slippery slope here is when we desire something that goes against God’s will for our lives.
When we do that, we might be disappointed in the outcome. However, this can be avoided when we take the time to seek God first.
Throughout the year, we check off what’s been accomplished and whatever hasn’t, rolls on to the next year, along with our new goals!
Every year we’re amazed when we look at all that was accomplished by simply writing the vision, and making it plain.
How We Prepare Our Finances
The Bible tells us in Luke 16:10 that he who is faithful with little, will be faithful over much.
Therefore, we make it a priority to be good stewards over what God has given us, and update our family budget.
Family Budget: One of the most important lessons we learned in business was, the fastest way to increase our net income is to decrease our expenses.
So every year we re-evaluate our family budget; identifying areas that we can cut back, cut out, or in some cases add in.
Then we set goals for managing our debts, investments, savings’, including our giving.
When we take the time to tell our money where to go, we don’t have to wonder where it went.
“A budget is telling your money where to go, instead of wondering where it went.” ~ Dave Ramsey
By understanding our family budget at the beginning of the year, it helps us make wiser financial decisions during the year.
Encouragement For The Journey
Start right where you are.
No matter how small you think your efforts are towards your goals, do them. The only shots you miss are the ones you don’t take!
Review your goals regularly throughout the year.
We cannot express this enough. It’s very important to identify where you are along the way and be willing to make any adjustments.
This doesn’t mean that your goals will change. It just means that your method may need to change.
When we wait until the end of the year to discover our method isn’t working, it puts us in a position to miss the mark.
In The End
Dreams don’t work unless you do! Refuse to be among the 80% that give up on their goals.
Make the decision today to allow God to direct your steps in the coming New Year. After all, He is the one who placed those desires in your heart.
So tell us, how will you prepare for a successful New Year? Share it with us in the comments below!
~André and Timberley Gray
Hello,
This is very good and encouraging. Thankyou.
You might want to proofread your article for spelling mistakes; I saw a few.
I appreciate prayers for me and my husband (his name is Mark). After 2008 (a few years later) our business failed because people quit buying (& calling). We had acquired debt, & were unable to make the payments. It was so painful and difficult, and at the same time I became very sick with Toxic Shock Syndrone. I had given up on dreaming and nearly on life. I asked God if He wanted me to die young, if I should just stop fighting because it was so hard, and I was suffering so much. The next morning My husband had a dream : he said, “I saw you when you were old, and you looked Beautiful!” So I determined to keep fighting and to live. Jesus helped me, and although I came close to death, He spoke and helped me to overcome.
However, it has been very difficult for us financially, and I have been in dispair over our finances for years. I want to start dreaming and seeing God’s Vision again, but I don’t know how because I lost Hope. I am trying to get it back, that is what drew me to your article.
Thanks for sharing this.
-God bless you!
—Lisa White
Thank you Lisa for stopping by to read. And thank you for the heads up on the spelling mistakes, that happens at times even though we proof, and reproof. But we will be sure to comb through it again. More importantly, thank you for sharing your heart and being transparent with your prayer request.
The scripture that came to my heart while reading this was Romans 8:25 (AMPC) “But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.”
I hope that encourages your heart while you wait upon Him. We will keep you in prayer for God’s wisdom and for the God to place the desire in your heart to dream again so you can fulfill the purpose He has for your life.
~ Blessings
This is all so good. Love the family meeting AND how you fast for something, target God’s priorities and look at so many areas, even finances. This line and tweet is awesome,
“Instead of telling God what you want to accomplish in the New Year, ask God what He wants from you this year!”
Amen Karen, I love that line too! Thank you for stopping by to read! ~ Blessings
This is an excellent resource full of powerful tips! I love how you write down the vision God gives you, but give no thought to HOW to implement it. Allowing God to lead and direct our paths is key! His ways are ALWAYS higher! And rarely does He do things the way we would think. 😉
Glad I stumbled upon you today! 🙂
Hi Rachel thanks for stopping by to read, and so glad God encouraged your heart! ~ Blessings
Good encouragement to head into the new year with God, my friend. I’m sitting here working on writing and speaking goals today but your post reminds me to consider sitting with my husband, looking to God, and creating goals for the family. I’ll be honest, we’ve not been the best at seeing those through in the past (although God always is), so we’ll take your prayers if you don’t mind. Happy new year!
Kristi you got it, always willing to lift you up in prayer my friend. You definitely want to discuss goal setting with your hubby, it’s a great way to hold each other accountable. Happy New Year to you and thank you for stopping by! ~ Blessings