This month, we are going over the new directional vision for our church. Vision is important to make any progress. Vision is imperative to facilitate a successful, growing organization. One thing we may not realize is that vision is also imperative to facilitate a successful, growing individual. In this blog, we will discuss a few core tenants of personal vision. Hopefully, you will find these tenants helpful in your own personal growth.
Self-Assessment
Ever heard the adage, “You can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been?” That is applicable here, not in terms of geographic locale, but in personal development. Self-assessment needs to be a regular fact of life. Self-assessment is important because it forces us to look at our experiences, our abilities, our goals and our desires. Self-assessment is basically an inventory of who we are and who we are not. Without this inventory, we won’t know what we will need to grow in to get where we want to go. Our experiences will tell us what has and has not worked in our relationships, our job pursuits, and in our training/skill development. Our abilities are the skills and techniques that we have at our disposal that have been tested in reality. It is more than mere positive thinking. It is what I can do in the physical arena. I can imagine myself slam dunking a basketball. The question is can I do it in reality. Abilities are the things we can do in reality. Our goals are where we want to be, what we want to accomplish. Our desires are what drive us. For desire, I’m referring to those things that we can get passionate about, not the fulfilling of sensational appetites. Desires are the things we are willing to sacrifice to fulfill and embody. Self-assessment is critical to reach our dreams and goals.
Setting Dreams and Goals
Dreams and goals are the end game. Whether it is determining where I want to be in two years or what career I want to have for the rest of my life, dreams and goals are the things we set out to embody or fulfill in our lives. They are the constants that I will arrange my life and decisions around. Sadly, many of us have dreams and goals of just getting through the present, hoping that somewhere in the future, we’ll “arrive” and won’t have to worry about the stresses of today anymore. I think this is what many people imagine or hope retirement is like. The drawback is that when we think this way, we are robbing ourselves of the joys and fulfillments found only in the present moment.
Our dreams and goals need to be set by taking into account how we’re made. What gifts, talents, and abilities do I have. What do I truly enjoy (things which I don’t mind striving and sacrificing for to achieve)? In answering that question, I begin to have an idea of the types of dreams and goals to set. If I love writing, reading, and teaching, but don’t like chemistry and scientific equations (after giving it a shot), then it would not be a good goal to set out to become a chemist or a pharmacist. It would be contrary to my desires. I could put all the effort and work into becoming a pharmacist or chemist, and may be able to study my way into with discipline and diligence. Yet, at the end of the day, I would not find real fulfillment, because it is not something that ignites my passion. (That was the path I started down in college).
If dreams and goals are not influenced or informed by my passions and desires, I may achieve them, but won’t be fulfilled with them. Self-knowledge through self-assessment are important so we can make informed decisions based on who we are and what we know about ourselves. Not on the hope of future accolades and money.
Putting Together a Plan
So I have dreams and goals. Now what. We have to put together a plan to achieve them. A phrase I’ve seen repeatedly recently is, “A goal without a plan is a wish.” Say I experience an ah-ha moment and realize my deepest desires are helping people improve their relationships. I’ve found people naturally come to me for advice and I personally like learning about relational dynamics because I find learning the material is internally rewarding. I may even have daydreams about helping people with their relationships in a professional way. It would be very fitting to set a goal to become a therapist. But we won’t simply wake up one day as a therapist. A lot of study, training, and licensing are a major part of setting up a therapeutic practice. If I want it bad enough, I will arrange my life decisions around achieving this as a goal. I will need to get a bachelor’s degree. If I am certain of the end goal, selecting my major will easily be limited to a few disciplines, namely psychology, sociology, social work, to name a few. In my junior and senior years, I may look for internships at local therapeutic offices. Once I fulfill my requirements and the goal is still there, I will have to apply to graduate school. Psychologists need a Masters’ degree to get licensed in their practice.
So what will the goals look like?
- Pursue a bachelor’s degree (this may require working service jobs to help pay for tuition, taking student loans, moving away from home). Pursuing the degree will require sacrifice. Counting the cost is imperative, let we run at it blindly and give up when it seems hard. Counting the cost allows us to plan out what to expect, to anticipate the rough bumps.
- Find an internship that will better prepare you for your field.
- Find a mentor (maybe a professor or intern supervisor), who can help you navigate the terrain both academically and vocationally.
- Pursue the Master’s degree. There are many schools where one could get a Master’s degree. It would be best to find one that teaches along the lines of your preference in clinical practice. (Again, a mentor would be a great asset to this)
- Pursue employment in the field as well as licensure.
Note: Both the degrees and the licensure process are very costly. You may need to work bad jobs to accomplish it. But that would be the sacrifice to ensure the goal is achieved.
Execution
So we have set goals, set plans, and have an idea what to do. The next step is doing it. Scripture tells us “He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of heaven.” We have to be committed to completing what we started. Whether it is a career pursuit or our faith walk, making the decision and acting on it is tantamount to growing as a person, as a professional, and as a Christian. We have to”DO” what needs to be done to get to where we want to go. Passivity is the surest way to NOT achieve your goals.
Note: Failures and setbacks are par for the course. We can’t afford to fear failure. If we look at failure as the greatest obstacle to achieving our goals, we will be afraid to try anything or take any risks. However, if we look at failure as a growth opportunity, we can face it with courage and determination. If every time we fail, we look at it as a lesson in what not to do, we are in a better position to try something different. This may happen over and over again until something works. Execution deals a lot with growing from our failures and mistakes. The key growth opportunity to this is: 1. We face our fears and learn they aren’t really that scary. 2. Our success and failures form our identity, but they are not our identity. The goal is to constantly be progressing towards our goal. We will have setbacks, failures, and closed doors. But persistence is through it all is how we will finally achieve our dreams and goals.
Conclusion
These are very practical items. As Christians, we have a great power in the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This can give us an edge in our personal lives and pursuits over our non-Christian counterparts, because our identity is Christ. Is it possible to lapse and let our desires and goals become our identity? Yes. However, when we pursue Christ with our hearts, we are able to keep a balanced view because we are anchored in an identity with eternity. Is it possible for a non-Christian to delineate their identity from their goals? Of course. However, the type of person they become in the process will depend heavily on what their personal identity anchor is. The more temporal and changing the anchor, the more unstable the identity.
What vision, dream, or goal do you have? What is worth the cost of sacrificing years, money, and comfort for? Have you defined your vision? Or are you currently aimless? What is the next step for your personal life?