Breaking It Down: Short-Term Goals

Now let’s take our overall life vision and apply it to the seven major areas of our life (from “The Power of a Focused Life” by Mike Bickle):

Spiritual (prayer time, fasting days, Bible study, etc.)
Relational (family, friends, etc.)
Vocation (marketplace calling, etc.)
Ministry (in the church, outside the church, etc.)
Financial (spending, giving, saving, investing, etc.)
Physical (exercise, health, diet, etc.)
Rest (recreation, vacation, play, entertainment, sports, etc.)

First we’ll identify our long-term (10-year) goals. Think of how your vision could be applied in each of the above areas. What do you imagine your life to look like in ten years? Be as specific as possible. Think of what age you will be in ten years. What vision has God put in your heart for where you will be spiritually, relationally, etc., when you are that age?

As an example, I have written as my long-term (10-year) goal in the area of rest:
ATo be rested and relaxed. To eliminate hurry from my life. To have days centered around having fun. To be well-read in classics, spiritual, and devotional literature.

Let this be a fun exercise. Dream and imagine the best God has for you! This is an incentive to live our lives with focus. It will give us a context for our schedules so that we focus on areas which may otherwise be missed in the busyness of everyday life. Don’t think of it as a list of resolutions to be made and broken, but a picture of the dreams God has given you.

. . . in Your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:16).

Homework

Think of how your life vision can be applied to each of the above areas of your life. It may not apply in an obvious way, but think of who you are as a person living according to your life vision. As that person, how do you want to live in each of these areas?