Quamon Fowler aka TeXas10er Blog: Balance Jan 19 2011

TeXas10er Blog: Balance by Quamon Fowler.

Staying On Course To Accomplish Your Goals

We are thrust into life having to make decisions of all sorts. Most likely the one who doesn’t have a good understanding of certain things in a particular area will not make the best decisions there. When it comes to making progress in your life, you have to know what you actually want and don’t want. Of course there’s going to be times when you sometimes don’t know what you want, at that time you need to research and/or explore some things to find out what it is that you actually are looking for. But even before you start the process, it would be very beneficial to you if you have your goals in mind clearly noted before you go forward.

A lot of times what happens is, we get lost in the middle of exploring and researching and forget why we started the pursuits in the first place. Of course we are going to get new ideas, get inspired, and increase our understanding as we go, but we just have to make sure we organize our thoughts so we’ll be able to make the next logical step to stay on course. New options will even come about as we go but we have to make sure we don’t get lost in the shuffle and get deterred in other directions that are not consistent with our original goals. Maybe our original goals do need to change a little bit, and that’s kool too. We all project things based on our knowledge and understanding at the time anyway but we can see the heart of what we were doing if we clearly documented what our goals were at the time they came to us.

Action Steps

1.   Think of one goal you want to accomplish in a particular category in your life, your career, or you family.

2.   Think about what it will take to reach that goal.

3.   Spell out the steps it will take to get there

4.   Underneath each step put what type of questions that need to be asked in order to make that step happen.

5.   As you get your questions together, make sure you research and ask others who are experts in the particular area so you’ll even know what questions to ask to get answers you really need.

6.   Converse with people about your goals and your steps towards those goals. People always have resources that you’d never discover unless you talk to them.

7.   As you get your questions and answers, start implementing what you receive and move accordingly to walk out every step towards your goals.

You can follow these 7 steps and apply it to anything you want to accomplish no matter what category.

Learn to focus and weed out distractions that deter you from your projected steps and goals. You can do it, you just have to be consistent and relentless until you get to your expected end.

Quamon

Be A Finisher

It’s always easier to quit than it is to finish a thing. Starting a thing is something that most people do, but finishing a thing is something only reserved for true leaders. Myles Monroe has a book out on the Spirit of Leadership and he talks about how the Spirit of Leadership is something that has to happen to you. It’s an awakening within your spirit that moves you to go beyond what most will never reach for or ever grasp. The Spirit of Leadership is the heart of a champion, a finisher, a conqueror.

When times get tough for a person with this attitude, they dig their heals down deeper into the ground and then give a even stronger plunge forward. Their attitude is usually relentless!

Like trying to pull a steak out of a bulldog’s mouth, that bulldog has already committed to that steak being his lunch. Now if you challenge that then you’re going to get hurt.

When you have the heart of a finisher, you’re put into a position where you’ve come to far to turn back and your to close to give up. You have to keep going because you want to get to what you originally saw in the beginning before you started your journey.

A lot of times we see things from a far of where we want to go but when we enter into the process, we get intimidated and/or overwhelmed with the challenges on the way. This is common. So what do people do in response to this? They quit.

The foolish thing about quitting is, you limit yourself from possessing the territory that you made up in your mind that you were going to claim. There is a saying that says, “Good things are worth fighting for.” If you loved something or somebody and it was taken from you and you had to fight to get it back, would you quit in the missed of the fight because it was to hard? I guess that would depend on how much you loved it right?

Well, I believe that we need to come to the realization that whatever it is that we love, we are going to have to fight for it and quitting is not an option. If you are alive and well, and you quit fighting for what you love most, then what are you living for?

What are you doing?

Think about the things that you’ve started that you’ve left incomplete, why didn’t you finish?

The excuses that you may come up with, don’t excuse the assignment that was given to you because of the desire of your own heart.

Make a decision to be a finisher today.

Phl 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, the question is, ARE YOU?

Decide, Think It Through & Start

It’s very important to know what you want to accomplish and then spell out the steps it will take to get there. If you don’t establish what your goal is and what the steps are, you’ll get lost in the midst of your pursuits. There’s so much information out here on the internet and you have to know how to sort through the clutter and find exactly what you need. Once you find what you need, lock into using that resource and incorporate that knowledge into what you’re pursuing. Be sure not to lose sight of your original reason for pursuing your goal. People only get overwhelmed when they don’t make a choice. Think about what is your immediate need. What is the most urgent issue for you to tackle right now? Once you establish what that is, take note of what you need to do and decide when you’re going to start the process. Of course, once you start the process, things are going to happen to take your attention away but learn to prioritize and delegate things to others. We are designed to want to do what we feel like doing or what we do well. Often times, when we are faced with something that is not what we want to do, we have a tendency to complain about it and/or procrastinate. What we have to do is look at the work that needs to be done and determine if it is something that we really need to overcome. If that is the case, then we have to start thinking about the options that we have available to us in order to move forward. There is a saying, “If there is a will, then there is a way” Many times people dream and have ideas all day but just don’t do anything to fulfill them. I don’t think it’s hard at all to fulfill dreams and bring ideas to fruition. You just have to think it through, start, and keep pushing until you finish. This brings to mind two references that the Apostle Paul said: I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phl 3:14 And I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Tim 4:7 We have to learn to exercise focus and discipline to finish things that we start so we can be like Paul who inevitably reflected Christ’s finished work from suffering and dying on the cross for our sins. So make a decision today to think things through pertaining to what you need to do and start. Once you start, you got to keep on repeating this process until you finish the work. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Phl 1:6

Captivity Over Your Thoughts

Talks about the mind and references Dr. Carolyn Lead & Joyce Meyers’ interview they did where they talked about how the scientific evidence of the mind and our thinking lines up with how God has made us and what’s reveal in the Word of God.
Memorize 2 Cor 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

(For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Overcoming Oppression Pt. 1

Recognizing What You Need To Do

The key to success in life is recognizing what you need and then knowing where to go to find it. Once you find it, then you have to go through the process of analysis, learning, and implementation. Usually this process takes time, energy and/or money. Learning is something that we have to do constantly just to remain relevant and efficient.
I read a quote that said, change is inevitable but growth is optional. A lot of times we don’t feel like doing certain things that we know we need to, and the irony of that is, usually it’s the very thing that we want to do that demands or requires for us to really do what we don’t feel like doing first. We feel a better sense of satisfaction and comfort doing what we want, knowing that we’ve done all of the things we needed to do first.

What is it that you need to do that you don’t feel like doing?

Studying the Word of God?

Finding a good church home?

Cleaning up your house?

Exercising?

Budgeting your money?

Learning a new program or system of some sort?

Getting organized?

Whatever it is that you have been neglecting because you don’t feel like it, just realize that change is happening regardless of you actually wanting to or not. What ever you decide to do or neglect today will determine your conditions and circumstances for tomorrow.

Action Plan
1. Think about what it is that you don’t necessarily feel like doing but you know you need to do.
2. Divide what you need to do into categories of Spiritual, Family, and Profession
3. Generate a list of what you need to do under each category and make it a priority today to start working on what you need to do.

Managing Priorities

Write down your good ideas as bullet points

They are potential solutions for your current problems

Everything is a thought first and then you have to structure your ideas in a step-by-step process so you’ll know what you have to do in order to carry it out.
When you learn to focus on priorities and throw out all the distractions, you can have more time for undivided attention spent on things that are most important to you. We are managers over our own lives and have to learn to be good stewards of our time and what God has entrusted us with.

Read Mathew 25:14 – 35
In life we have both spiritual responsibilities and we have practical responsibilities. We are all born into a story that we have to learn and get caught up on. We have to know our character and place in the story of life so we can contribute effectively from where we are. A lot of issues that we have to go through and struggle with in the beginning as a child sometimes are not all our fault but they still end up being our problems that we have to overcome. We have to always do more then just the bare minimum of what’s required of us. We learn that getting our personal lives together is the initial goal but in the process we have to help others too. It’s not just about us and our wanting to fill our own wants and desires but ultimately about us using our gifts and talents better serve people.

Misinterpreting Your Situation

Ordering Life Instead of Attempting to Control It

I’ve learned that it’s not about controlling things but rather, ordering them. If you desire a certain outcome then you have to wisely devise a plan that will naturally bring about your expected end.

Pro 16:3
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Of course your works have to be in line with what God desires for you and it will be brought about in His timing.

Usually it’s a change that has to occur in ourself first before we can start influencing others to change. You have to be practicing what you preach in order for it to be convincingly received by others. Mind-sets and/or concepts are crafted over time by a variety of influential experiences in a person’s life.

You can’t force or try to control an outcome in yourself or others because:
1) We all will naturally rebel against it
2) We honestly don’t really want things to go the way we think they should all the time because that can ultimately be selfish and damaging in other areas not considered initially. Pro 16:2

God has not designed any of us to be kool with being controlled or forced to do anything. We don’t like to be forced to do things so why would we project that notion on others?

Everybody has a choice of which way to go and have to learn to discipline themselves to do what is required in order to grow in the respected area. It starts first with us and then others will follow suit after we’ve proven ourself to be a reputable source and trustworthy influence.

Submit yourself to God and let him change you from the inside out and then watch how you’ll influence people on the outside into what your about.

Scripture References: Psa 37:23, Pro 16:2, 3 & 9, Jer 29:11