464: Two in Three

Two weeks ago I issued a PurposeChallenge and so far 201 people have taken me up on it. The Challenge is to take the Purpose Assessment on my website and then commit to improve 15 points by the end of the year.  I will be writing Memos specifically to help you increase, focusing on goals, mentors, time management and faith.  Those seem to be the areas which keep most scores low.  Of course, I won't ignore posts about purpose in the process.

Last week we began discussing goal-setting as our first entry in the PurposeChallenge.  This week I want to identify three enemies you have as you attempt to set and achieve your goals. Which one is your most significant opponent?

GOAL ENEMIES

1. Unbelief.  It’s an amazing process to see how quickly you can talk yourself out of a potential goal.  Within five minutes of the initial thought, you can determine that you are too old, too young, too ignorant, too poor, or too unprepared to do whatever it is you were considering.  And these thoughts thwart your actions, thus cutting short the faith process.  How?  James wrote us, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).   For instance, let’s say you want to write a book.  Why don’t you?  You may not know who will publish the book and, therefore you don’t write.  I present to you that this is unbelief.  Just because you don’t know who will publish the book doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write it.  In fact, no one can publish a book you don’t write it.  So you do what you can do—write—and trust God to do what He can do—publish.
2. Fear of failure.  I have written a lot about fear and your ambivalence about failure.  That is why I promote an annual “Celebrate a Failure Day” so that you and others like you can understand the role of failure in the productivity process.  It works like this.  Would you agree that failure can be a great teacher?  Would you further agree that you can often learn more from failure than success?   And would you also agree that you are always to grow and learn as you serve God and His world?   If you answered “yes” to all these questions, then I have one more question.  If those statements are true, then shouldn’t you fail as often as possible?  If you can see the truth behind that thought process, you will set as many goals as possible, not worrying about whether or not you may fail.  No one ever kicked a goal or hit a home run that won a game if they were afraid to try.  Yes, they may miss, but they also may achieve their goal because they tried.  The same is true for you no matter what you are trying to do.
3. Lack of diligence.  You may set a goal and establish a date when it is to be accomplished.  That date may come and go and you haven’t achieved your goal.  What should you do then?  You should determine if the goal represents something you still want to do and, if it is, you should set a new target date.  Don’t abandon the goal; extend the deadline!  Goal-setting isn’t a science; it’s an art.  You don’t ever have perfect knowledge of the future when you set a goal.  Often you can greatly underestimate what it will take to get the job done.  When that happens, and it will, don’t give up.  Renew your efforts and keep trying.  So what if it takes seven years instead of seven months.  You see, when you work on a goal, the goal also works on you.  It helps you increase in faith and pay a price to see the goal achieved.  There is so much you don’t understand when you set a goal, but the goal will keep you on course while you go through the unexpected detours that you encounter on the road. 
   

TWO IN THREE

Now that you have identified your enemy, it's time to set some goals.  I want you to look at three areas of your life, personal development, spiritual, and family, and set two goals for each area that you will achieve between now and October 15.  When October 15 arrives, you will set two more in each area to be completed by December 31.  You can set a goal to read a book or books, take a class, read the New Testament, visit your family twice between now and the end of the year.  I don't care what you set or how simple they are.  Just do it!

Next week, we will look at ways to keep your goals in front of you.  In the meantime, don't make this harder than it is.  Remember, your assignment is six goals by next week!  Have a great week.

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BACK HOME:  I am back home from a wonderful trip to Kenya.  It met and exceeded all my expectations.  My thanks to all my Kenyan friends, family and associates for taking such good care of me (our Team Kenya is pictured left).  At right is a picture of the people who assembled for the seminar I taught through The Pacific Institute for three days last week. I will be back in November to do another such seminar and also to launch The Pacific Institute's youth program called PX2.  Both these programs have the power to change Kenya and Africa one life at a time.  If you live in Kenya, I hope you can make the seminar in November.

MINISTRY IN KENYA:  I had a chance to drop off the money I had from the Sophia Fund to two organizations who have been beneficiaries of your generosity in the past.  Pictured left is Alice Kwendo  
(standing) and Rose Awero (seated).  Both ladies are the founders of Each One Touch One Orphanage (EOTOO) in Nairobi.  These women founded and funded this orphanage out of their own funds and today they have 20 orphans, whom they house, clothe, feed and send to school.  I cannot say enough about the wonderful job they do.  Actually, there are about 12 partners who came together and each pays a little each month to pay the rent.  Often they do not know where the money is going to come from for operations, but the Lord always provides.  

I am raising money for Operation Chicken Coop for EOTOO and they are so excited.  We have about $2,000 collected so far, so I am going to wire the money to Alice and they are going to start construction on the chicken coops.  As more money comes in, we will be able to finish the project and buy the chickens.

Pictured right is Pastor Francis Odhiambo, who founded Upako Centre in Nairobi.  In addition to pastoring a church, Francis houses 43 orphans - in his own home!  Francis also runs a school and does a number of other outreach ministries in his community. Both said that they would have had to close if they had not received money from you through the Sophia Fund.  This time I was able to give each ministry $750.  I wish it could be more.

If you would like to help either of these ministries or if you can give just $5 to the Sophia Fund, then you can feed an orphan for a week.  If you give to Operation Chicken Coop, you will help an orphanage help themselves so they can provide the orphans with food, revenue and a sense of responsibility.  You can give through my website or send a check to PurposeQuest at PO Box 8882, Pittsburgh, PA  15221-8882.