{"id":5499,"date":"2015-01-08T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T06:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=5499"},"modified":"2020-09-10T16:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T22:45:18","slug":"spiritual-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/08\/spiritual-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Complete Your Spiritual Goals This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spiritual-goals-gospels\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the new year\u2026again.<\/p>\n

Around this time of year, everyone online starts talking about goal setting and resolutions.<\/p>\n

How to make goals, how to keep goals, how everyone breaks their goals, and how this year you can finally be the most productive person on the planet.<\/p>\n

I used to think all that was useless, but now I\u2019m buying into to it BECAUSE I started thinking about this in terms of spiritual goals.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s a post on how to set\u00a0spiritual\u00a0goals for the year, get started on your spiritual life, and motivate yourself to\u00a0become the most spiritually productive person on the planet (or at least spiritually productive). This is what I\u2019m going to use this year to get off my butt and start praying more, although I\u2019ll probably still be on my butt while I\u2019m praying.<\/p>\n

Big resolutions don\u2019t work<\/h2>\n

About 12 years ago, someone in my Bible study group asked if spiritual New Year\u2019s resolutions were a good idea or just a waste of time. My answer was\u2014are any New Year\u2019s resolutions a good idea?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it, big change is hard, and resolutions to make massive changes don\u2019t work. Why do we make them?<\/p>\n

Because in the beginning it\u2019s cool. Think about starting a new workout program. You visualize how you\u2019ll look different, feel different, and be different at the end. However, when you start working out it just hurts. That\u2019s no fun.<\/p>\n

I think Olympic athletes must be masochists, or at the least they have an incredible tolerance for pain.<\/p>\n

What does work?<\/h2>\n

I ran across this idea of Kaizen, a Japanese word for the process of achieving sustained success through small, steady steps. You do this by building a habit of doing something very small, tiny even, everyday without fail until changes takes place. You\u2019re not even committing to the big goal. You\u2019re committing to the tiny habit.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a book on this by Robert Maurer called One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way<\/a>. There\u2019s also Mini Habits<\/a> by Stephen Guise.<\/p>\n

The problem is getting started is uncomfortable. Doesn\u2019t matter what it is\u2026working out, writing, praying. The hardest part is overcoming the inertia at the beginning.<\/p>\n

But committing to a micro-habit isn\u2019t that difficult. Think something on the order of walking ten minutes a day, writing 50 words a day, or reading a small section of the Bible or spiritual book.<\/p>\n

Then, once you\u2019ve started moving, it\u2019s easier to keep going. After a while, you\u2019ll likely stick around longer. Once you form a solid habit, you\u2019ll start thinking of yourself as someone who does this particular thing. And then, you\u2019re off and running.<\/p>\n

My Kaizen moment<\/h2>\n

I experienced the power of small, incremental change first hand last year when I started P90X. Now at first this doesn\u2019t seem like a good example, in fact it sort of isn\u2019t. P90X is a big, honking, scary workout program that lasts for 90 days, and I\u2019m not much of an athlete. But, they have this principle built in.<\/p>\n

At the beginning, they don\u2019t emphasize the number of reps you do, how strong you are, or even if you can finish. They emphasize moving and gradual improvement. They tell you to learn the exercises and go at your own pace. You can work harder later.<\/p>\n

It worked! I just kept moving and stuck with it. At first I couldn\u2019t imagine even finishing all the exercises in the first part, but eventually I could. Then when I started the advanced phase, I couldn\u2019t imagine finishing those exercises, but eventually I could\u2026with strength to spare.<\/p>\n

Gradually, and incrementally over time, I did it.<\/p>\n

This really resonates with me. I think this kind of goal setting will work. I seriously think it can work for spiritual goals\u00a0and growing closer to God this year.<\/p>\n

Getting started on spiritual\u00a0goals<\/h2>\n

So what spiritual goals\u00a0can you commit to this year? I\u2019m going for at least ten minutes of meditative prayer everyday where I converse with God and listen to what he\u2019s saying.<\/p>\n

Something I\u2019ve done for the past few years (that actually does fit the bill) is the Gospels in a Year<\/a> program from Flocknote.com. Sign up for the mailing list and you\u2019ll get a little snippet of gospels in your email inbox everyday. At the end of a year, you’ll finish all four gospels. Forget about reading the whole Bible. That’s a great goal, but it’s just too much.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a program for the Catechism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Really, this is not that hard. Just read an email a day. All you have to do is click and it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

What you do doesn\u2019t matter. Just commit to something. Make it tiny and easy to manage. Don\u2019t over think it or over shoot. That will undermine the entire thing.\u00a0Make it short, simple, and sweet.<\/p>\n

Here’s to spiritual goals and productivity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the new year\u2026again. Around this time of year, everyone online starts talking about goal setting and resolutions. How to make goals, how to keep goals, how everyone breaks their goals, and how this year you can finally be the most productive person on the planet. I used to think all that was useless, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-spirituality-2","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nComplete Your Spiritual Goals This Year - Marc Cardaronella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to be more prayerful this year? Do you have trouble motivating yourself? 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