"A goal not written is merely a wish"

Tonight in my institute class we discussed Goal setting, and prioritizing those goals we set....are they temporal or spiritual? Will they help me gain what I am here to gain?

I have to say first that tonight in class I focused on overcoming some of my fears...it sounds so silly but I lead the music, which was a big step! And then, we played one of those silly games that had 20 facts on it and you had to go around and introduce yourself to others in the class, and the point was to see who got the most signatures on their papers....Guess who got the most?!? You guessed it, although you may not believe i...Me! And it felt great to let my walls down.

Anyways, He gave us some homework....it is,

1.  Write down your top ten priorities (with a paragraph on each one explaining why its so important.
2.  Write down 10 things you do that are less important that consume your time.
3.  Write down your 5 year goal, 1 year goal, 6 month goal and one week goal.

And as you do this, really ponder what you are going to write.

Something he said that really stood out to me is that the way Satan works on good people, is to get them to focus on doing "good" things...not better, or best things. He then shared the talk from Dallin Oaks called "Good, Better, Best!". Here are some highlights from that talk that stood out to me....

"We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ"

"We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives."

"Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom”

"Here are some other illustrations of good, better, and best:

It is good to belong to our Father in Heaven’s true Church and to keep all of His commandments and fulfill all of our duties. But if this is to qualify as “best,” it should be done with love and without arrogance. We should, as we sing in a great hymn, “crown [our] good with brotherhood,” showing love and concern for all whom our lives affect.

To our hundreds of thousands of home teachers and visiting teachers, I suggest that it is good to visit our assigned families; it is better to have a brief visit in which we teach doctrine and principle; and it is best of all to make a difference in the lives of some of those we visit. That same challenge applies to the many meetings we hold—good to hold a meeting, better to teach a principle, but best to actually improve lives as a result of the meeting."

He ended with the quote that I used as the heading for this post

"A goal not written is merely a wish."

I know that I have already shared this....but something I did this year was I decorated a cute little box that I have right now sitting on a shelf in my room, in sight. Inside this box are my goals for the year...I cannot open the box until New Years Day (that's the day I picked, you could pick another) and when I do open it I will evaluate how I did on my goals, and will then do it all over again! It is helping me! Hey, I lead the music AND won the "Get to know you" game tonight!

And its so funny...The MJ quote of the day is  "If you are going to do it, commit yourself, know your craft and be really involved." (incase you haven't noticed...I am a HUgE MJ fan!)