Mormon Monday: Goals

For those of you who don't know, last month I set a goal to write 50,000 words in my novel for National Write a Novel Month (or NaNoWriMo).  I finished up the month by writing over 4,000 words the last day, but it wasn't quite good enough.  I finished my goal at only 42,643 words, leaving 7,357 to go.  Don't worry, I am going to complete my goal, and I am definitely going to try NaNoWriMo again.

I was a little disappointed with myself, but I do feel like I tried my best to get it done.  Yes, there were probably days I could have written more, but I did try and that was a wonderful feeling.  After having something to work on last month, I suddenly felt motivated to set more goals.  I remember how good it feels to set and aim for goals. 

When I was on my mission, we set daily goals, weekly goals, and monthly goals.  We were always working to improve ourselves and it felt wonderful!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages its member to ALWAYS set and keep goals, not just on New Years.  I've done the traditional New Years Goals, where I often don't end up keeping them and then I feel bad about it the next year.  However, we shouldn't just set yearly goals. 

An article called "Pursuit of Excellence" says:

Setting goals and working toward those goals can strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by helping you develop patterns and qualities of discipleship in your life. Pursuit of Excellence can help you to follow the Savior's example of "a more excellent way"  (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Begin by asking the Lord to help you determine what you will work on. Decide how you will evaluate and record your progress. Discover how the Spirit affirms your progress. You will find that your greatest reward will be an increase of the Spirit in your life. Your faith will grow, and your testimony will be strengthened.

Yesterday in church, a lady was saying that if we align our goals with our Father's will, there is no way that we cannot accomplish them.  He will help us where our own strength is lacking. 

We should be constantly trying to become more like the Savior.  Maybe NaNoWriMo wasn't necessarily a spiritual goal, (although I did feel inspired to try it), but it has reminded me how important it is to make and work on goals. 

This month my goal is to read the entire Book of Mormon by Christmas, starting today.  It is a challenging task, but that is the fun of a goal.  If it doesn't challenge you, how can you be growing?

I also going to try to work on making a Quiet Book for Kevin for church.  I loved mine when I was a kid, and I think he will enjoy it too.  If you have any fun quiet book ideas that you want to tell me about, please let me know!

I have a goal to set a monthly goal every month, as well as yearly and daily goals.  I know as I do this, my testimony will be strengthened, and I will become a better person. 

Thanks to all of you who encouraged me while I was working on writing.  I'm going to keep writing, and hopefully next year I can publish my first novel.

That's one of next year's goals. 

Not sure what this picture has to do with my blog, but I love it!