I love the end of the year.

Each year, I try to reserve the week between Christmas Day and New Year's for planning and review. This isn’t so much about ministry, but family and personal goals I want to have.

We are going to talk about this idea over the next few weeks.

I’ve done several emails about using personal values and beliefs to help understand growth and goals. You can listen to them here.

​Setting Personal Goals Through Values | EP 107​

​Core Values and Decision Making | EP 77​

I like this approach because it helps me get beyond some random list of 5-10 goals. Sure, I’ve got those. Over time, I have found more valuable in drilling deeper into who I am personally. If I focus on who I am and aspire to be, hitting an objective goal will be easier.

Starting off with some reflection around “what do I want to embody over the next year?” is a much better assessment. Sure, you could say you want to lose weight. Or you could say, I want to strive for physical fitness long-term and begin the pattern of getting 15,000 steps in every day. This sounds like a goal, but I attach a personal wellness goal to my core value of being healthy enough to not be physically unfit. That way making a goal to go on a strenuous trip or event isn’t just a one-time thing, but pointing my life towards what and where I want to be.

Currently, I am having to level up my administrative skills. I could attach a goal or two to that.

Where I am more likely to be heading is instead embodying better communication practices, reviews, and using systems to get long-term results.

I’ll share more on this in the next couple of emails, but I want to give you a specific call-to-action.

What would the one-step better version of you be next year?

Think about this with 3-5 bullet points. These are what we want other people to say about us when we aren’t around.

Next week we will hit the specifics and some systems, but think about those bullets. Yes, these might need to be ministry related. Or personal.

Think holistically.

I’ll see you back next week.

Chad

Managing Projects with Trello Productive Pastor 124 How do I manage the projects I design and run as part of ministry? Trello. It's always my answer. Listen to the Episode

My 5 Favorite Items for Ministry Productivity. I've been experimenting with video versions of Productive Pastor. Especially when the content leans that way. Watch episode 123 on YouTube Watch