The Power Of Being Focused

In review of Proverbs 21:5 it says, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”

Bottom Line:

Think about, plan well and work hard. When you do you be prosperous. If you try shortcuts you’ll only end up in ruin.

What this means to me:

I am to carefully think through and plan my activities. When I couple this with hard work, I’ll have plenty and be prosperous in my endeavors. There is no shortcut or quick way. If I’m too hasty in my planning or in my actions then I’ll only end up poor or diffused. In order for God to use me, I need to really be focused. The more focused I am, the more effective I can be, and the more God can use me. A diffused light doesn’t have much effect on what it touches, however a focused light provides much better clarity. My life can be much the same way. I can just drift through, diffused, and not impact much or I can be focused. Focusing on a few key goals can make a big impact on the world for God. As this verse explains, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty” Proverbs 21:5 NLT). I’ll never reach a vague goal, mainly because I’ll never know if I’ve completed it. My goals need to be specific. For instance, I can’t just say my goal is to mentor others. It would be better for me to set a goal to purpose to get together and meet with 2 or 3 guys once a month for the next six months. A goal like that would be more specific and easy to measure; I either did or didn’t do it. Specific goals are the ones that will change my life. As I have reflected on for the last few week, I’ll be setting some specific goals for myself for the next six months. One goal will be to help mentor others. I’ll do this by just taking an interest in their lives and getting together with 2 or 3 guys and meet with them once or twice a month for the next six months. Another goal will be to improve my health and work toward eliminating my use of medications to control blood sugar and cholesterol. I’ll do this by setting the goal to lose 20 lbs over the next six months. My goal at my job will be to train up my successor in the next six months so that I can be free to take on any new opportunities. For this goal I will work on specific things I can do to include this person in my daily activities so that he can easily step in. Lastly, I want to get together with two trusted individuals in my life so that I can share my goals and have them help hold me accountable to them. My next steps will be to define some tactics and strategies so that I can accomplish them.