HOW TO KEEP FROM GETTING OLD BEFORE YOUR TIME KEY 8

Key #8. Practice goal setting

This is the last of eight keys I have shared relative to how to keep from getting old before your time. Let me know if you missed one. Email me at [email protected]. Laying aside the “Adam” factor, it is a scientific, medical fact that one of the things that accelerate the aging process is the drying of the marrow in our bones. Marrow is the soft, vascular tissue that fills the cavities of our bones and produces our red and white blood cells and platelets.

According to the Bible, the marrow in our bones is the innermost necessity for good health. The drying of this marrow is the major cause of getting old.

I would like to share with you eight keys that will slow down the drying of the marrow in our bones, and keep us from getting old before our time.

These eight keys will also give us some overwhelming advantages in being healthy and successful in life. This week we are sharing our last key, Key #8.

The Apostle Paul was a goal setter. He said in Philippians chapter 3, verse 14, “I press toward the goal of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ was a goal setter. He fulfilled all 333 goals that were set for Him in the Old Testament. 

The Bible says, “Where there is no vision (no goal) the people perish,” Proverbs 29:18.

God created us to be goal setters. Unless we practice goal setting, we are nothing but an accident waiting to happen. Very little in life can be accomplished unless it first becomes a goal, either consciously or sub-consciously.

Something as simple as getting up in the morning to go to church or your job must first become a goal. You set the alarm clock for 7:00 o’clock. That was your goal to get up at a certain time.

You cannot go to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread unless it first becomes a goal. You may not have realized that these simple things were goals at the time, but they were. Our life will be nothing but a series of mistakes and accidents, unless we practice goal setting. If you have never practiced goal setter, let me suggest you start with a “to-do list." Each night before you go to bed make a “to-do list" for the next day. That “to-do list" is simply your immediate goals for the next day.

There are four kinds of goals. There are lifestyle goals. There are immediate goals like your “to-do list." There are short-term goals. And there are long-term goals. 

What is a goal? A goal is simply “an objective that we strive to attain.” All sports have goals. All businesses have goals. All successful people practice goal setting.

The formula for any kind of success in life is to learn the art of goal setting. You ask, “How will I know when I become successful?”

One of my mentors, Earl Nightingale, has given the best definition of success that I know. He said, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal.”

You don’t have to wait until you achieve your goals to be successful. Let me quote Earl Nightingale again, “success is the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal.” You become a success the moment you set the goal.

What I’m trying to say is, you must first become mentally, from an attitude standpoint that which you wish to become.

That great German philosopher, Gerder, put it this way, “Before you can do something, you must first be something.”

Our Manufactures Handbook says, “As we think in our heart, so shall we be,” Proverbs 23:7.

A famous restaurant owner was asked by a newspaper reporter, “When did you become successful?” He replied, “I was successful when I was sleeping on park benches without a dime in my pocket. I knew what I wanted to do, and I knew I would do it.”

You see, his attitude had been one of success long before he had actually achieved the reward of his success.

 God created us with a chemistry process that is activated the moment we set a goal. I challenge you to tap into this secret resource and learn the creative power of goal setting.

Let me show you how this God-given chemistry works. First of all, when a goal has been set, our energy is funneled into that direction. This funneled energy creates determination. This determination creates motivation. This motivation creates enthusiasm. And this enthusiasm creates action. This process progressively causes us to begin realizing our goal, sometimes without us even realizing what’s happening.

This process gives us hope! It gives us purpose in life! It gives us zeal for living. It’s not failure, but lack of action that keeps most people from better health and success. Just because we fail sometimes does not mean we are a failure. The only people who are failures are those who give up and blame someone else for their failure. Failing is what we all do sometimes. Being a failure is what we are. If you feel like you are a failure, you can change that in a hurry just by changing your attitude.

Let me give you an example of this chemistry reaction that takes place when we set a goal.

Suppose we went elk hunting in Alaska. One night after a long day we are sitting around the camp fire having dinner and talking about the big one that got away. All of a sudden, a large grizzly bear smelling the food comes out of the woods toward us. The very sight of that bear immediately creates a chemistry process within us, causing a chain-reaction of emotions to take place. Without giving it any thought, the sight of that bear causes us to set a goal. The goal is to get away from that bear. This goal, in a matter of seconds, funnels our energy. This funneled energy creates determination. This determination creates motivation. This motivation creates enthusiasm. And this enthusiasm creates action. 

I realize that most goals we set in life will not be achieved quite so quickly, but the same chemistry process occurs. I must say this about our long term goals. Our long term goals need to be visualized and verbalized from time to time, if nor everyday, to keep this chemistry process active, but it works. We can slow down the aging process by practicing goal setting.

Success is a choice! Happiness is a choice. Better health is a choice. Life is simply made up of choices and consequences. If we want to improve our life, all we need to do is improve our choices.

I would like to leave you with this final wish. May you always be cursed with the gift of dissatisfaction and divine discontent.

May you have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and wisdom, and an appetite for God’s Word that knows no satisfaction.

May you always think your best, live your noblest, love your fullest and work your hardest.

And above all else, may your belief in and devotion to our great and wonderful God grow deeper and stronger every day of your life and not be uprooted as long as you live. Let me leave you with one final Scripture.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength in your bones,” Proverbs 3:5-8) I pray this is our number-one goal.