Intention, Resolution, Goal, Which one is it?

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we seek to become more like our Savior. That's our intent. When we write down specific areas that we'd like to be more like Him, that is called a resolution. Characteristics of Christ might include humility, knowledge, patience, obedience, diligence and charity. A Goal is selecting a specific topic then breaking it down into steps that can be measured and achieved by a certain time. These too, must be written down.

NOW IS A GOOD TIME

If you do not have a journal, now would be a good time to start one. It can be a three ring binder type of notebook with notebook paper (I found this good, because when I make a mistake, I can just rewrite rather than having a lot of cross outs in a bound -type journal). It is also suggested using a black pen not a pencil for posterity's sake. There are many types of spiral bound notebooks available, too. Deseret Book has many journals to purchase, some quite beautiful, to help when studying a specific course of scripture study. God gave us individual gifts, talents and the agency to choose what works best for us. Have fun deciding, but most importantly is the choice to ACT, now.

 I use my Patriarchal Blessing to set my personal goals for the year. After prayerfully reading it once a day over a period of time in December, I notice that certain words or phrases pop out at me. I use these for the basis of some personal scripture study. I discover ideas for my New Year’s goals that seem to present themselves to me under inspiration. We all know what we ought to be doing. It doesn’t take a magician to tell us these things. I then write down my goals with several dates for meeting smaller steps towards a major goal. Keeping these at the front of my journal helps to keep me on track. I seldom try to resolve to do more than five different things at a time. Too many goals make me just want to give up.

At the six month mark around the beginning of summer, I review how I am doing, and determine whether I need to make what I call “Course Corrections.”

Over the years, I have accomplished much towards becoming the kind of person I believe Heavenly Father wants me to be. Using my own patriarchal blessing helps me to eliminate distracting topics in life that lure me away from my life mission as stated therein.