God & Goals Part 3: Take Action

In this episode, you’ll also hear:

• How to break your goal down into simple steps and create an action plan to achieve them
• The secret to moving forward when life gets you down
• Biblical examples of people who stepped out in faith and took action, even though they didn’t have all the information — and why you should do the same
• How to get your God-given message heard by the people who need it

In Part 1 of the God and Goals series, we talked about the first step for making your goals a reality, which is to Dream Big. This step is a challenge we make to ourselves to invite God into the goal-setting process. It’s all about taking off the limits and reminding ourselves that nothing is impossible with God. When we do that, He often speaks something into our hearts that doesn't make sense in the natural world — so we must have faith that God planted the seed in our hearts for a reason, and refuse to let fear stop us from dreaming.

Then, in Part 2, we talked about the second step, which is to Believe Big. Once we've come to grips with what God wants us to do — whether it’s writing a book, starting a podcast, creating our own online community, or finally launching that coaching program into the world — it's important to believe that we can achieve that goal. 

Because here's the deal: God is ultimately the one doing the heavy lifting. It's God who creates the opportunities, and it's God who ultimately determines the outcomes. So really, the only thing you and I are responsible for is having faith in His instructions and being obedient. Our job is to stay in lockstep with him. Of course, that means we’ll have to exercise a lot of patience and a lot of trust in God and in ourselves. But through prayerful guidance and hard work, anything that God calls you to can be accomplished. 

Today, we’ll deep dive into the third step — arguably the most important of the three — which is to take action. 

How to Make an Action Plan

The key to taking action is to establish an action plan, something that will keep you honest about your goals and dreams. 

You see, dreaming big and believing big gets you nowhere if you don't take action. So it’s time to take those goals and put them into writing. Then you’ll take those big goals and create mini goals that will ultimately help you stay motivated and focused on reaching the bigger goals. 

As with any plan, though, it's really important to keep it simple. You want to avoid information overload or feeling overwhelmed! So take your big goal and break it down into mini goals. Of course, there will be some pieces that you don’t know yet, and that’s okay. Just release those things to God and commit to taking consistent action. 

Once you’ve identified your mini goals, there are three more steps you need to take:

1. Set a timeline. 

A timeline lets you know if you’re on track to accomplish your goal, which provides motivation when success is achieved. And it also helps you adjust when you need to. 

For example, if your goal is to write a book by the end of the year, you might set a timeline to write one chapter per month or two chapters every other week. Or your timeline might be to set deadlines for when you’ll finish your first draft and send the manuscript to your editor. 

So take your big goal and break it down into mini goals, and that set a timeline for when you’ll accomplish each of those smaller steps. 

2. Start assembling your dream team. 

Many times people attempt goals on their own. But we were meant for community! Scripture reminds us that “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). So we need to find people who support us and believe in the vision that God has given us, and ask them to support us throughout the process. 

When choosing your dream team, you want people who:

• Have your best interests at heart. 
• Are skilled in what you are trying to do
• Can provide wise counsel, not just opinions, because they operate in discernment
• Will encourage you, not discourage you from achieving your goals 

Having a dream team is important, because these people can provide the motivation, direction, and insight you need during difficult times. Plus, they can celebrate your successes with you. 

Remember, God often works through people. So if you’ve gotten stuck in the past, it could be because you didn't have the right people around you. Very often, you need both prayer and people. 

3. Keep track of your progress.

This step is all about establishing a tracking system that takes the guesswork out of the progress you’ve made towards achieving each goal and milestone. 

Keeping track of your progress is also helpful because it ties back to course correction. If things a