Hello Everyone, I wish for this week to simply share some thoughts of mine on one of my favorite quotes that can be found in Preach My Gospel.
“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”
In life, we have a finite amount of time to do things that we want to do. We can't pour ourselves purely into things that can be classified as time-sinks, or hobbies or activities that you can pour endless hours into with the same outcome. With our time we should strive to be good stewards of the time we have been allotted. By setting, and most importantly achieving, goals we are able to use that time wisely because we comprehend that we have a need to accomplish a task in a finite amount of time. If we fail to do so, as Elder Ballard alludes to, we'll fail to use our time wisely and pour a great deal of time into things that do little to help us grow, learn, and progress.
It comes from Chapter 8 entitled "How So I Use Time Wisely?" and reads simply:
“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”
Within our mission we have had a great focus on commitments and covenants and being true to what we say we're going to do. Looking back I've actually spoken a number of times recently on this topic. As with almost every skill learned on a mission, goal setting and committing have applications to our lives before and after our missionary service. If you a truly committed to a goal, little will stop you from finding time and allocating resources to achieve that goal. But problems arise when we don't want what we want badly enough to sacrifice for it. If we truly want to understand the scriptures more, we have to sacrifice time that we could use on other things. If we want to grow closer to our Father in Heaven, we have to sacrifice time to pray to him with "all the energy of heart" as the Book of Mormon puts it.-Elder M. Russell Ballard
In life, we have a finite amount of time to do things that we want to do. We can't pour ourselves purely into things that can be classified as time-sinks, or hobbies or activities that you can pour endless hours into with the same outcome. With our time we should strive to be good stewards of the time we have been allotted. By setting, and most importantly achieving, goals we are able to use that time wisely because we comprehend that we have a need to accomplish a task in a finite amount of time. If we fail to do so, as Elder Ballard alludes to, we'll fail to use our time wisely and pour a great deal of time into things that do little to help us grow, learn, and progress.
I know that before my mission, I sunk my time into many things that didn't exactly have the greatest worth, and it's serving now as a wonderful contrast of how well I'm expected to use my time on my mission. I've mostly overcome my well-honed skill of procrastination (mostly). But I'm sure the real test lies ahead, as with all of us. Greater trials of our work ethic and time management skills lie ahead, and I know that as we perform positively we will gain skills and confidence that will surely aid us later in life and in the eternities. After all, isn't God able to fulfill all of his words? And should we not strive to do that amongst ourselves with the goals we set for ourselves?
I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Elder Gailey
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