How is your 2023 New Year going so far? You haven’t fizzled on you have you? I’m not big on writing resolutions although it’s this time of year I begin to write out my vision for the year and set goals and action steps centered around my vision. I’m not to keen on a word for the year since the Lord will give a word practically every day to focus on. However, this year I believe I need to focus on RECALIBRATING.
Every year in January, my church, and many around the globe, participate in a 21-Day Prayer and Fast period. During this time, we select the type of fast we will commit to and really spend time in prayer with the Lord seeking His will for us in 2023. This year I have laid out some things I desire to accomplish this year and I am also making sure these align with God’s will for my life. As I focus on recalibrating every area of my life, I am re-examining and re-adjusting processes and systems to ensure they are appropriate for where God is taking me at this venture. Is my business setup for success? What adjustments do I need to make to achieve my desired outcomes of serving more clients and making more revenue. Is my ministry where it needs to be? What do I need to do to attract more Christian women to this online ministry and how can I better help them grow spiritually?
Recalibration is all about ensuring the path that you are on is navigating you in the right direction to hit your targets leading to your destination. Are you on the right path? Here are 5 steps to help recalibrate your life this year:
- Seek the Lord first. Through prayer ask Him if where you are right now is where you’re suppose to be. If not, ask the Lord to order your steps and then take the steps in the order that He tells you.
- Reevaluate what you are doing currently as it pertains to living your life on purpose and with purpose. Are you on point or do you need a few upgrades? Do you need to do some reskilling /retraining? Leaders should always be learning something new. Upgrade or update your skills whether professionally or personally. I am a big proponent of personal and professional development and let’s not leave out the value and need for spiritual development.
- Self-care to include self-mastery. I bet most of you have a self-care regimen. Every day I am trying to do something regarding self-care, but I am also including self-mastery or self-discipline. These elements of tending to “self” without being selfish contributes toward becoming more self- aware and provides a platform to becoming our best self.
- Renewed Mindset. This is a daily practice. Elevate your thinking. Think about what your thinking about and why. Do your thoughts complement or compete against what you aim to achieve? It’s so easy to overthink and self-sabotage your success through negative and doubtful self-talk. Feed your spirit the Word of God and believe you can have what you say. This means we need to speak with intentionality. Make declarations that speak life into what you desire to have come to pass in your life. It all begins with how you think. Self-control, self-mastery, requires eliminating negative thoughts before they germinate. Practice the “3-second rule.” There is a 3-second rule in basketball, “states that an offensive player cannot be in the lane for more than three seconds while his team has control of the ball.” (official.nba.com) There’s a 3-second rule to avoid auto accidents, employ a 3-second rule by quickly replacing a negative thought with a positive one. You might be able to do it in less then 3-seconds, but the point is not to let it sink in and become a reality. Colossians 3:2 states, “set your minds on thing that are above, not on things that are on earth” (ESV) Romans 12:2 states, “but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” These Scriptures will help you elevate how you think and not be influenced by your surroundings.
- Tools/Resources. To properly recalibrate, you will need to have the right tools and access to resources that will aid you in making the right corrections or adjustments to achieve your desired results. Great tools to help with developing a better mindset are journals. Journaling is a proven way to dump your thoughts onto paper, gain clarity and direction and to relieve stress. It’s even a great tool to become more productive and focused.
I am excited to share two journals I’ve created that will help you get ready and recalibrate this year. Mindful to Be Thankful was written to help you shift your focus off of all the crazy and chaos in the world outside and even inside of you, and focus on the God who blesses you everyday! When you begin to intentionally thank God for all He has done and will do for you, your mood shifts, joy enters, and you feel peace in the midst of what ever you are going through. It’s a healing journal that will bless God and bless you. This journal is 30-days of Scriptures and prompts to guide you into mindset of gratitude and thanksgiving.
The F.U.D.S. Buster journal was designed to help you address the Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt Syndrome that hinders you from moving forward and becoming the powerful and confident person you were created to be. You will find Scriptures, quotes, and prompts to cause you to think and process the triggers of FUDS and help you overcome them. You will find this tool extremely beneficial.
Listen, make this the year that you hit your target(s) and fulfill your desires. This is more than creating a vision board, listing resolutions, and then abandoning everything before the end of January. Recalibration is about examining where you are now, evaluating what works well and what doesn’t work. This includes looking at relationships as well. It’s about making the necessary adjustments, adapting the right habits, to experience greater precision in your life. Equip yourself with the right tools, such as journals, and the right systems that will get you to that point, but in all you do make sure God is leading and structuring your steps, then you take them. AMEN!