Count the cost! What is your priority?
It’s the ninth month of the year, can you imagine! Oh wow, I am so thankful for the gift of life. I won’t deny that sometimes I get into the mood of complaining about things yet to be achieved. However, when I remember the gift of life it reminds me to be grateful for things achieved and those yet undone. So, tell me how are you doing? I hope you are chilling and doing great.
Lately, I have observed a trend year in and year out that I am not achieving specific goals I have laid out to accomplish for the year. This then means that I keep planning to achieve these same goals every year and now it is beginning to feel like these goals are running in circles. Thankfully I have come to realize that this can become a continuous pattern if I lack the understanding of prioritizing, focusing, and counting the cost before starting anything. Any decision a person makes to start working on goals alternative to the original plan may have an impact on any prioritized goals laid out for the year. Although all goals planned are relevant it may not be the set time to start working towards achieving those goals. This will also mean that the most important goals will suffer and may not be completed if time, money, energy, and resource run out. Let me give an example, a person sets a goal to finish a book project that he or she is writing and plans to publish but gets sidetracked and decides to focus on doing a professional exam that will need a significant amount of time and intense studying. Of course, both goals are valid and will yield tangible results, but the question is which goal is a priority that requires focus and completion before moving to the next goal. Do you need to consider the impact of not writing the book first or doing the exam? Please, don’t get me wrong for some people they can set to achieve both goals without having a priority in place. These people may have the ability and capacity to achieve both goals within the time scale available to them. However, from my personal experience, this has not worked for me because I am pulled to do different things at different times, and I end up with incomplete projects. Also, time plays a huge factor in how much a person can get accomplished. For example, if you have a 9 am -5 pm job you may only have the evenings and the weekend to work towards achieving your goals. If my experience seems familiar to you, then it’s time we sit down, think and analyse what can be limiting us from achieving our goals.
It is so important to count the cost on whatever we plan to embark on, from life-changing decisions, personal goals, careers, and to the littlest daily task we do. Whatever we decide to focus on as a priority will eventually yield tangible results. I wish someone could have told me when I was young to count the cost of my actions, decisions, and choices, Luke 14:28 says “But don’t begin until you count the cost, for who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? If we spend time to think of the impact and why we should focus on a certain goal before moving to the next, will give us the drive to eliminate distractions and to keep our eyes on the why. When you are clear on what’s the priority and the cost it will take to achieve a goal even when faced with hurdles that seem impossible to cross, you will remember that you counted the cost. Therefore, there must be a way to figure this hurdle out. You will be focused on dedicating time and effort to complete this goal. It’s amazing, the year is almost over and there’s a project I thought at least by mid-year I will start and get it completed. However, I continued another project and did not count the cost of the impact it will have on completing a goal that has been a priority for a couple of years now. Of course, the project I started is also very valid, but I have learnt the importance of counting the cost before embarking on anything because it will surely cost you something and you could be wasting time delaying on goals that will have a positive impact on people.
With what I have learnt from this experience, it is obvious that I need to make some changes with my approach towards my goals and let the Lord direct my path. I will have to intentionally train myself to focus on what is the priority goal and work towards completion. Of course, if you are a creative person and you find yourself always having ideas running through your head, this is a gift so please embrace it. However, if you have ideas to start something immediately my advice is to pause, write the idea down, count the cost of starting it right away, update the idea(s) if required and revisit it once you have completed your most priority goal. Although, we may encounter certain goals that we may have to put on hold for specific reasons, however, let me warn you please be very careful that you dont abandon those goals because you started working on them for a purpose and the plan is not to give up. I hope that what I have shared will get you thinking and encourage you to count the cost as this can be a push to achieving what’s more important in seasons.
