The New Year can either be a day to reminisce about your achievements or a day of disappointment for the lack of achievements you have made this year. It’s easy to have dreams and make goals of what we want to accomplish for the new year, but how do we go about accomplishing these goals? Is there a way to live purposefully this new year?

Just like you, I too made goals that I wanted to accomplish last year; goals to be a better person, to be more productive, and to be closer to God. While I did accomplish some goals that I had made, there were also a lot of other goals that ended up just being “goals” but never accomplishments.

I had a goal to finish my Psalms devotional book that never ended up happening, and goals to pray more, but my prayer life still has not gotten better since the day I made the decision to pray more. My problem was a lack of strategy and commitment. The desire to change was there, but no visible strategy was placed.

Having the desire to accomplish something isn’t enough to get us to accomplish our goals. Turning goals into accomplishments requires desire, strategy, and commitment.

When you set a goal to get an A in a class, you have to create a strategy on how you plan to accomplish that, and then you have to commit to that strategy. Just desiring for an A in the class but not committing time to study or do homework will take you nowhere near an A.

Just as we set goals and strategies to get an A in class, so should we do the same for setting up goals to having a closer relationship with God. Many of us say “this will be the year that I will pray more” or “this will be the year that I get closer to God” without making actual strategies on how we plan to achieve that. So what ends up happening? Goals stay as goals.

However, there is a way to live purposefully this new year and make everyday count. To help you make the most of this new year, I created a Live Purposefully Calendar (click to download) that you can download. This calendar will help you accomplish your goals by allowing you to plan and create strategies for you to commit to. To help you stay committed to your strategies, choose one accountability partner who will agree to check your calendar at the end of each month. There are check boxes on each day for you to mark off whenever each strategy is completed for the day, and a check box at the end of the calendar for your accountability partner to mark off that they have seen your calendar.

Let’s make 2017 the year we turn our goals to accomplishments. God has a calling and purpose for all of us, but it is up to us to be obedient and live up to the calling. Paul writes in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Let’s press towards the calling God has for us and live purposefully this new year. Will you join me in living each day of 2017 purposefully? So remember, live purposefully this new year.

Click here to download the Live Purposefully Calendar for free.