“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

This is the week that we likely wrap up the year and probably Wednesday we pack it in and take off the rest of the week for Christmas break and if we do work the following week between Christmas and New Years it’s more about getting ready for next year than closing off 2015.  So, what kind of planning will we do?  How much thinking time will we give ourselves to plan for the new year?  This is where Ben Franklin’s quote comes into play – “If I’d had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter”.  What good old Ben was saying is that it takes time to distill and focus a thought.  This is key because if we take on our planning of the new year without true thinking time we will likely end up with a long list that is more of a glorified to-do list, which might be called resolutions, but never get completed.  Each year, Facebook Founder/CEO, Mark Zuckerberg comes up with one annual improvement goal, and because he focuses, he completes them.  Fast Company Magazine detailed Zuckerberg’s last six year of goals:

• 2009 – Wear a tie every day
• 2010 – Learn Mandarin
• 2011 – Only eat animals, he kills himself
• 2012 – Code every day
• 2013 – Meet a new person every day who doesn’t work at Facebook
• 2014 – Write at least one thank-you note every day
• 2015 – Read a new book every two weeks

Will be fun to see what he comes up with for 2016.

There is something to learn from finding the focus on the one and let everything else flow from there.

How will we improve our faith walk in 2016?  Now would be the time to start praying and thinking about it so that as we roll into the New Year (which will be before we know it), we are committed.

Reference:  Jeremiah 29:11 (New Living Translation)