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New roads and new goals are always ahead of us. If you are battling liver disease, hepatitis C, in treatment or recovery from treatment, these four steps will apply to you. No matter what your situation or circumstances these steps are valuable to achieving any goal. 

I wrote this a few years ago, and have taught on the Four Steps to Achievement and 2 Degree Shifts. As I have reviewed my own path with hepatitis C and am now on the road to recovery, my plan brings me back to these same steps to achieve my goal for recovery from hepatitis C.  I wanted to share them with you because of their proven value to me.

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

Is my goal in line with God’s desire for my life?

Prepare Prayerfully

Prayerfully seek God’s wisdom and guidance before moving ahead with your goals. The biggest difference in achieving any goal is putting God first in all things.  Let Him lead you. We do that by prayer and living out what God’s word tells us to do.  The road to achieving any goal is not always easy, but God promises to be there every inch of the way. “Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always” Psalm 105:4

Prepare Purposefully

Set realistic goals. Be specific not vague.  Develop your plan.  Write out your goals, work on them daily.

Make them realistic by using small steps to build on. Like 2 Degree Shifts, the Power of 15 minutes, or Habit Trackers.

“Life by the yard is hard; life by the inch is a cinch.”

This is how you build momentum.

Proceed Positively

How do we make shift changes?  Think about one healthy habit that you would like to incorporate in your day. Write it down. Think about one unhealthy habit that you would like to work on daily. Write it down. Post your written goals/habit tracker where you will see it daily, and look at it in the morning, afternoon and evening.  Make achieving that goal daily a priority. You may not be able to do 10 things or even 5 but you can do 1-2. That is realistic and achievable!

Attitude is everything. Ask God to help you with a positive proactive attitude.  Attitude can make or break you from achieving your goal. If you have days of a faltering attitude and fall into the pit of despair, remember it’s your choice to stay in the pit. Ask God to help you see things from a new perspective and to renew your strength and courage.  No matter what, climb out of the pit and keep moving forward.

Pursue Persistently

Be on alert for time snatchers!  We all have these in our day. Monitor how long you spend watching TV, or on the computer.

In general how we spend our time matters. We all need down time, but in many areas we have gone way out of balance. We all experience times when our schedules challenge us, so just be flexible, yet realistic.  Be prepared to adjust your time/schedule to fit in those small realistic goals & habits. You will be glad you did.

Reward yourself at the end of the week, but NOT with food or anything that isn’t healthy or out of line with your goal! Think of something you can do that will encourage and re-enforce those good goals that you have achieved this week.  Make sure you have an accountability partner that can be praying & supporting you.

Remember to aim at your target daily. 

Deut. 30:11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

What is one goal that you are aiming for this year?

This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C January 14, 2015. It is reprinted with permission.