Want to Set Better Goals This Year? Follow the Prophets’ Examples
Church leaders have shown that goals can be accomplished with perseverance, patience, prioritization—and the Lord’s help.
January is a great time to make plans to learn and grow during the next 12 months. As you consider your goals prayerfully, remember these four lessons from the lives of prophets and apostles who have successfully set and achieved their goals.
Practice and Persist
When President Heber J. Grant was a child, his mother tried unsuccessfully to teach him to sing. So, Heber joined a singing class at age 10—but he couldn’t even “carry a simple tune.” The music teacher “gave up in despair” and said that Heber “could never, in this world, learn to sing.”
But Heber was determined and set his mind to the goal of learning to sing. He practiced for hours whenever he was traveling alone and out of earshot of anyone who might hear. He recognized that good things often take hard work to accomplish, saying, “I would gladly give two or three months of my spare time if by so doing it would result in my being able to sing one or two hymns.”
Through much perseverance and practice, Heber gradually improved. The key is that he kept trying. He sang the first hymn he learned hundreds of times. Eventually, through his persistent effort, he learned to sing.
Take On Challenging Goals
President Spencer W. Kimball also recognized the benefits of taking on a challenging goal. He told this story of a goal he made when he was 14:
“When I heard a Church leader from Salt Lake City tell us at conference that we should read the scriptures, … I walked to my home a block away … and I read the first chapters of Genesis. …
“I found that this Bible that I was reading had in it 66 books, and then I was nearly dissuaded when I found that it had in it 1,189 chapters, and then I also found that it had 1,519 pages. It was formidable, but I knew if others did it that I could do it.”
That amount of reading wasn’t easy for a teenager, but nevertheless President Kimball persevered and completed his goal. As an adult, he said, “I have always been glad I read the Bible from cover to cover.”
President Kimball benefited from taking the time to think through the logistics of his goal. Even though it sounded daunting, the information prepared him to succeed. As was the case with President Kimball, reaching for and achieving a challenging goal at a young age can bring feelings of confidence and satisfaction to serve us throughout life.
Don’t Let Less Important Things Get in the Way
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles tells the story of his father teaching him to set goals by sitting down with the children individually and offering help.
“I had the desire to engage in this practice with my children,” Elder Cook said. “When our son, Larry, was five years old, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said he wanted to be a doctor like his Uncle Joe. …
“Several months later, I asked him again what he would like to be. This time he said he wanted to be an airline pilot. … I said, ‘Larry, last time we talked you wanted to be a doctor. What has changed your mind?’ He answered, ‘I still like the idea of being a doctor, but I have noticed that Uncle Joe works on Saturday mornings, and I wouldn’t want to miss Saturday Morning Cartoons.’
“Since that time our family has labeled a distraction from a worthwhile goal as a Saturday Morning Cartoon.
“What are some of the Saturday Morning Cartoons that distract us from attaining the joy that we desire? … If we examine the reasons we don’t do what we ought to do, we find that the list of Saturday Morning Cartoons is almost endless.”
Elder Cook’s teachings show us that we need to reflect on how we are doing, avoid distractions, and stay focused as we seek to achieve our goals.
Set Goals Based on the Prophet’s Counsel
At age 54, before he was called as a General Authority, President Russell M. Nelson attended a meeting in which President Spencer W. Kimball challenged attendees to “be of service to the Chinese” and “learn their language.”
Although he was a busy heart surgeon at the time, President Nelson took this counsel to heart. He found a tutor to help him learn the Mandarin language.
It wasn’t long before President Nelson found himself sitting next to a distinguished Chinese surgeon, Dr. Wu Yingkai, at a medical convention. Because of his Chinese language studies, President Nelson was able to have a conversation with Dr. Wu. From there, the two doctors formed a lasting friendship and even visited each other’s countries.
President Nelson’s goal to learn Mandarin led to positive exchanges with China, as President Kimball had hoped for. After he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Nelson even performed his last heart surgery on China’s most famous opera singer by special request.
President Nelson has also set an example of goal setting through his scripture study. When he heard the plea of President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) in 2017 for each of us to read and study the Book of Mormon every day, President Nelson made a goal to do so—just as he had when he hired a Mandarin tutor.
As he studied, President Nelson “made lists of what the Book of Mormon is, what it affirms, what it refutes, what it fulfills, what it clarifies, and what it reveals.” He showed us that the words of prophets can motivate the goals we set and that we can continue to learn and improve throughout our lives.
Finding Joy
These goal-setting patterns are part of the eternal principle of growing and improving throughout our lives. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to become more like Them so we will find joy and fulfillment and be able to dwell eternally with Them.