One of our goals should be working to stop living pay check to pay check. (Always easier said than done☺ but not impossible) Money problems impact our lives and life events impact how we spend or save money.

Our relationships are effected by how we spend money and not having enough money can effect are relationships. When we are upset with the one we love – buying things can make us feel better. Or when there is not enough money, we may argue with others, which could lead to wasting money on things we should not. Like: hotel rooms, other lovers, drinking, and having someone baby sit while we try to get our act together.  Handling the event of paying rent/mortgage on time can prevent some arguments and not allowing arguments to get out of hand can save money. How we handle events can have a positive impact on all parts of our lives.       

Identifying what’s needed and how to get it

Dealing with the challenges of everyday living holistcally should include understanding  what is needed to live everyday. Identifying what is needed for basic living is easy: “And having food and raiment let us be there with content (1 Timothy 6:8,KJV)”. Identifying the best way to meet life’s needs at times can be challenging. We first must take inventory of the things we know how to do and how we can use them to make money. If the types of things we can do, will not make money – then we should learn something new that will make money. 

For example if the opportunity to learn how to drive a truck is available and driving trucks makes money – learn how to drive a truck. You may not like driving a truck, but if it provides what is needed to meet life’s needs – drive the truck. The first goal is to meet life’s needs and then go after the things we want.  

It is important to understand – sometimes doing things we do not want to do, can provide the money to do what we want to do. We cannot lose focus on what we’re working toward and the reason why were working toward it. By doing what we must do to reach our goals, we move closer to getting the things we want out of life. We must be willing to take the time to become stable, put in the needed work and never give up on our dreams.

For  example: a dream or a vision for someone who has not lived a perfect life could be ” Getting things right with God, having  a better relationship with family, getting finances in order, having a stable place to live and helping the people s/he loves. The dream helps us stay focuses on why we are working hard, what we’re trying to accomplish and helps us keep going when we want to quite.  

Planning

There is a saying “S/He who fails to plan – plans to fail” we need to outline how we plan to do what it takes to see are dream come true.  Based on are dream or vision our Mission or what we need to do – would be:

• Spend time talking to Jesus daily, trust he will help us, read the Bible, spend time with people who are living right and do our best to live right.
• Get counseling with family; from a Pastor or Christian counselor to help work thought relationship issues. 
• Find a job, start a business, get help from government and learn how to manage money better.
• Find a place to live if things are bad at home or work on making things better were we are.
• Once we have some money or are stable help our family, those we love and others in need.

We may not be able to do these things right away and will need to set some short term goals that will help us accomplish are mission. Every long trip starts off with one step and the more steps we take the closer we are to reaching our destination. Short term, goals are the steps used to help us accomplish are dreams. Each time we complete one of our goals, it lets us know we are on track, we are moving forward, and we should not give up on our dreams coming true. Now it is time to set our goals.

Setting Goals and developing a process that works for you

Getting it together, gaining control, and feeling powerful every day starts with setting the right goals and completing them. Completing goals helps us see ourselves winning – we are winners, we set ourselves up to win. When setting goals they must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and have a Time frame (SMART). For example some Specific goals would be: 

‘

• I will pray every night before I go to bed. 
• I will thank Jesus every day when I wake up.
• I will put in 5 applications a week in an effort to make more money.

Each goal is Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and has a Time frame. For example I have given myself a weeks’ time to put in 5 applications. Putting in 5 applications is something I can do. Trying to put in 50 a week is to much. The completion of 5 applications is attainable; we will not become over stressed during the week putting in 5 applications. 

In fact we will feel good knowing we have successfully done something Relevant toward completing are our goals and working toward seeing our vision / dreams come true. By working on completing are daily task: we are moving forward in life. We should never give up no matter how bad things look or even if we have setbacks. We all lose sometimes and fall short in reaching our daily task. If we do not quite, we will see the good life. If we quite we will never see our vision come true. (“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.(Mark 9:23.KJV)”). Hang in there and keep believing.

Managing Events

While we work hard to reach are goals, we cannot ignore the other things we need to do in life and sometimes having to do so many things in life can be over whelming. We cannot control everything, and we cannot ignore the bad things. We can learn how to better manage events in our lives, which can add more stability, decrease stress and get rid of some of our problems.

Managing events badly, is better than not managing them at all. We should not beat ourselves up over not doing a good job at it – badlyover time we will get better at managing events. There may be times when we mess up – the key is not giving up. The journey is not about finishing fast, not about finishing rich – it’s about overcoming the troubles in life and keeping the faith along the way. If we miss our goal for the day, and are blessed to see another day – there is another goal that can be reached in that day.  The key is not quitting no matter what happens – trust God.

Managing events gracefully means also dealing with how we feel and why we do what we do (good or bad). How we feel counts, being honest and accepting ourselves is important regardless of how bad we may behave sometimes. When I think about it – if Jesus died on the cross for us and loves us knowing who we are – who are we to condemn ourselves? Trust me, there are plenty of things in this world which cause use issue; there is no need for us to cause ourselves issues.

Facing our issues

We should not ignore issues or bad habits, they effects how we live life and deal with events. For example smoking is a habit many of us deal with. Some of us want to quit and cannot. Others of use like smoking and are not even thinking about quitting. Either way all smokers have to deal with the risk and cost of smoking.

If I have limited funds the cost of smoking would be a big deal for me – if I have the money for smoking cost is not an issue. (Important Note: It is always an issue when it comes to our health and could cost a whole lot more of money than we think – more over it could cost us our lives.). Cutting back on smoking to save money can be hard, knowing what the triggers are which cause the desire to smoke and having a plan to deal with those triggers would help us reach our goal of cutting back to save money and to deal better with possible health issues.

Dealing with bad habits
We need to deal with risky behavior to ensure we reach our goals. The tool used in Life Event Management to deal with risky behavior is called a Risky Behavior cube, along with nine steps to break bad habits and an action plan to deal gracefully with risky behavior.      

Nines steps to breaking bad habits

These 9 steps are a common way of breaking bad habit, and having the help of others if possible is a winning combination. While taken each step accountability group meetings, having church members help, or calling a prayer hotline at the bare minimum –  if you have no one around to help is important

The nine steps:

• We must admit we have a problem which is hurting us and hurting those who love us.
• We must trust in Jesus and allow trustworthy people to help us. 
• We must allow God’s will to be done in our lives and let go of anything that gets in the way of doing right.
• We must be honest with ourselves admitting were we are falling short.
• We must admit to Jesus, ourselves, and to another person the exact nature of our wrongs.
• We must be willing to let God clean us up and grow up, leaving selfish behavior behind.
• We must humbly and prayerfully ask the Lord to help us overcome our shortcomings.
• We must list the persons we hurt; then try to reconcile with those persons and be willing to make things right – except when it is something outside of doing right or our ability.
• We must be willing to admit when we are wrong, knowing God loves us even if were wrong and it is he that judges us.

Managing our Risky behavior 

Managing Risky behavior is important; it makes the difference between reaching our goals – or failing to see our dreams come true. For example: one of the best ways to stop drinking is to put mental and physical walls up which limited access to alcohol. We must keep watch on our walls to make sure they do not come down. Part of watching the walls, is knowing what the risks are to the walls and how strong they are.  We have to identify the risk and understand the danger it brings to our life, in order to manage them.

To learn more about setting Goals and dealing with Risk download the free Life Event Management book.