What to Do When You Drift Off Course: Getting Your Goal Back in the Window

June 28, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

It’s about halfway through the year. How are you doing on reaching the goals you set in January? If you are at all like me, you may notice a bit of drift.

The movie Apollo 13 depicts a scene where the astronauts needed to manually adjust their trajectory. Normally, their computer system would have kept them on track but because of damage from an in-space explosion most systems, including navigation, were shut down to reserve as much power as possible for their return trip to earth. Without power their course had drifted.

After the explosion they had one goal, to get home. Making the adjustment required powering up only thrusters for a very short time. Navigation had to be manual. The plan: Keep the earth in the window and they could adjust their course and make it home.

The scene is full of tension as the astronauts fight to keep the earth in the window after the sudden burst of rocket power. Those tense moments led to great relief. Successfully keeping the earth in the window corrected their drift and led to their safe return. A simple strategy based on their primary goal.

I’ve noticed the trajectory toward my goals is a bit off. Other details of life have crowded out tying up some loose ends so I can mark those goals complete. One goal is getting my book across the publishing finish line. It’s time to get my goals back in the window. I may not get perfectly on track, but I can get closer to where I want to be.

Getting back in the window requires:

Honest evaluation. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes avoid the truth because it reveals that I am not where I want to be. Maybe you know what I mean. If I don’t step on the scale, I don’t have to admit that I’ve gained weight. If I don’t sit down to evaluate my goals, I don’t have to admit that I’ve drifted. But the only way to get back on track is to know exactly where you are. You must evaluate what is actually in the window so you can adjust your trajectory.

Commitment to diligence. Once I’ve admitted the truth of where I am, I must commit to making the necessary adjustment. Like the astronauts, I need a plan to correct the drift. It may be tense for a while. It may take some hard work to get back on track. You and I must be committed to take the hard steps. That’s the only way to refocus on those God-inspired goals.

Grace. You need God’s grace and help to remain committed and take those steps. Apart from Him, you and I can do nothing. (John 15:5) But you also need to give yourself grace.

One of the most helpful statements I’ve ever heard is this, “There is no failure only learning.” A famous quote from Apollo 13 states, “Failure is not an option.” Learning is never failure. Give yourself grace to learn.

Dear friend, if you’ve drifted from achieving your goals, you probably have a good reason. There are times when life is the priority. You haven’t forgotten what you want to accomplish. You haven’t abandoned your God-sized dreams. It’s time to get those goals back in the window through honest evaluation, commitment, and grace. You haven’t failed. You are learning. It’s time to adjust your trajectory and get back on track.

Key Question: What do you do when you drift off course?

A Scripture to Consider: “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

A YES Challenge: Check your goal progress for drift. What do you need to do to get that goal “back in the window”?

Prayer: Father, accomplishing this goal is taking longer and requiring more effort than I thought it would. It’s hard to keep making progress when the other details of life require my attention and energy. I have not been paying as much attention to completing my goals, even though I’ve never forgotten them. Help me to commit to keeping my goal a priority and finishing all I need to. I am so close to the finish line. Help me make it across! Amen.

Measuring Success

June 21, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NLT

How do you measure success? That’s an important question as you review your goal progress. Your perspective can encourage or discourage you.

When you are discouraged, you will not be motivated to keep moving forward. If you measure success by check marks next to goals achieved, you may find yourself discouraged more often than not. Are you discouraging yourself?

When you set a goal, you want it to be specific and measurable. However, we often set goals that are outside our realm of experience. You don’t know what you don’t know. That means your goal may turn out to be idealistic. We should set completion dates for our goals, but our information and experience are sometimes not enough to help us set realistic timelines. That may lead to discouragement.

Encouragement is a propellant. It is the wind in your sails and the gas in your motor. Encouragement is the needed fuel for this journey. Goal setting is not an exact science and goal achievement requires flexibility. You need a perspective that allows for that to properly measure success.

Keep an eternal perspective. You need to remind yourself that any goal you set is temporal. It only matters if it has impact that lasts beyond you.

How to Review Your Goals

June 14, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

How are you doing on achieving the goals you’ve set? It’s time to find out. It’s time to review your progress.

Reviewing your goal progress is an opportunity to celebrate, not just your progress, but your growth. So, how do you approach review in a way that encourages growth?

It starts with that perspective. Remember, it’s about the growth, not the goals. So, here’s a brief overview of how to do a goal review.

Set aside time. Reviewing won’t happen naturally. Since you are someone who wants to achieve, your tendency will be to focus on forward, check off the completed tasks and keep going. Looking back, reviewing, takes intentionality.

Review and Celebrate

June 7, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

Goals are not set-and-forget. Part of the goal-setting and accomplishing process is review. It’s important to stop from time to time and recognize what you have done toward your goal. Even if you aren’t as far as you hoped you would be, it’s important to celebrate where you are.

Just as you set goals in the beginning of the year or season, schedule times to review and celebrate. It’s important to make this a regular rhythm. And here’s why.

Reviewing reveals progress. Throughout my book-writing process it’s been easy to get caught in the weeds. There are many, many details in any big project. Truthfully, I tend to get overwhelmed at the beginning of large undertakings. I see all the details at once and don’t know where to begin.

Then, as I find a place to focus and get started, I never lose the awareness that there is still so much left to do. Although, I am making headway, it’s hard to acknowledge because of what is yet undone.

Give Yourself Credit!

May 31, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

Writing a book has been on my goal list for a long time. Often it seemed like I was making no progress at all. Yet, I was. Truthfully, God was doing much in me to deepen the message before it was ready to write. I understood the concept I was writing about, saying yes to God is the secret to a satisfying and fulfilling life, but I needed to do more living before the message was “ripe.”

Now that I am in the home stretch, I am not saying I have achieved “perfection” when it comes to living out that message, but I know that God has released it into the long-planned book. Before the end of this summer the book will be published. It’s hard to believe.

Why am I sharing this with you? Like me, you may be experiencing discouragement along your goal-accomplishment journey. You may feel like you are not making progress. It was easy for me to feel like I was failing because there was no book to point to. No manuscript or cover design. Only an outline and a few chapters. I did not allow myself to celebrate what I had done. I felt like a failure because of what I had not done.

Dear friend, learn to celebrate what you accomplish, not how much. We can get bogged down in comparisons. We compare our accomplishments to someone else’s or to our expectations of ourselves. Is what you expect of yourself reasonable?

Here are some questions to help you evaluate your progress.

This Summer!

May 24, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

Final edits and formatting are in process!

Thanks for your patience. I can’t wait to share it with you!

What to Do After a Busy Week: Rest

May 17, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

Dear Friend, this has been an exceptionally full week at work and we’ve had guests in our home. I’ve been doing exactly what I was supposed to do. But that left little time for writing. Now, it’s time to rest, and that is exactly what I am supposed to do. There is a time for everything.

Is it time for you to rest, too, my friend? Is God calling you to rest?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a

time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Celebrating Progress Over Perfection

May 10, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

What is a perfectionist? A perfectionist seeks perfection above all, right? A perfectionist sets the bar high for themselves. If that person were honest with themselves, they would have to admit that by striving for perfection, they have set an unattainable goal. Are you a perfectionist?

I am a recovering perfectionist. There have been times I would rather do nothing than do something imperfectly. I was never content with my own efforts and, consequently, discontent with the efforts of others as well. Perfection may seem like a worthy goal, but, in reality, it is bondage.

Recognizing perfection was not attainable became a major turning point in my faith. Thankfully, it happened within the first year of my commitment to Christ. Accepting that Jesus was the only perfect person who ever walked the earth helped me to recognize that I could not be perfect. There was freedom in that, but old habits die very hard. I still struggle with a compulsion to be perfect and to accept when I have done my best, even though it is short of perfection.

What about you?

Here are some things I’ve learned that help me celebrate progress over perfection.

Recognize realistic goals. Realistic goals still involve risk and require growth. Realistic goals are still about moving outside your comfort zone and attempting things you have yet to learn. Realistic goals are not small. They contain possibility.

What makes a goal realistic rather than perfectionistic? A realistic goal allows for learning and mistakes. You recognize that it’s possible, but not without effort or God’s help. A realistic goal gives you room to grow without expecting it to be easy and perfect.

Compare your accomplishment to where you started, not where you hoped to end up. Even if you set a realistic goal, you might not meet it. You might not actually attain what you hoped, but goals are about growth, not accomplishment. That may be a perspective shift for you. If you are willing to focus on growth rather than accomplishment, you’ll be able to celebrate progress. Ask yourself if you are further along then when you started. If you are, then you have something to celebrate. Progress is success. Congratulations!

Even perfection can be imperfect. If I perfectly accomplish a goal but miss out on a significant relationship is that really success? If I achieve all the success I envision but sacrifice my time with God to attain it is what I’ve achieved worth that sacrifice? Every goal requires some sacrifice. When you set goals it’s important to evaluate what sacrifice that goal will require. If it requires you to sacrifice something that is important, is that a goal worth setting?

When I pursue progress over perfection, I can evaluate my situation more realistically. I can make room for the things that are important but may slow my progress or keep me from perfectly attaining my goal. In the end, what matters most?

Dear friend, learn to celebrate progress over perfection. You will most certainly be happier, but you will also get a better perspective on just how far you have come. You are so much further along than you think. Recognize realistic goals. Look at how far you’ve come. Make the right kinds of sacrifices to accomplish your goals. Remember to celebrate your progress!

Key Question: What progress can I celebrate, even if I did not perfectly achieve my goal?

A Scripture to Consider: “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

A YES Challenge: Evaluate the goals you have set for yourself. Are they realistic? What sacrifices are required? Adjust your goals as needed. Recognize areas where you have made progress and plan a tangible way to celebrate your progress.

Prayer: Father, You are perfect. You are without fault and make no mistakes. But You don’t call me to that kind of perfection. When Scripture calls me to be perfect as You are perfect, the challenge is to become completely committed to You. You call me to mature in my walk with You and to become more like Jesus. Help me to set goals that keep that perfection in view. Help me not to sacrifice that while I work toward achievement. You are the goal I most want to pursue. Every other goal must fit into that. I love You, Lord. Amen.

Celebrating Small Step Victories

May 3, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

Are you a goal-oriented person? Maybe I am wrong about this, but it is my observation that goal-oriented people struggle to celebrate their progress. Do you?

If you are goal-oriented, you may be so focused on the end that you don’t recognize the milestones along the way. Here’s my advice: Learn to celebrate small steps.

Every forward step is a victory. That may be a big perspective shift for you, but it will be worth the effort. Recognizing forward steps as victories will serve to fuel your motivation. What happens when you’re motivated? You keep moving forward. Isn’t that what you really want?

Backward steps are still part of the journey. The overall goal is progress, not perfection. Backward steps are going to happen. Stumbling is part of being human. I don’t like it, and I’ll bet you don’t either. Accepting the limits of being human will ease some of your goal-oriented angst. Probably not all of it, but that’s okay. It’s helped me a lot. Why not give it a try?

How Others Help You Reach Your Goals

April 26, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT

Who helps you grow, my friend? Is there anyone in your life that you trust enough to tell you the truth?

I have a few friends that I know will tell me the truth about myself. They have invested in me, and I in them. We have spent enough time with each other to know each other well. We have gone through challenges and celebrations together. I am grateful for friends like that, but I have learned that those kinds of relationships are not just a blessing. They are essential.

None of us can truly accomplish anything on our own. Even though we may think we do. We need other people to help us become the person God designed us to be. He made us that way. We are created to need each other. Achieving your goals requires other people.

You need a teacher. A teacher shows you what to do. It may be someone with a free YouTube channel, or you may pay for a particular course of action. It may be a friend who is a few steps ahead on the journey or a skilled neighbor who invites you to shadow them and learn. You don’t know what you don’t know until you begin to learn. That’s been my experience.

I’m grateful for all the people who have made their knowledge available through the Internet. But I am most grateful for people who’ve been willing to share their knowledge and experience. Those relationships have been a treasure. We may not have become close friends, but they have deeply impacted me and guided me with their skill. I will always think of them and smile.

You need an encourager. There are several people who have continued to encourage me in my writing journey. They have believed in me and voiced their excitement or commented on things I have written.