A Framework for God-Centered Goal Setting (Book Excerpt)

September 27, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

So now that we have removed some obstacles, let’s set some goals. Here’s our simple framework: Ask, Aim, Act, Achieve.

Ask

Reflection is a key to discovering your MORE. Look back over your answers to some of the questions in this book. Then, answer these:

· What has God been revealing to you?

· What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t know before?

· What are some things you want to accomplish that line up with your personal purpose?

· How do you want to grow forward?

Think back and consider. Make sure to evaluate every area of your life, personally and professionally. Goals are about growth, right? How do you want to grow? Don’t just go forward. Grow forward!

Your next step is to think ahead and let the Holy Spirit inspire what you envision for your life. Take out a sheet of paper and make a list of things you want to accomplish. Just let your dreams lead you. Don’t listen to any negative self-talk. Let purpose, passion, and the Holy Spirit guide you.

So, my dear friend, here is what I want you to do in the next few moments. Open a document or get a piece of paper and do a brain dump. Write out everything that comes to mind. Don’t edit now. Do that later. Just dump everything out of your brain and into your document. Write out the one thing you believe God has called you to do that has scared you to death but has called your name time after time. Like an echo in the dark, that thought has enveloped you for a long time. It’s a thought that won’t go away.

Starting Where You Are (Book Excerpt)

September 13, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalms 139:16 NIV)

Before beginning any major journey, it’s important to understand where you are starting from. If I book a flight to Madrid from New York City, I need to know which airport I am flying out of. JFK? LaGuardia? Newark? If I show up at Newark, and my flight leaves from JFK, I won’t be getting to Madrid that day.

To get accurate GPS directions, the GPS on my phone must access my current location. Have you ever been lost and opened your GPS to let it tell you where you are? Been there, done that. Once you accurately understand where you are, you can begin to calculate what route to take to get you where you want to go. So, my friend, where are you?

Where You Are

The truth is that most of us are not completely accurate and honest with ourselves. Come on, you know it’s true! I will admit that it’s much easier to notice someone else fudging the truth about themselves than to recognize when I do it, but I know that I do it. You and I will tend to make allowances for ourselves and present the best version of ourselves. Even the person who struggles with self-esteem and puts themselves down all the time does not have an accurate picture of where they are on their journey.

Finding Your Passion (Book Excerpt)

September 6, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

When you find yourself doing what you are passionate about and gifted for, life is at its most satisfying and fulfilling. So, now that you have explored your personality and your spiritual gifts and created a personal purpose statement, it’s time to consider your passion.

What stirs your heart? Whom do you most want to serve? What problem do you most want to solve? When you can focus your energy in the direction of your gifts and passions, you are off and running a race you are sure to win.

What does winning look like? It looks like doing a job or serving in a ministry where you get to do exactly what you want to do. Perhaps not every moment, but your overall daily focus is what your heart most wants to do. That’s a target worth aiming for, right?

You and I don’t want to spend our lives doing only what needs to be done to survive. You and I want to thrive. We want to fulfill the purposes that God created us for. We want to fulfill divine potential for God’s glory. What does that look like?

Why Setting God-Centered Goals Matters

August 16, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Romans 12:1 NLT

Have you ever heard the quote, “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it”? What are you aiming for?

One thing I have learned over the years is that, although I may not reach every goal I set, setting goals helps me keep making progress. Setting goals has helped me do things I never thought possible. Aiming at something helped me hit something, even if it wasn’t all that I had planned.

You may not think setting goals is important. But if you don’t have any clear goal, how do you know which direction to head in? And if you are a Christ-follower, are you aiming toward God’s goals for you?

Friend, setting goals gives you a direction, something to aim for. God-centered goals start and end with God’s purposes. What’s the benefit of setting God-centered goals?

God-centered goals lead toward God’s purpose for your life. Human beings long for purpose. Regardless of their faith practices, people want to know that their lives matter. You want to believe that your existence is making a difference.

As Christ-followers, that desire goes deeper. Not only do we want to know that our lives matter, but we also want to believe that we are making an eternal difference. We want our lives to count for God.

About The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word

August 2, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” ‘ Luke 1:38 NIV

This has been a BIG week for me! My book is published!

The idea for The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word began as a message about all the ways Mary said YES to God in December of 2013, but I had known for years before that I was called to write a book. While working on that message, I heard the Spirit whisper, “This is the book.” In the years since, God has deepened and honed the message of The YES Adventure in me as I struggled to complete the task of writing and publishing. And now the book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format! Check it out here.

If you are wondering what The YES Adventure is, I will sum it up in this statement: It’s about saying YES to God in every area of your life. When you say YES to God, you will fulfill the potential God put in you and advance the Kingdom of God.

Saying YES to God leads to unexpected adventures that bring satisfaction and fulfillment to your life. I have experienced this, and I want you to do the same. Discover your MORE when you give God your YES.

The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word will encourage you and guide you through a God-centered goal-setting process: Ask, Aim, Act, Achieve. It has been helpful to me, and I am so excited to share it with you.

If you’d like a partner to work through the process, schedule a complimentary coaching session here and let’s explore together!

All the best to you as you take your YES Adventure!

NOW AVAILABLE: The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word

July 26, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

UPDATE: As of Sunday, July 27, 2025, the book is now available in paperback and Kindle format on Amazon.

Get your copy here!

Any day now, the book will be available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format! It’s been submitted to KDP at Amazon and is under review before publication. Check Amazon in a few days. I’ll do my best to let you know. Thank you for taking this journey with me!

The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word will encourage you and guide you through a God-centered goal-setting process: Ask, Aim, Act, Achieve. It’s been helpful to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

And once you achieve, the process continues. You begin to ask God and do it all over again.

What’s your next YES?

What’s my next YES?

Let’s find out together.

To Set God-Centered Goals: ASK

July 19, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5 NIV

How do you set goals? When I start the goal-setting process by asking God, I am more likely to complete the task and feel better about what I accomplish. God-centered goals start with asking God. We need His perspective. He’s the One who created us for His purposes. He chose you and appointed you to bear fruit that will last. (John 15:16)

When you begin by seeking God, you will set goals that are satisfying and fulfilling. Asking God for wisdom leads you to choices that help you become all that He designed you to be.

Seeking God first keeps you on track. Your time in His presence reminds you of what is truly important. God-centered goals grow a God-centered life. A God-centered life is the abundant life overflowing with joy even when circumstances are less than perfect.

Celebrating Success

July 5, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” Philippians 2:13 NLT

Stopping to celebrate success is a necessity, not a luxury. I’ll admit that celebrating does not come naturally to me. Some people are a party waiting to happen. Everything becomes a reason to celebrate. Not me. I guess celebrating has seemed impractical. But it is not. I’ve learned that celebrating is a necessary part of the goal achievement process.

What good is achieving a goal if you don’t celebrate it? When you mark that goal complete, it’s important that you do something to celebrate it. Plan in advance how you want to acknowledge the occasion.

Why is it important to celebrate your successes?

Celebrating success is not about you. Celebrating your success is your opportunity to thank God for what He has done to help you achieve your goal. He has worked in your circumstances. He has given you wisdom. But most of all, He has worked in your character.

Every goal you achieve, if it is a God-centered goal, is part of becoming the person He has designed you to be. It’s part of accomplishing the good works He planned in advance for you to do. (Ephesians 2:10) When you celebrate your successes, you celebrate God’s work in your life.

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.

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.