One of the most rewarding lessons of life in recent years is attending Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, California. My pastor, Rick Warren, wrote a book titled Purpose Driven Life . It was during a recent service that Rick taught us the principle You cannot set a goal that you cannot control . He stated that goals are faith driven in that you have to have faith that you can accomplish them.

He proceeded to build an acrostic for FAITH

F= Focused Goals

A=Attainable

I=Individual

T= Teachable

H= Heartfelt or passionate

This lesson came at a good time. I was doing the final editing on my goal setting book for little children, Heavy Freddy s Goal Setting School . It s a story about a monkey that teaches kids several ways to learn how to set and achieve goals. At a recent reunion with several children from my former school I discovered from the interaction that one of the most difficult things for kids to do is to set and achieve goals. I ve now realized that we ve been failing to teach our young people this valuable lifetime skill. We ve failed to teach them it s the steps to reach our goals that are the most important part of goal attainment. In using the techniques found in my new book I m extremely hopeful that they will master these skills and it will impact their life forever.

– Gene Bedley