A Goal With No Plan is Called Delusion
Mar 10, 2026Summary
Have you ever heard the harsh saying that a goal with no plan is called delusion? We often have massive visions for our family, our faith, and our future. But because we haven't mapped out the how, we stay stuck in the cycle of "I'll get to it someday." In this episode of the Arise, Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson joins advisory board members Kari Anjewierden and Amy Johnson to answer the hard truth about goal setting.
We move from dreaming about change to actually doing it by looking at the mechanics of manifestation. Tamara shares the powerful "Blueprint Prayer"—a simple Sunday night ritual to turn your spiritual impressions into a Monday morning to-do list. Kari explains the "Missouri Moment" and why relying solely on your internal motivation (like a cell phone with no service) is a recipe for failure if you don't have a printed backup plan. Finally, Amy shares the "National Geographic Zoom" secret to finding your next step when the big picture feels overwhelming. If you are ready to stop wishing and start walking, this episode is packed with the structural faith you need to succeed.
Episode Takeaways
- Wish vs. Walk: Faith is the "substance of things hoped for." A wish is just a shadow; a plan provides the actual substance (weight and structure) that God needs to magnify your efforts.
- The Missouri Moment: Kari shares a story of losing cell service in rural Missouri and having to rely on a physical, printed map. In goal setting, your motivation will inevitably "lose service." You must have a concrete, structured plan to fall back on.
- The Blueprint Prayer: Stop being a slave to your schedule and start being a steward. Tamara shares a specific prayer to say before writing your weekly to-do list, asking God to filter out distractions and highlight His priorities.
- The National Geographic Zoom: God rarely shows us the whole picture. Like the zoomed-in photos on the back of old National Geographic magazines, He usually only shows us a tiny texture. Stop stressing about the whole map and just ask God: "How do I do this zoomed-in step?"
Resources
Are you ready to trade your wishes for a walk? Download our FREE Guide to Goal Setting. It features the "Don't Quit Emergency Kit" for those days when your motivation loses service. 👉 Download the Guide Here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/offers/WyaLn2gS/checkout
Need accountability? Check out our Women Warriors Accountability Group for free for two weeks! https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/join-now
Reflection Questions
- Look at your biggest current goal. Have you mapped out the how, or are you currently stuck in the "delusion" of a wish?
- What is your "printed map" (backup plan) for the days when you have zero motivation to work on your goal?
- Try using the "Blueprint Prayer" this Sunday. How does asking God to filter your to-do list change your anxiety about the coming week?
- Are you overwhelmed because you are trying to figure out the whole "grand landscape" of your future instead of just focusing on the "zoomed-in" step right in front of you?
Transcript
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:00.320 - 00:03:36.330
Have you ever heard the saying that a goal with no plan is a delusion? It's a harsh sentence, but for many of us it rings true. We have these massive visions for our family, our faith, our future.
But because we haven't mapped out the how, we stay stuck in the cycle of I'll get to it someday thinking.
Today we are dismantling the delusion trap, and by the end of today's episode, you will understand how to turn your wishes into concrete walks of faith and purpose. Using our blueprint prayer strategy, we're moving from dreaming about change to actually doing it. Stay tuned.
Ordinary Women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes. The Arise Women of God Podcast hello, and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and joining me today are Kari Anjewierden, Amy Johnson of our Women warriors of Light Advisory Board. And today we're looking at the mechanics of manifestation. First, we're going to talk about the difference between a wish and the walk.
Second, we're going to talk about the printed map principle and why your motivation often needs a backup. Third, we're going to share the National Geographic Zoom secret to find your next step.
And finally, we're going to share the Blueprint prayer, a simple ritual to help you turn your spiritual impressions into a Monday morning to do list. But first, let's start by talking about goal setting and turning it from just a wish and into a walk.
We read in the Bible that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance has weight. It has structure.
If you tell God you want to change your health, but you never buy a vegetable or schedule a walk, that isn't faith. Faith, it's a shadow. It's a wish. A plan is simply giving God the substance he needs to magnify you and turn that wish into a reality.
I love that you shared the word magnify, because that's actually my word of the year. It's the first time I've done a word of the year, and God just has been pressing that word on my mind.
And I found a beautiful verse in Joshua, who, as you know, came after Moses, and this is what he said.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And so here he had these huge shoes to fill, but God magnified him and I think he can magnify the little pony us so that as we are yoked To Jesus.
He will magnify us that it will be as if two Clydesdales are running together. Alone? No. With? Yes. And he inspires us to know how to break down goals and to take them little by little. So we take it little by little, don't we?
But it's important to have a map, a map of little goals. If you're just winging it, you're vulnerable to that delusion that you can just go with your gut and figure it out, which sometimes works.
Next, Kari's going to share with us why you need a plan and sometimes a backup plan for the Missouri moment. She's now going to share with us when the cell service of your motivation goes dark.
Kari Anjewierden
00:03:36.730 - 00:04:16.400
I went on a trip this summer. We were in the middle of Missouri. I had my phone map. But you don't have a lot of cell service in the middle of Missouri.
So when my map failed, I was in trouble. Except that I had printed out a map and so I could go by that map.
And in that way, I had prepared enough to be successful in getting where I was trying to go when my phone was not helpful to me. And we need to do that in our goal setting as well, just to make sure that we are taking out anything that is going to impede our progress.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:04:16.960 - 00:05:58.420
How do you stop the delusion and start the plan? I'm now going to share with you a powerful hack that I use every Sunday night or Monday morning.
This is something I like to do every week as I sit and review my goals from the previous week to see how I did and as I look at what I feel I should accomplish in the coming week. But before I start any of this, I say what we're going to call today a blueprint prayer.
It doesn't look the same every week, but it looks something like this. Heavenly Father, I thank thee for the vision that you have placed on my heart today.
I'm moving from dreaming to doing, and I want to do it your way because your plan is always best.
Please grant me the spirit of revelation and discernment As I look at the coming week, help me be able to clearly see what are my priorities and what things are simply distractions that can be eliminated. As I write goals, bless me with wisdom to see the path clearly and the courage to take the first step. First step.
I'm offering you my five loaves and two fishes and pray that you will magnify them into a productive wheat. Thy will be done. In my schedule this week, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen when you pray this way, you're asking for the spirit of revelation to be with you as you write your to do list. You stop being a slave to your schedule and start being a steward of the mission that God has given you.
And he will also bless you to be able to zoom in on the one thing that really matters. Today, Amy's going to share how she learned this important principle as a young girl.
Amy Johnson
00:05:59.300 - 00:06:38.790
And when I was a little girl, we had National Geographic made a kids magazine called World Coming. But on the back of the world there was these zoomed in pictures and you would get this much and they would say, what do you think this is?
And we would stare at those pictures forever. And then you'd read the answer and you were like, oh, that's what it really was.
And I feel like that's how God is, is that we think we're getting this big picture, but really we're just zoomed in on this little tiny section. And as we go to him say, how do I do this? How do I do this?
And things start to unfold, we realize, oh, there's a much grander landscape here that I could not even have understood.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:06:39.190 - 00:07:26.290
So my friends, stop wishing and start planning. A plan isn't a lack of faith, it's an act of preparation.
If you're ready to trade your wishes for a walk and build a concrete roadmap, I invite you to download our free A Guide to Goal Setting for Christian Women. It will help you not only set your goals, but keep moving.
I especially love the Don't Quit Emergency Kit for those days when everything seems to fall apart.
And if you need a community to help you stay grounded in your plan, come check out our Women Warriors Accountability Group will help you build the structure for your goal and help it become a reality. The links for both are in the description below. So my friends, make a plan today and act on it. And until next time, may you arise. Do it God's way, God strong.
