I used to be a goal flunky. Once mid-January hit I was all done with goals — I was doing good to just be living day to day! But last year I was determined to move forward and work towards a few things I had been dreaming about.

Goal Setting Successes

For 2016 my word for the year was “action.” I had felt that I always had the greatest of plans but failed to implement them. So I challenged myself to not wait until I knew everything, not wait until I had everything just right– but just to start and do things! And now at the end of 2016 I have found that I’ve made good progress– and that feels good! I feel that several things made goal-setting click for me this past year:

1. Prayer
2. PowerSheets from Lara Casey
3. Essential Oils
4. The Reset Girl
5. Having other friends work on some of the same goals w/ me.

Some goals I can actually see the progress!

What About 2017?

I have spent the last two weeks praying/thinking/reflecting/planning what I would like to accomplish in this upcoming year. For me, using PowerSheets has been a must– it helps me put what I am thinking and feeling into words and has helped me figure out how that relates to goals.

And for this year, I do have a word: “Committed”

• I am committed to do my best at all I do for the glory of God.
• I am committed to move forward towards the business goals I have set for 2017.
• I am committed to homeschool well.
• I am committed to continue working on wellness for me and my family.

The nitty-gritty of what that all looks like is still being fleshed out and will continue being worked on/changed through the year. I try to set aside time each week to pray/think/plan for the upcoming week. Developing that habit has been the key to me actually making progress on my 2016 goals!

Some goal setting tips that I’ve learned as a wing-it goal-setter:

Start small. A goal of “become a morning person” or “get up at 6:00am” is not doable for me. While it is an awesome goal that I might want to achieve down the road– I know I’m setting myself up for failure if I make this my goal. So my goal is “Get up 15 minutes earlier than I normally do.” Then once I master that– I can change it to “Get up 30 minutes earlier than I normally do.”

Break your goals into doable action steps. While I have the goal of getting healthy– I know that includes what I eat, physical fitness and emotion/spiritual components as well. In the past I have tried to work on all those aspects at once– and of course failed. So my first action step is: “Drink 8 16-oz glasses of water a day.” And I work on that until it becomes a part of my routine. Then I add another wellness step. “Do 15 minutes of exercise at least 2x a week.” And I do that until it becomes a part of my routine. Then I can add “Complete one round of Whole30” as an action step. When I try to change too many things all at once I set myself up for failure. But when I work on one portion at a time– that’s when the small successes add up.

Give yourself grace.  I give myself grace with goal-setting. Some weeks I do great, some months I’m off track. Some days by golly need chocolate and a large chai latte. But I pick up where I need to pick up and start again! 🙂

Do you set goals? Do you have a system? I’d love to hear what you think about goals and goal setting