It has been awhile since I’ve posted about my goals and before I jump into sharing my mid-year goals, I thought I’d give you a little background into how I got into goal making in the first place.
Myth: I’m not a goal setting type of person.
Back in the summer of 2014, I first heard about Lara Casey and her Powersheets and making goals as a way of living your life. It all seemed foreign to me. I was a stay at home mom with four kids ages 3-12. I was just trying to make it through the day with my sanity intake and maybe a clean load of laundry. I imagined goals as something for women who were entrepreneurs, or authors writing a best seller or travelers saving for a trip to Paris. I didn’t fit into any of those kind of categories.
But as I read Lara’s thoughts about making goals, I realized that goals can be lofty things, but they don’t have to be. For a postpartum mom, her goal may simply be to get an extra hour of sleep. Then as some time passes for that mom and she exits the fog of new mommydom, she can focus on expanding to different goals. Later, when her kids are at school, her ability to explore new avenues will open different goals int her life. Her goals move and expand with her life as needed. I love that it is not a one size fits all but a tailor made process, whether you’re single, married, have babies or grown children.
I’m too busy to add goals to my list of things to do, not to mention that I suck at resolutions.
The thought of adding one more item to my to do list was overwhelming. However, I came to see that it was more of a re-prioritizing the different areas of my life and focusing on making the most of the time I had to do the work God had placed before me – namely, being a wife and mother. It was more than a lofty resolution, it was working towards a way of positively living my life. Lara Casey explained it this way:
Goals can be overwhelming if they are not connected to what matters. They can make life busier. I don’t want a new to do list for my life; I want a clear, meaningful path. I want to know I’m living with intention and purpose instead of living by accident.”
Yes, yes and yes. I swear life is going by faster each day and sometimes I feel like I wasted the day without really getting anything done! Goals help me prioritize so I get the essentials done and not just fill my day with busy work.
I don’t even know what kind of goals I would make.
At this point I saw the value of making goals but I didn’t know what kind of goals to set. Using Lara Casey’s Powersheets really helped me to focus on the “big” goals of my life. She asked where would you like to be a year from now, ten years from now, or at the end of your life. Well, at the end of my life I hope I can say that I… loved God and lived my life for Him, had a healthy and loving relationship with my husband, raised godly and kind children, developed lasting friendships, made creativity a part of my daily life and made a difference in the world by sharing God’s love with others. You know, little things like that. 😉
I don’t know where to start to make my goals happen.
Next, I took those big goals (that will take me lifetime to complete) and broke them down into smaller goals and then broke those down into bite size things I can do each day. It helps to keep it specific and not vague. Example, instead of choosing “eat healthier” or “drink more water,” I’ll pick specific ways to do that. For example, cut up carrot stick and cucumber slices for a container in the fridge and grab them instead of chips for a snack. Or set the hourly alarm on my phone or watch and drink a cup of water when the alarm goes off. Even if I don’t always accomplish that, doing a little bit well is better than doing nothing.
Do goals really help?
When I reviewed over the goals I made at the beginning of the year, there were some I had to change because I accomplished the goal. That was such an amazing feeling! Then there were other goals that were still works in progress. No worries. I would simply keep working at them during the second half of 2018.
My Mid-Year 2018 Goals
For me, I preferred to divide my goals into five main areas of my life. I am a daughter of God, wife, mother, homemaker and woman. I have my main “big goal” and then I broke those down into mini-goals that will help me reach it. Here are some specific things I want to work on over the next month or so.
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Goal #1: I want to nurture my relationship with the Trinity, seeing God as a loving Father, Jesus as my brother and the Holy Spirit as the One who inspires me and pushes me to share God’s love with others.
Mini-Goals:
- Return to my morning prayer walks – When the kids started their summer vacation, I gave up my usual morning prayer walk that I used to do once I dropped them of at school. But by the end of June, I was missing it like crazy. It was such a source of peace, getting rid of stress, and drawing closer to God. I needed to go back to it! The only way I can make it happen to is to wake up an hour earlier and take my walk while the kids are sleeping and Brian is getting ready for work. It means no sleeping in but so far it seems worth it. I will continue it for a month and see if it is still worth it once the novelty wears off. 😉
- Make moments of quiet – I am the type of person that likes noise during the day. I’ll have a favorite playlist or the radio on, or the TV playing or I’m binge watching a show while I do laundry. That is fine but I feel like God is calling to take some time out of the day to turn off the noise and just be quiet and talk with Him.
- Spiritual Reading – I love to read but 99% of the time I’ll grab the a novel. Yet, I have a huge pile of spiritual books I want to read. So I’ll make one of my reading times each week a spiritual read.
- Confession – Mark the calendar and go every first Saturday.
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Goal #2: To be a loving wife and continue to nurture my friendship and relationship with Brian.
Mini-Goals:
- Talk Time – Brian and I chat all the time but sometimes we need time to talk and catch up on things that go deeper. I’ll make sure that one night a week we have time to sit and talk without the TV on.
- Date nights – Having time by ourselves to go out and have fun has been really important to us. I’ll continue to make sure we schedule once a month and try to up it to 2x a month.
- Daily act of kindness for Brian. – I haven’t done this in awhile but I’d like to be intentional about this once again. It was such a positive thing for both of us. (For more info, refer to – 25 Acts of Kindness for your Husband.)
* * *
Goal #3: To be a strong and loving mother who helps her children love God, be responsible and feel loved and part of a happy family.
Mini-Goals:
- Spend more time with the boys one on one. – Bella and I often have our girl outings but I’d like to spend more time with the boys, particularly cooking, playing, working on projects, reading aloud or watching a movie together. Summer is the perfect time to chose one or two activities a week.
- Update the chore chart. – We always update the chores in summer to add more responsibility. I have to work on not “just doing it myself” because it is faster and I can do it better. I need to let go and let them learn how to do more around the house, even if it’s not perfect.
- Life lessons for Bella – Now that she’s starting her junior year, that means Bella needs to learn/practice more life lessons like how to drive (what?!), balance a checkbook, shop for dinner on a budget and cook the meal. (Heck, I’m still trying to learn that.)
- Make a flexible schedule – Although I love the carefree days of summer, there does need to be some coordination to make sure we don’t miss any summer classes and that we best plan which days work for fun outings. Plus, I don’t mind the kids’ having screen time but a time limit it a must (or we’d ALL be vegged out in front of a screen.)
* * *
Goal #4: Run an organized home because when things run smoother it brings greater peace in our family life.
Mini Goals:
- Update our monthly budget and keep a daily log of spending. – I had been doing better with this, but lately have gotten way off track. Time to reign it in.
- Continue with the purge and fill 1-2 bags a week with unused or outgrown items.
- Weekly meal plan and update “Favorite Meals” reference list. – I am always stumped on what to make for dinner so meal planning is a must. Plus the boys want to help cook so we need to update our meal list.
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Goal #5 – Be a well-balanced woman who has her own interest and pursuits and isn’t afraid to challenge herself.
Mini-Goals:
- Get up before kids 5x a week to do my morning beach walk. – Continue working on my #rol100milesin100days challenge.
- Continue to track weight, blood pressure and blood sugar to make sure I stay in the normal range.
- Write more – Spend 15-30 minutes a day writing (or studying about using better writing skills) whether it’s in my journal, blogging or working on a Blessed Is She assignment. Post to the blog 1x a week
- Build my online community – I love my circle of online friends and my best connections seems to be with IG/Instastories. Post more there and perhaps try out IGTV.
- Build my IRl life community – Having online friends is great but I miss my in real life friends. This summer I’ll call up some old friends I haven’t seen in awhile. Plus I’ll develop my budding friendships with the local Blessed Is She group.
Since I’m using Lara Casey’s goal making system, I purchased her 2018 Powersheets, although they are currently sold out. However, you can use her online 2018 goal series and follow the whole process using your own notebook. That is what I did last year. I never bought the Powersheet and instead I answered all the questions and made the inspiration boards and used my bullet journal. You can see how I did it here.
Although I love Lara’s system, you don’t have to go through her series! You can think of your own goals and steps to make them happen.
Now that I have my goals set, I wanted to add them to my planner. This year I switched from the full-size Blessed Is She Planner and got the mini-sized Blessed Is She Planner instead.
I love that there is a monthly goal section! It is divided into five areas of a woman’s life – faith focus, personal, family, work and fun. It matched well with my five areas of life and I filled in each with my goals. I am ready to make some progress! 🙂
What about you? Do you make goals? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month(s)? Do share!
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I also got Lara’s book 
