Setting Goals & My One Word
Setting Goals
Goal setting is important. That’s why so many people set goals at the beginning of the year. The problem is that most of those goals tend to fall by the way side within just a few weeks of New Year’s Day. In fact, according to Forbes.com, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions.
So, should we even bother with setting goals? I think so. I mean, if we never set goals, will we ever see major improvement in our lives? I talk a lot about re-evaluating my life. It’s something I do frequently throughout the year. It helps me plan, change, grow, and made decisions that will best affect my family.
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Goals vs. Resolutions
Resolution: I’d like to lose weight and eat healthier.
Goal: I’d like to lose 15 pounds by June. I will plan my menu every week using my new Weight Watcher’s Cookbook. I’ll will pack a lunch each week instead of eating out. I will weight myself every Sunday morning and use my weight loss jars to record my progress.
Resolution: I want to spend more time with my kids.
Goal: I want to spend more time with my kids playing games. We will plan a family game night every Thursday night. No exceptions.
In order for resolutions to really stick, you need to set realistic goals with practical solutions and steps to take to see them to fruition. If you wish your life was different, you’ll never see change unless you practice doing something different! Setting goals helps us to reach our God-given potential. God has an amazing plan for your life!
Planning
A big part of goal setting is planning. You need to make a plan to reach your goals, or let me tell you – it won’t happen. It’s the difference between being a dreamer and a doer. It’s wonderful to dream dreams, but it’s even more wonderful to see those dreams come true!
2014 was a good year for me. I had determined to laugh more and enjoy my life more. Those were really my goals for the year. It’s funny because if you read my blog post from last January about my One Word for 2014, you’ll read that I chose the HOME for my One Word. I guess after I wrote that blog post, I had other ideas. Because in my 2014 planner, I wrote that my One Word was Intentional. I wanted to be intentional with my family and my home and I was.
Intentional could possibly be my favorite word. I want to live my life with intention. I don’t want to look back over my life 20 years from now and realize that I missed out on all the good stuff.
Like last year, I’m using my 2015 “This is My Life” Planner to help me plan the details of my year. This planner has been amazing for me and I believe it will work for you, too! It really is the ULTIMATE planner for busy moms! I purchased the pre-printed version this year {last year I printed my own}. The pre-printed version available on Lulu.com is gorgeous and printed on 80# paper. I’m in love with it! Last year I printed my own planner out on my printer onto card stock and I loved it just as much as this one.
So really, either way is a great choice and there are a number of different planners in the collection to choose from!
This is MY Life
A few weeks ago I briefly wrote about WHY I call my line of planners, “This is My Life” Planners in my weekly email newsletter and I thought I’d share that with you now…
So, this is MY life. I’m busy. Like super busy most of the time. There’s a lot of days that just seem to by and I do wonder what I’ve accomplished. I woke up this morning and it just hit me. 2014 is almost over.
Where did it go?
Did I accomplish those things I felt called to do? Did I spend my time wisely? How did the year slip away so quickly?
I’m big on re-evaluating my life on a regular basis. I do it several times a year. No joke. It helps me stay focused.
So, around the middle of 2013, a few months before I launched my line of “This is My Life” Planners, I began really thinking about how this is MY LIFE. I only get one. I only get one chance to do the best I can. I want to live the best life I can.
That’s why I called my planners “This is My Life” – because it’s true. I want to live my life with purpose. I don’t get it right every day – but I’m trying!
A great planner is going to aid you in your day to day goal setting. It will be your go-to right hand man when you need to remember something really important or when you need to remember the everyday mundane. {When did you last scrub the bathroom?} It will help organize your thoughts, appointments, ideas, and plans. And, it will help you plan for and remember those special moments that will be forever cherished.
Motivation and Encouragement
Sometimes we all need a little encouragement and some good old fashioned motivation. This life can be downright hard sometimes and our momentum can run out of steam every now and again. Here’s a few books and ideas to get your heart singing and excited about the coming year:
- How to Stay Motivated at Home
- How to Make Change Stick
- Planning Day
- Creating a New Schedule
- Finding More Joy
- Letting Go of Expectations
- A Time to Clean: 30 Day Challenge
- My Favorite Planner Accessories
5 Books to Read
Calling the super busy, the stressed out, the overtired.
You know you’re made for a more fulfilling life. With this book, you’ll know where to start.
You wake up tired. Your to-do list is too long. The commitments—and the laundry—are piling up, but your energy keeps dwindling. You feel like you’re simply making it through the days, not living or enjoying any part of them.
In Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, you’ll find both practical ideas and big-picture perspective that will inspire you to live life on purpose. As a wife, mother of three, and founder of the wildly successful blog MoneySavingMom.com, Crystal Paine has walked the road from barely surviving to living with intention. With the warmth and candor of a dear friend, she shares what she’s learned along the way, helping you:
- feel healthier and more energetic by setting priorities and boundaries
- eliminate stress with savvy management of your time, money, and home
- get more done by setting realistic goals and embracing discipline
- rediscover your passions—and the confidence to pursue them
Packed with straightforward solutions you’ll use today and inspirational stories you’ll remember for years, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode is a must for any woman who’s ever longed for the freedom to enjoy life, not just survive it.
Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life
In Search of the Good Life
Have you ever thought that your life–and budget–is spiraling out of control? Do you sometimes wish
you could pull yourself together but wonder exactly how to manage all the scattered pieces of a chaotic life? Is it possible to find balance?
In a word, yes.
Ruth Soukup knows firsthand how stressful an unorganized life and budget can be. Through
personal stories, biblical truth, and practical action plans, she will inspire you to make real and lasting changes to your personal goals, home, and finances. With honesty and the wisdom of
someone who has been there, Ruth will help you:
* Discover your “sweet spot”–that place where your talents and abilities intersect.
* Take back your time and schedule by making simple shifts in your daily habits.
* Reduce stress in your home and family by clearing out the clutter.
* Stop busting your budget and learn to cut your grocery bill in half.
* Bring order to a messy life and create a practical cleaning schedule that works.
Ruth doesn’t just offer advice, she walks it with you, and shares with brutal honesty her own mistakes, failures, and shortcomings. It is encouraging, motivating, and life-changing.
This is one of my FAVORITE books on homemaking.
Home Comforts is something new. For the first time in nearly a century, a sole author has written a comprehensive book about housekeeping. This is not a dry how-to manual, nor a collection of odd tips and hints, a cleaning book, a history book, or an arid encyclopedia compiled by a committee or an institute. Home Comforts is a readable explanation for both beginners and experts of all the domestic arts — choosing fabrics, keeping the piano in tune, caring for books, making a good fire in the fireplace and avoiding chimney fires, ironing and folding, setting up a good reading light, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, and everything else that modern people might want to do for themselves in their homes. But this reliable and thorough book on the practicalities of housekeeping is also an argument for the importance of private life and the comforts offered by housekeeping.
Need a bit more simple in your life but unsure where to start? Simple Living is written for you. Using minimalist principles I have created a 30 day course, taking less than 1 hour a day that I guarantee will give you a simpler life.
Simple Living‘s 30 days balances both tangible clutter as well as intangible clutter. This is not a course about cleaning. This course and these lessons are about change. Not only will you have a simpler and cleaner home after this course but the steps have been put in place for it to stay that way.
My One Word
My One Word this year is going to be HOME. I know. I mentioned above that I had orginally selected HOME to be my One Word last year and then changed it to INTENTIONAL.
I’ve learned to be more intentional and I do want to keep that as a priority. I feel like this year, I really want to focus on my home. We have so many projects that need to be completed and I’m excited about the possibilities. I don’t want to set my expectations too high, but I do want to see at least two or three major projects completed by the end of the year!
There’s nothing more precious than home and all it represents: family, love, warmth, peace, joy, safety, acceptance… I love HOME.
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