⏳𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬

Setting goals helps you define what you want to achieve in the next day, week, month, quarter, year, or even longer. Goals provide a framework for working toward something that is important to you (organizing your closets, improving health) or making something a habit (daily exercise, Bible study). One of my “life rules” is to gather information and use what works for me and my family. It’s usually not a whole “system” or everything that’s in a book, but I take bits and pieces of information that I think will work for us. 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬.

𝙏𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚, 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚:

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 If your goal is to exercise “more”, you will never reach it—how much is “more”? With a goal like “I will walk for 20 minutes, 3 times every week”, you’ll be able to monitor your progress and easily know if you’ve met it or not.

Goals do not have to contain numbers to be measurable; one of my goals for 2024 is “𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒.” I will know I’ve met that goal when I can easily locate random items when I need them.

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲/𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰. A goal should be challenging, but “𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑘 21 𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑎𝑡, 𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒, ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟”, is unrealistic for most people and such a goal will probably be abandoned very quickly. A more realistic goal might be, “𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤, 𝑙𝑜𝑤-𝑓𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘.”

𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹. If having a big garden is not important to you, don’t make it a goal. You might get start a garden but it will most likely be overcome by weeds before the end of the summer, or you’ll resent having to care for it. If you hate bike riding, you won’t do it as part of your exercise routine no matter how “good” of an exercise it is.

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔:

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻! You are 42% more likely to reach a goal if you write it down, whether on a sticky note, your computer home page, or typed out or written in your journal. Put your goal list where you’ll see it every day. You also need a written plan for meeting the goal; when you schedule “actions” (write “exercise” on your calendar every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) you are 76% more likely to succeed.

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. A big goal—like losing 30 lbs or organizing every room in your home is overwhelming without smaller, intermediate goals. Break weight loss down into realistic weekly or monthly goals; consider making a goal to clean one or two rooms a month and your whole house will be done by the end of the year (unless you have a VERY big house!).

𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀. Put a star on the calendar when you exercise, keep a journal of books you read, list the rooms in your house that you’ve deep cleaned. You’ll feel a great deal of satisfaction and accomplishment when you have visual evidence of what you’ve done.

E𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼. If you made a goal to learn to knit, but quickly realize you really don’t like knitting, it’s ok to let that goal go! No need to spend time on something you don’t enjoy. If your goal has become a habit—Bible study every morning is a regular part of your routine—CONGRATULATIONS! Consider a new goal to add another habit to your routine. If you haven’t met a goal, analyze why. Did unpredictable events, like illness, prevent you from exercising? Try working toward that goal for another month.

If your goal is to pay off credit card by the end of the year, and you’ve hardly made a dent in the amount by July, reevaluate your goal. Is it unrealistic, or do you need to be more disciplined in your spending?

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘖𝘒 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦.

𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 when you meet a goal or have worked toward it consistently! Base rewards on what motivates you! (Just don’t reward a week of healthy eating with ½ gallon of your favorite ice cream!). For me a great reward for deep cleaning and organizing a room is an evening relaxing and reading a new novel. Determine rewards that will motivate you to work toward your goals and enjoy them!

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨?