Setting Goals

Often I post about goals I have set - typically for a year or month, although sometimes I'll do weekly goals also.

I've found that setting goals really helps me stay accountable and accomplish much more than if I just let life happen. What works for me is breaking my life down into a list of various roles/ categories that are meaningful to me and then setting 1 - 4 goals for each category.

At the beginning of each month, I'll create my goal list for the upcoming month (based upon my annual goals), then at the beginning of each week, I'll break those monthly goals into smaller steps. This keeps me moving along each week, meeting my goals, without being overwhelmed.

Do I accomplish everything on my list? Nope, rarely. However, I do accomplish most of the items and definitely more than I would without my goal setting.

Here's an example of a few of the categories and goals for September:

Health
- go to bed at 10:00
- yoga daily
- exercise 3-5x week

House
- deep clean/ organize laundry room
- create new/ updated budget

Faith
- daily devotions
- 1 hospitality act each week

and so on for the other categories. Then for the next step, this week I have on my list:

Health
- schedule an additional workout session (already have 2 on the schedule for the week)

House
- clean linen closet in laundry room (2 shelves a day)
- track spending and upload into budget (which was created last week)

Faith
- get up at 6:00 and begin day with bible study
- take cookies/ tea to teachers at daughter's school Monday afternoon

So, you can see how I am slowly pegging away each week and day at my monthly goals.

This works for me because I love organization and lists. However, even if you don't go into the daily detail that I do, I encourage you to at least list out your monthly and weekly goals - just by committing to them on paper, you are more likely to be reminded to act and will likely achieve more!