New Year, New... Goals?

Happy New Year! 

While it’s hard to believe it’s already 2024, I love stepping into a new year. In church yesterday morning the sermon was about a fresh start, that’s what a new year is. It’s a new beginning, a chance to set goals and re-evaluate where you are in life.

That’s what I enjoy most about the new year, but while it’s easy to set goals it's a whole lot harder to achieve them, while I’m no expert, and I’ve set many goals that faded from my mind 2 months into the year, I want to share the practices that I’ve learned throughout the years and hopefully, this can be the year you achieve your goals. 

The Process 

When I was in middle school I took a class called leadership, it was not so much about being a leader as it was about spiritual wellness (I attended a private Christian school for the majority of my education). 

At the beginning of every semester, the teacher had us set goals in 4 categories. The categories were; academic, spiritual, hobby/sport, and relational. 

Our goals needed to be “qualitative”, meaning, they had to be specific and measurable. “I want to do better in school”, didn’t cut it. 

How are you going to do better in school? 

What do you want to do better? 

How are you going to keep track of your progress? 

The answers to these questions changed from “I want to do better in school” to “To get an A in Math and English I will study those subjects for 30 minutes each day”. 

We would then make a chart to mark off each time we completed part of the goal (so 30 minutes of study 2 times per day). I’ll admit, I would often start strong but by the end of the semester, I would’ve forgotten all about the goals I had set. However, this method of goal setting is one I still use to this day. 

Another thing our teacher challenged us to do was to challenge ourselves, if you are already getting an A in Math then there is no point in “wanting an A”, but if you have a C or even a B then it requires action on your end to change that. Every goal you set should be something that involves pushing yourself to do something you aren’t doing now but you know you can be doing. Sometimes this means really challenging yourself, other times the goal is simple to do but still demands more effort than you are currently putting in. 

The Categories

Creating categories for your goals helps with setting specific targets to aim for. This year the categories I have are; spiritual, relational, physical, financial, business, and educational. 

Spiritual refers to your walk with God, this year one of my goals in this category is to, “fast at least 2 times a month”. I have been a part of a girl’s prayer group for a few months now and one thing we do is fast for each other, since I’m working I’m not able to fast every week but 2 times a month is something I know I can do. 

Relational goals pertain to your relationships with family and friends, maybe you want a better relationship with your parents, set a goal that will bring you closer to them. One of my relational goals for this year is to spend quality time with my siblings each week and prioritize not arguing with them during that time. Let’s be real, siblings fight, but it doesn’t always have to be that way, I know that God can help us to live at peace with each other, so I’m going to push myself to be patient with my siblings while we are hanging out together. 

The physical category is pretty straightforward, do you want to start eating better or exercising? Put those goals here. This year I’ve set a goal to run once a week and do an at-home exercise times a week. For me this is a big challenge, it’s hard to discipline myself to get up and run or exercise. Still, I know that I can do this!

Financial and business can be combined but I created financial to focus on my personal finances and business for my side business. This is where you add all of your money-related goals for the year, if you want to buy a car this year your goal could sound like this, “Save $5,000 more to buy a used car with cash, by saving an average of $400 a month.”

Lastly, educational, if you are still in school set goals pertaining to classes or areas you want to improve in. Since I have already graduated, my educational goals are more like “hobbies”. For example, I want to read at least 3 books each month and practice cooking by preparing a meal for the family at least once a month. 

Add or take away categories to fit your needs!

But How?

Setting goals is fairly easy, keeping them is what is hard, specifically all year long. Here are a few tips to help you stay on track until December 31. 

1. Track your goals. Whether that means DIYing a habit tracker or purchasing one, list out your goals and make a spot to check off each task as you complete them weekly or monthly. Example: Learn how to overhand serve by practicing for 2 hours a week. If you are doing a monthly tracker you would have 10 checkboxes for January. (Using stickers makes it fun too!) 

2. Have an “accountability partner”. This should be someone who is disciplined and wants to see you succeed, like a parent or mentor, friends can help you too but if they aren’t disciplined themselves it will be harder for you. Share your goals with the person you choose and ask them to check in with you once a month to see how you are progressing. If we know someone will be asking how we’re doing it inspires us to get things done!

3. Set times to re-evaluate. Check-in with yourself in 3 months, how close are you to saving up the money to go on your family vacation at the end of the summer? If you aren’t saving as much as you hoped, prioritize saving by cutting out extra purchases. If you aren’t seeing progress ask yourself why and take the necessary steps to start moving forward. I would suggest doing a re-evaluation at the beginning of April, July, and October. At the beginning of December take another look at your goals and make sure you are on track to accomplish all of them. 

Goal setting doesn’t have to be hard or discouraging, by applying these simple steps and strategies you will set yourself up for success. 

However, it’s important to remember that life still happens! Maybe you have an unexpected move in the middle of the year and you can’t exercise for a week. It’s ok! Don’t beat yourself up for things that are outside of your control. All that you can change is your responses and actions. 

Finally, cover your goals in prayer. God created us to work and be productive, He smiles when we accomplish personal goals instead of being lazy. He wants to see you succeed so take your worries to Him, are you nervous that even though you’ve set a goal you may not achieve it? Take it to God, and ask Him to give you the strength to accomplish the goals you’ve set. Then you start doing all that you can and trust Him for the rest. 

Let’s make this year the best one yet.