Goal Setting
Now that we have set our intentions and expectations for the next year, it’s time to begin thinking through what the stated goal is and how we will measure success according to our intentions and maintain reasonable expectations. I would suggest writing in pencil or erasable pen (my favorite invention) – I want you to refer to these pages often and I don’t want you to be afraid to make changes. Goals are not meant to be static. We change, our surroundings change, our relationships change, our circumstances change, our priorities change, so it is only natural that we leave ourselves room to adjust accordingly throughout this year. Not only will things outside of our control change, but my hope is that through this process YOU change. For the positive, of course.
As mentioned in the last post, there is a reason that I started with intentions, moved to expectations and now we can put goals to go with them; I am hoping that the pre-work to this set you up for recognizing what you truly desire and not what others want for you. I suggest sharing your goals with someone to hold you accountable and to be someone to share shortcomings with, get an outside perspective from and to celebrate milestones and even the “smallest” of successes. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing with anyone in your life, I challenge you to delve into the reason. Is it because you don’t want someone to hold you accountable? Are you like me and have a “I don’t need anyone else” attitude? Please know that you do need other people. We will get into community later, but this is important. I, of course, cannot force you to find someone with which to share these goals with, so my hope is that through this process you become comfortable with it. Perhaps pick one goal to share or one milestone to share at a time, so it feels less daunting. If you don’t feel close enough to anyone, have that be a goal under ‘Relational Health’ - identify someone who you would like to get to know better and start by asking them to grab coffee, lunch, happy hour, dinner. Or go for a walk. Could be someone at work/a business contact, a neighbor, someone in your community.
I have included goal pages for each of the four focus areas (link at bottom). I believe you should have at least one for each, no matter how big or small. If you have another way you would like to go about it, feel free to do that. NOTE: if you have another way but it has never worked…consider a new method. As we go through this exercise, tie your goals back to the intentions and expectations that we have already determined. If through this exercise you find that you have already experienced a change, feel free to make updates and adjustments, but make sure it is not because you don’t feel willing or capable.
You can find the will through hope in Jesus Christ, and you are capable of more than you know because of Him. (Matthew 19:26, Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:13)
First, name your goal and place in the blue box in the top right-hand corner. Give it a name that you can refer to easily, that accountability partners of your choosing can ask you about by name. Be succinct or be silly with it if you want. You can choose a name that pertains to the goal and is obvious or you can name it something that only you/your accountability partner(s) would understand, a code word if you will. Write it on a post-it and stick on your mirror to remind you. Below that you can summarize the goal with more detail. Next, fill in number 2 and 4 using the Intention & Expectation grids. Number 3 is how we break down these goals more minutely. If it would be helpful, you can print extra goal pages for milestones pertaining to these goals where you can break those down even further. Don’t underestimate the small change!
https://www.mydelightisinher.com/s/Goal-Setting-Sheets.pdf
Blank goal sheet if you want to add another category from my four (i.e. career): https://www.mydelightisinher.com/s/Blank-Goal-Page.pdf
