Goals for 2017

One reason we enjoy the new year is the sense of a new start. A chance to start again. Reset our goals. We can look back at the year before and look forward to the year ahead. Setting goals for the year helps us have a focus and plan for the new year.

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Goals give us a starting point. They give us a guide and direction to follow in the future. If you set clear goals, your goals can guide decisions you make and how you spend your time.

As you set goals in each of the areas below, you may consider breaking your goals into smaller goals like 90-day goals. You may find that 90-day goals are more achievable than annual goals. Many times taking small steps toward a large goal will help make you successful.

To get started, let’s look at 7 areas of life you can set goals for the new year.

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7 Goals to Start Today

For each area of life below, set a goal you can achieve this year. As you set each goal, be specific. Don’t say, spend more time with family. Say, spend more time with family by having a family movie night 2 times a month.

Spiritual

What area of your spiritual life do you need to improve? Have you placed God first in your life? What one action can you take this year that will bring you closer to God and improving your spiritual life?

Here are few ideas for spiritual goals this year:

Add quiet time for reading and meditation every morning
Read more books with spiritual insights to grow your faith
Spend more time journaling or in prayer
Memorize one Bible verse each week

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Family

Your family is always one of your top priorities. As you think about your family, how can you grow your family’s relationships with each other? For example, maybe your goal would be to have family game night once a week or plan a family outing one Saturday or Sunday every month.

Maybe you want to set a goal to spend more quality time each day with your family. You could read a book together aloud. Reading together is a fun and a great way to share a special experience together.

Family goals can strengthen family relationships and create great memories.

Children

This goal for your children is different from the family goal which is a goal for the whole family. Specifically, think about each of your children and what they uniquely need from you. Consider goals you can set for each of your children and how you can help them be successful. Would you like to help them improve their grades in school? Maybe you want to spend time with each of them every day or have a special date night every month?

Create a unique goal for each of your children based on their special needs and how you can help them.

Health

How can you improve your health this year? Whether your current health situation is good or needs improvement, there’s always a change you can make to improve your health. Should you eat healthier foods? Should you limit desserts to once a week? Add some exercise to every day?

Improving your health is not an easy change to make. Don’t expect to make every health change all at once, just start with one goal and improve slowly. Then add another step till you reach the complete goal. Many of us struggle with health and weight issues. Start today with one small goal, and start making progress to better health.

Financial

How can you improve your finances this year? Sometimes it’s the simplest changes that make the biggest difference. If you have no debt, maybe you can start saving for your children’s college tuition or any early retirement. If you still have debt, set goals to start paying off your debt (little by little and step by step you can make it happen).

If money management is a challenge for you, a book like Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover may help you find a clear financial plan to follow.

Education

What new things do you want to learn this year or in the next 90 days? Are you taking any online classes and courses? Maybe you enjoy reading books? How will you continue to grown and learn new things this year?

If you working on online courses, set a clear timeline to complete each course or you will find the courses do not get done.

If you are reading books, don’t just say you will read 10 books this year. Carefully select the books you plan to read and create a reading schedule. Will you complete one book every week or every two weeks?

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Professional

You need to set professional goals for yourself. Do you want to earn a raise or a promotion at work? How will you make this goal happen? Create a goal and a plan that helps you know where you are going with your career or you will just drift.

Do you own your own business? What business goals do you have this year? What can you do to increase your income? Aside from income, what other goals and purposes do you have for your business?

Now it’s time to write your goals for family, spiritual life, children, health, finances, education and professional life. We will all have unique goals within each category. Our goals will help us focus our decisions about our children, our family, and how we spend our time. Goals for each of these areas will guide us to what is most important and what should require our attention right now.

Make Over Your Mornings

One way to get your goals started right is with the Make Over Your Mornings. I completed this course at the beginning of 2016 and it helped me learn to focus my time and energy in the right places.

Some of the topics included in the course are:

How to Successfully Plan Your Day
Setting Goals
Accountability Partners
How to Create Your To-Do list
A Morning Routine that Works
And so much more…

Final tip

Don’t forget, do a goal check-up in 90 days, you can change or adjust your goals based on what is working and what is not working and what you think will help you be most successful this year.

This week take some time and start planning your goals.

Your turn…

What goals are you setting for this year? What will make this year successful for you?