Remember last year when I blogged about my One Little Word for the New Year?
{The idea is to choose one single word for the new year- "a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life." It's not a GOAL per se, but instead one simple little WORD that, hopefully, will inspire me to pursue change in the New Year. It's like a theme for the year.}
Looking back on 2011, I can see how my word {perspective} guided my year. Bringing a new baby home, buying a new house that needed plenty of work, saying farewell to my husband when he left for Africa... all of these and many other circumstances last year required me to keep things in perspective. Often times it isn't until we look back that we see the value of the words we pray over our lives, but there is no doubt that these prayers are powerful. That's why I've decided to use the same strategy for 2012.
After much prayer and plenty of confirmation, I've chosen my word for 2012.
Kevin and I have been very intentional these past few months about getting tools in place to help us to become the family that God wants us to be. I, personally, have done a lot of studying on goal-setting and mission statements and the forming of habits (good ones) in myself and in my children.
And while studying those things and getting tools in place is all well and good, without FOCUS, without "concentrated attention and energy," the goals and plans that we have in in place will never transpire. This year I want to put action to my desires. I want to be focused enough to actually SEE change happen. I want to slowly, but faithfully, rid my life of distractions and time-wasters that prevent me from being the Christian, wife, mom, friend, etc. that God wants me to be.
I'm experienced enough to know that true change doesn't come quickly, and I'm wise enough to know that complete change won't happen all at once. Which is why I'm focusing on little tiny baby steps each week. My plan it to continue to have my Weekly Planning Session, during which I'll set weekly SMART goals for myself and my family (SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).
Just to give you an idea of the types of goals I'm talking about, here are some of my goals for this upcoming week (Monday-Sunday):
Family/Home
- Have Dinner together as a Family 2 Nights (We're really hoping to see significant change in this area over the course of the year).
- Date Night with Kevin, courtesy of Mimi and Pops (already on the calendar!)
- Plan One Week Worth of Menus for our upcoming Daniel Fast.
- Deep Clean the refrigerator.
- Clean/Straighten out Kevin and I's Dresser.
- Take Down Christmas Decorations
Personal
- Finish Reading Lord, Teach me to Study the Bible in 28 Days (I'm on Day 21 Today)
- Drink 2 Full Glasses of Water per Day (This is a true baby step for me!)
- Do the "Ease into 5K" program 3 Days this week
- Photograph 1 Week Night Dinner for the Blog
- Read Chapter 1 of Educating the WholeHearted Child
- Spend 10 minutes a day of Free Writing 3 Days this week
So there you have it! My goals for the week! My plan is to give an update on my progress next Monday.
I'm also linking up at Money Saving Mom today, where you can see what others have planned for the week.
What about you? What are your thoughts on setting goals?
