7 Practical Ways to Create and Meet Goals for the New Year

This is at the top of the list because it’s most important. God knows our entire 2018 from this moment. Scripture tells us that “ The moment of our lives has been laid out before a single day has passed Psalms 139:16. Wow! Since God knows each of our days, we should pray and ask Him for his input regarding our goals and dreams for the New Year. God is more than a genie or a fortune-teller. He is able and willing to show you the things on which he wants you to focus. 

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Let’s be honest. Sometimes, we don’t knock off all the goals we set at the beginning of the year, by the end of the year. Hindsight truly is 20/20, and since we have the advantage of looking at all of our goals from the end of the year, we can see the ones that we didn’t reach and then start vetting through them. We can ask ourselves questions like, “Does this goal still align with where I am in my life right now or does God have me focusing on something else?” Or, “Is now the time to complete this goal, or is this something that I can plan for down the line?” You don’t want to scrap all of your unmet 2017 goals altogether just because the New Year is coming because there may be things you didn’t finish that just may take longer than a year to complete!

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Traditions are a fun and practical way to create your New Year goals! They breathe fun back into the process of making goals and can and be as low key, or not, as you’d like! There are people who turn this goal setting into an opportunity to get together with friends and create vision boards for the year! My husband and I set a date on either New Years Eve or New Years Day and we create the goals for our family for the new year. Last year, we did a breakfast and this year, we are thinking of doing a dinner. Whatever you decide to do, make it fun! Do something that will get you excited to crush your New Year goals!

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Telling someone else about your goals can be like striking a goldmine. Accountability partners are wonderful assets to our lives because they help to keep us on track long after the thrill of setting the goal is gone. Sometimes, if we are fortunate enough, we have more than one trusted friend to help us remain accountable to the goals we’ve set. When people believe in you and help cheer you on, you can accomplish amazing things simply because you are supported.

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Making goals and writing them down is a wonderful way to make things plain and get the thoughts out of our head. But I say, why not take it one step further than simply writing your goals down in a notebook somewhere, or in the “Notes” app of your phone. Your goals can easily become distant memories if you aren’t looking at them on a regular basis. Maybe try writing the goals in multiple places; one of those places being one that you see on a regular basis, that way you can be reminded of your goals. Research shows that we are more likely to achieve our goals if we see them on a regular basis.

Another cool thing to do is to create pictures of whatever goal you’re currently focusing on and making that thing the background image of your phone or computer, or print out a picture and tape it to your vanity mirror. The more you see the things you are working towards, the more motivated you can get about completing those things!

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The things we say we want to accomplish in January may take on a different shape or form by August. If we aren’t careful, we can be working tirelessly on a goal that has changed from the thing we originally told ourselves. It’s wise to keep up to date with our goals by creating pit stops throughout the year. For example, I try to look at where I stand with my goals every three months. This is the time that I look to see what things are currently working and which things I need to adjust, that way I can measure my actual progress. There’s no point in creating awesome goals if we can’t measure ourselves and the progress we make to meet them along the way!

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There are bound to be a few big goals on your New Year list. Things that will have major impacts on your career, family, and day-to-day life. For those goals, the task at hand can seem so incredibly large and you can get overwhelmed easily with trying to get it all done. Try breaking those big goals down into smaller, mini goals! Then, as you complete those smaller goals, do something to celebrate the completion of it and to mark the fact that you are one step closer to meeting your goals than you were before. That is something to be proud of and will give you the push you need to keep going so you can crush those other mini goals!

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Britnee is a free-spirited, Old Navy-wearin', coffee-shop lovin', wife and momma. She serves in the worship ministry with her husband at their home church in Glendale, AZ and writes with the sole purpose of pointing others to Christ. You can catch up with her on her blog or via social media @b_brdshw!