Christmas may not be here yet, but once it’s here the new year is quick to follow! I decided to start now reflecting on 2018 a bit and making some goals for the new year. If I wait until after Christmas the new year always seems to come SO fast and I’m never quite ready!
You may ask “why bother”? Here’s why:
The Psalms talk over and over again about remembering what God has done. For me, that is a big reason for reflecting on the past year. Through it all, the highs and the lows, God has been (and always will be) faithful.
When it comes to setting goals, well, it just makes sense! Because “if you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time.” We need to be aiming at something!
Have I always completed all my goals? Ha! No. But I’ve absolutely done better than if I hadn’t made any goals at all.
To help me while I’m reflecting on the past year and making goals for the new one I created a couple printables. They’re super simple but its always helpful for me to get my thoughts out on paper in an organized way.
If you’re one of my email subscribers you should’ve already received an email with a link to these sheets. If you’re not a subscriber, take two seconds to enter your email below and I’ll send them to you right away! (I promise I won’t spam you with emails either. In fact, I generally just send one email a week, if that, ha!)
Got your printable sheets? Great! Okay, so here’s how I like to go about reflecting on the past year and making goals for the new one.
Reflecting on 2018
Before making my goals for the new year, I like to look back and reflect a bit on the past year.
What all happened this year? (Sometimes it all seems like a blur until I take the time to intentionally think back through the year!)
What stands out to me as a major highlight from this year?
What was one of the hardest things about this year?
What did I learn this year?
In what ways did I see God answer prayer?
Reflecting on the past year is important and can be helpful as you move on the next step of making goals for the new year.
Goals for 2019
When I made my goals this past January, I divided them up in three categories: Personal goals, family goals, and blogging (or business) goals. I’ve found it helpful to organize things this way – it keeps me focused as I think through my goals.
Personal
What am I going to do to grow spiritually this year?
How am I going to take care of myself physically?
Are there any personal achievements I want to aim for this year? (ie: read a certain number of books, get better at a hobby, etc.)
Is there a specific character trait and/or area of my life that I want/need to focus on? (Not sure? Your family can probably clue you in haha!)
Family
What do we want to focus on as a family this year?
How am I going to make my marriage a priority?
In what ways do I plan to make one-on-one times with my kids happen?
What learning goals do I have for my kids?
Business
I don’t have a job outside the home, but I still like to include this category. For me, business = my blog, which I’d love to grow to the point where it earns us a small side income, as well as anything else that I am able to do to help my family financially.
For you it might be your job outside the home, a family business, a side hustle, whatever. Or maybe you just scratch this category of goals and choose another category that fits what you need better.
For my blog, I’ll be asking myself several questions:
What did I do last year that worked? What didn’t work?
Where do I see my blog by the end of this next year? (I’ll make some very specific goals here.)
What’s something new that I should try this year?
etc. etc.
Once I have my goals written out I feel excited and ready to start the new year!
What’s one of your big goals for this year? Share in the comments! And don’t forget to grab your printables! 🙂
