Money Saving Mom®

I debated a lot about goals for 2016. Not because I didn’t want to set them, but because I have such a driving personality that I knew that I could easily set goals that would throw me off from my plan to make 2016 a year of rest.

I had to ask myself and my husband, “How do I pair having a year of rest with goal-setting?” And then I had to really let myself mull over the answer for a few weeks. I finally decided that I would pick only a few goals, and I would only pick goals that would inspire me and refresh me.

I’m the master at picking goals that will challenge me. In fact, I usually love nothing more than a great big challenge to tackle. But this year, I’m just tired. And any goal that is great big and involves a challenge will overwhelm and exhaust me.

So I chose goals that sounded inspiring and motivating to me — while at the same time being ones that would encourage me to be intentional in my priorities.

Now, let me be clear: I think at sometimes it’s really good to choose goals that will challenge us to work really, really, really hard. Some of you need to set those kinds of goals this year. You need the goal that is going be the swift kick on the backside to get out of debt, or to start that business, or to tackle that HUGE project.

But there are also some of us who need to choose much simpler and much smaller goals. Goals that aren’t going to make us feel like we need to work, work, work, work, work… when we’re already tired and worn out as it is.

If you’re in one of those seasons of exhaustion, I challenge you to choose goals that will inspire and refresh you. That’s what I really kept in mind when I chose these 4 goals.

My Goals for 2016

Here are the 4 goals I chose for 2016:

1. Motherhood — Go through a creative writing course with the kids.
2. Marriage — Go on two overnighters with Jesse.
3. Myself — Practice handlettering for 5 minutes every day.
4. MoneySavingMom.com — Produce & launch a Make Over Your Evenings course.

And that’s it! I carefully chose each of these goals considering what would be best for our family, for this season of life, and that would encourage me to keep my commitment to make this a year of rest.

How & Why I Chose These Goals

People often ask me how to figure out what goals to set. One of the things we’re going to cover in-depth in our goal-setting course is exactly how to decide your priorities and then how to determine your goals based upon those priorities. 

My current priorities are mothering, my marriage, myself, and the business. With these priorities in mind, I chose an area in each of those categories that I really want to work on/develop or improve in. Then, I refined that focus area by turning it into a very specific and measurable goal. Something that I could clearly define and know when and if I had completed it.

1. Motherhood Goal: Go Through a Creative Writing Course With the Kids

Creative writing is an area where all three of our kids need to spend some extra time and effort. They love most academics, but they all struggle in different areas with writing.

I want to equip them with the skills and knowledge to write well, to be able to clearly express their thoughts and ideas on paper, to have neat hand writing, and to be able to craft compelling and engaging paragraphs, essays, and more. 

This goal encourages me to spend quality time with my kids sharing something that I love to do, while at the same time, giving them a skill that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

2. Marriage Goal: 2 Overnighters This Year with Jesse

My husband and I talked about this and asked each other, “What would be goal that would inspire us? What would be a goal that would be good for us that would really impact our marriage?”

After some discussion, we came up with the goal of having 2 overnight trips this next year. This could be for a weekend and could be at a local hotel or bed and breakfast. Or it could be a bigger to do. It doesn’t matter where it is, what matters is that it’s at least 24 hours and it’s just the two of us.

After three years of not having a just-the-two-of-us trip, we recently went to New York City together for a very short getaway. On this quick trip, we remembered how important time away without the kids is for the health of our marriage. Yes, it required effort to make it happen, but it was so worth the effort.

We got to get away from all of the usual responsibilities of life and just have fun together, hang out together, experience new things together, and just talk. It was so good.  

3. Goal for Myself: 5 Minutes of Handlettering Each Day

I know this is sort of an interesting goal and you may be wondering why I would choose it. Some of you might even be thinking, “Why on earth would she pick such a weird goal??”

Truth be told, at first I felt almost a little bit embarrassed to put it out there that I had set a personal goal to do 5 minutes of handlettering every day. But when I was thinking about goals, I realized this was something that would not only be fun and really inspire me, but it would be something I could use in many different ways.

I can use lettering to write cards to people. I can use it to make signs to put around our house. I can use it to make graphics for social media. I can even use it to just write pretty to-do lists every day!

Most importantly, it’s a gift I can give myself: to be intentional about taking time to sit down and quietly focus on creating something beautiful. I also love that it encourages me to exercise a different kind of creativity than I usually am exercising — which I think is a very good and healthy thing to prioritize.

{I’m going to be posting on my Instagram account sharing some of the lettering and practicing I do each week to keep myself accountable and hopefully to inspire someone else, as well. By the way, here’s the book I’m currently getting inspiration from.}

4. Business Goal: Produce and Launch a Make Over Your Evenings Course

Ever since we launched Make Over Your Mornings, people have been begging for me to release a Make Over Your Evenings Course. 

Since I’ve cleared my schedule of a lot of clutter, I’ll have the time to devote to creating, filming, and launching this course. I’m not going to push myself to have to get it out at a certain time but I’m going to aim to finish and launch it the first half of the year. We’ll see how things pan out! 

What are YOUR goals for 2016? I’d love to hear! Leave a comment and tell us!

Need help with goal-setting? Be sure to check out our brand-new Make Over Your Year Course — a 4-week online course to goal-setting success. It’s taught by my husband and me and will be very step-by-step and hands-on.

Enrollment is only open through January 5, 2016. Read more and sign up here.