Setting Goals That Motivate, Make a Difference, and Actually Matter

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Last updated on September 23rd, 2023 at 10:52 am

How’s life going for you? Are you just doing it? Or do you have a plan? Because, honestly, too many of us go through life just letting it happen to us. And we think that’s living until we have something happen that makes us realize we have to be proactive about it. That’s the point we think about setting goals that actually motivate us and challenge us to grow.

That “something” doesn’t have to be huge. It could be as small as a quote that leads you to an epiphany of thoughts and send you down a roller coaster of discovery. Or it could be something huge like finding out you have a disease you need to manage.

Maybe your something hasn’t happened yet. I encourage you to go back and read this post about how I got started on making this life a little more intentional.

But today, I’m going to share with you how I made personal goals this year. This post tells you more about how I became more intentional in setting goals, but today I’m getting vulnerable. I want to share what my goals are and my progress so far, not to brag or make you feel bad, but to show you that you can become more purposeful if you really want to.

I realized that one of the keys to living an intentional life is to know where you’re headed.

Knowing my personal and my family’s mission, goals, or values makes it easier to set priorities and live life the way God intended.

Why I chose the Powersheets

I’ve already shared that I decided to get the Powersheets this year. One of my mentors (who doesn’t even know it), Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes, has written several posts on her Powersheets progress, and one of my favorite style bloggers (Audrey of Putting Me Together) has talked about using Powersheets a few times. So, I told my husband I wanted to make this investment, and that it could be my Christmas present.

Guys, it’s the best gift ever. (In fact, we bought a companion goal guide for couples, but that’s a post for another day.)

The Powersheets make you do some work. There are a lot of pages dedicated to getting to know yourself, your story, your dreams, your fears. The exercises take a lot of time, but I loved working through them. (Plus, it gives you a good reason to head to a coffee shop all by yourself for a couple of hours. It’s time for mama!)

By the end, you’re ready to create a purposeful year with a Word of the Year. (This year, my word is GROW.) I can look back at my page setting my intention for the year and get inspired to go get it every single month!

Setting goals with intention

Next, you actually work on writing your goals. It sounds scary, but each time you come up with a big goal, the Powersheets encourage little action steps to get going –starting is always the hardest part!

The most important part is not reaching the goal —it’s making progress. It’s about the journey. You learn so much more in doing the thing than actually reaching it. And it’s the most amazing, wonderful, heartwarming feeling knowing that you are growing.

So, I’m going to share my goals and the progress I’ve made so far. As I said before in this post, I am not normally a goal-oriented person. But I know if I want to grow and become better, I need to challenge myself to stretch and get uncomfortable.

I’ve felt extremely encouraged by listening to other women who are working toward their goals and success. I hope to give you encouragement too by sharing this with you.

Goal 01. Grow my business

This is by far the scariest goal I’ve ever committed to. It involves a lot of risk and sacrifice, but I’m determined to really do it. I invested in an intense course to make it happen, and I’m going to be putting in a lot of work to get it done.

Goal 02. Self-care and growth

So much of my success depends on my inner workings. I know I’m not as productive if I’m not getting enough sleep or getting in exercise. It’s also important that I exercise my mind, so I’ve committed to reading 19 books this year.

Goal 03. Financial freedom

We read The Total Money Makeover and listened to the Millionaire Theme Hour on the Dave Ramsey Show. So, yeah, we’re determined to get there by setting financial goals and a budget. We’re still working out setting the right budget, but it’s all about experimenting and making progress.

Goal 04. Loving my family

This one is all about focusing on the right things at the right time. It means taking away the temptation of screens (AKA, hiding the phone and tablet away —out of sight, out of mind). It means planning a time to get out as a family and turning down some events for the sake of rest.

Goal 05. Planning for progress

Kind of piggybacking on the last couple of goals, I’m talking about consistently making a plan. Yes, it’s good to be spontaneous, but it’s better to be intentional than reactive. So, planning includes the budget, our weekend plans, my day-to-day schedule, and meal planning. I’ve been theming my days to support consistency.

Goal 06. Loving my husband

Who else wants a better relationship with their spouse? We’ve never been very good about setting up a date night, so each month when we have our planning and calendar sessions, we also put a date night on the calendar.

Goal 07. Record our family memories

Ok, this one has been a complete flop so far. We, like a lot of other people, are so bad about printing pictures, but even more about downloading photos to the computer. My goal has been to make a family yearbook every year, and so far I’ve only succeeded once! I’ve got to reevaluate and come up with a better strategy for doing this. I’ll keep you posted.

Goal 08. Grow in faith

I think this is pretty self-explanatory. My plan for cultivating this is to continue my morning routine of reading and reflecting on the daily Mass readings and spending time in prayer. But I also want to start doing a daily rosary …Lent is a good time to commit to this …and read books about my faith.

Goal 09. Grow relationships

I want to be more mindful of others. I don’t want to be contained in our own little world of our family. We can spread joy and love to those who might need it. Connecting with others, whether individuals or families, allows our souls to grow more. Just sending little messages to people or making a phone call are little ways to grow relationships and let people know we care.

Goal 10. Learn a new creative skill

I’ve always been creative, and I highly value creativity. It’s been a way for me to express emotion. Since I didn’t do very well with this in January, I implemented “Self-Development Saturday,” where I’ll spend an hour on Saturday morning working on a new skill. Right now it’s a free calligraphy course, but I think I’ll be signing up for SkillShare to find courses on sewing, watercolor, or photography.

Setting goals that matter

Those are my goals for the year. Even if I don’t do everything I said I’d do, if I just make a little progress, I’ve succeeded.

So what about you? Can you commit to ONE goal for the year?