Setting Goals For Your Family
What’s the plan?
People tend to make New Year’s resolutions or set goals for themselves in the new year. It tends to be personal goals like lose weight, get a new job, buy a house, and so on. But are you setting goals for your family? Have you set any goals for your marriage?
We didn’t, until a couple of years ago. On New Year’s Day 6 years ago, we sat down for the first time to write down our goals for the year. We each wrote them out separately, using the categories of Faith, Family, Friends, Finance, Marriage, Health, Travel, Personal.
Then we compared our goals and created a document that included those we chose from our two lists. Let me tell you, it was eye-opening to see how DIFFERENT our goals were in certain areas! And I was surprised at how little I knew of Steve’s true desires for the year. For example, he listed under “travel” that he really wanted a vacation away for just the two of us. At the time, we had a baby and I was still a little nervous about leaving him alone. But doing this exercise helped me to see how important this was to Steve. So, we put it as a priority goal for our year (and we accomplished it!).
At first, Steve wasn’t really into my little New Year’s goal setting fun. But when he saw that it allowed us both to express what we truly desired for our year, he was all in.
Setting goals for your family is a great way to start a new year!
Part of setting those goals was expressing our desires for our marriage. It’s a great opportunity to share with your spouse what you wish to see happen in your marriage. Do you wish that you would have more date nights? Set a reasonable goal that you both agree on. Does your spouse want you to join them in an activity you don’t normally participate in? Set that goal. Do either of you want to see a marriage counselor for a “tune up” or take a marriage bible study together? Use this time to discuss what you both will feel comfortable with.
Once you set those goals, its time for a plan!
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
You have to have a plan! It’s one thing to say “we would love more date nights.” How are you going to make that happen? What are the obstacles?
If the goal is one date night a week, an obstacle might be your busy family schedule. Another obstacle may be childcare. Spend some time identifying the obstacles and finding solutions to them. Make a plan.
For more guidance and information about goal setting, check out Michael Hyatt or Cultivate What Matters. Both off tons of tools for goal-setting.
Your goal-setting will feel very defeating when you don’t attach a plan to it. Don’t just wish for your marriage to get better…set some goals and make a plan to make it better! Setting goals for your family will lead to change and growth. Just you wait!
We would love to hear from you about your goal-setting for this year! Comment below or contact us here.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
