Outfit Details: dress: The Co-Op c/o {sold out, similar via Revolve}// earrings: Lisi Lerch c/o // sunglasses: Karen Walker // heels: Sam Edelman // planner: Cultivate What Matters // stickers: Rifle Paper Co. c/o // pen: Rifle Paper Co. c/o // notebook: HomeGoods

How I Set My Yearly Goals

After I spent some time recapping and reflecting on the past year in my “Life Lately: A Look Back at 2020” and “2020 Top Five” blog posts, I decided to set my goals for 2021. In the past few years I have actually been literally setting and writing out my goals, and it’s exponentially improved my ability to accomplish things and make my dreams a reality. It’s wild how putting something on paper (or in my case, the Notes section of my phone) can help propel your goals forward. 

I now fully subscribe to the process of creating and manifesting my yearly goals, and I thought that this year’s warranted a full blog post! I worked really closely with my Christian life coach, Alexandra, on them, and she guided me through the process of developing and then solidifying what you’ll see below. I am still a relative newbie at this goal creating process, and she is a much more seasoned expert!

Of course I can’t help but plug her services, since they’ve dramatically transformed and improved my life. If goal setting is something that you’ve been more interested in but don’t know where to begin, hopefully seeing how I do it can help you get started. BUT, if you’re looking for more hands-on guidance, I’d of course highly recommend scheduling a free Clarity Call with Alexandra so you can get a feel for how she can walk you through the process of developing the goals that are just right for your personal dreams. 😊

Here is a look at the goals I set up this year and how you can create ones for yourself through a similar structure. It was helpful for me to come up with them in these four categories– business, family/friends, personal, and faith. Structuring them this way allowed me to make sure that they were holistic and covered the major aspects of my life. I also went in with the mentality that each goal would fall under the theme of my word of the year, “faith,” which means “complete trust or confidence in someone or something” and “strong belief in God” (Alexandra helped me solidify that as well!). 

Finally, I tried to make sure they could be measurable so I can track whether or not they were accomplished. For the purpose of this post, I kept them high level, but they are broken down into more specific action items in my phone. Okay here they are– counting on you all to keep me accountable 😊 . 

My 2021 Goals

Business– 

In this category I have a revenue goal for the year that I will break down quarterly, a goal that will help expand my team, and the goal of redoing/revamping my blog design! 

If you are working in a corporate role, I’d recommend having your goal be related to that– whether it be a promotion, raise, position move, project you’re working on, etc.  

Family/Friends– 

My main goal for this is to catch up and celebrate my family and friends more, especially as this past year had us a part more than ever before. I have a few more specific goals within that realm, but am going to leave it at that because I think it’s so personal to your own relationships. 

For this category, I would think about the parts of your relationships you’d like to dial in on and where they can improve. Then figure out what you can do every day, week, or month to work on them, little by little. 

Personal– 

I have a personal financial savings goal for myself, which is probably something I should dedicate a whole other post to (since I feel really strongly about being in the practice of saving, even if it’s just a little bit each month). Then, I also have the goal of doing one thing just for myself every week (that isn’t business or family/friends related), and to take a trip by myself at some point this year. I’m a pretty strong introvert, so this is basically my idea of heaven, though I’ve yet to make it a priority! 

I think you can be totally selfish in this category and set a few goals that will both benefit you in the long run (like saving money for your future) and make you happy you in the present year, like setting aside time to treat yourself to whatever you like to do best– whether that be scheduling in a bubble bath every week or planning a trip to somewhere you’ve always wanted to go (God willing that travel picks back up this year!).

Faith– 

Ah, this is the goal category that centers them all. First off, my main goal is to incorporate God more into my blog and business (keep your eyes out for a new ‘Faith’ category that I want to add to my site). I also am aiming to listen to church every Sunday (I really love the North Point Community Church), and continue reading my devotionals (which are The Year of Living Happy and Jesus Calling) each day.  

My thoughts on developing any faith-based goals are to start small, because it can seem intimidating at first (God is all-encompassing so I’ve sometimes felt overwhelmed with where to start). Your goals can be as simple as mine are– starting a devotional, praying every night, memorizing some scripture to pull from when you need it most, or even talking with a Christian life coach like Alexandra. 

Keeping My Goals

Once you’ve brainstormed and set up your goals, here are a few tips for actually making sure you stick with it and start working towards them. 

• First of all, write them down! It’s been proven that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you literally write them down. That stat is wild (and I quoted it in this podcast I was recently interviewed on!). Like I mentioned, I keep mine in the notes section of my phone.
• Alexandra also recommended breaking them down by a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis and setting recurring alerts on your phone (I use Google Calendar where I’ll input them).
• She also said that starting a vision board (even if it’s a Pinterest board!) would be helpful in visualizing the goals and life you want to achieve.
• Finally, I always think it’s helpful to tell your goals to someone close to you so that you have someone who can hold you accountable and who is in on your “team” to cheer you on and celebrate you as you make progress throughout the year. 

Additional Resources

Since I am by no means an expert on goal setting, here are a few additional resources that Alexandra recommended! There are so many practical tips and encouragement in these. 

• Her goal setting podcast series (so easy to listen to on a walk or while driving) 
• An article she wrote, “Goal Setting and Scriptures” about goal setting with God and through faith
• A blog post she wrote on the “7 Steps To Make Your Vision Board Come to Life This Year“

xx