2017 Goals & Word of the Year {+ 2016 Recap]

Every year that I make goals I feel I get better at them – both making goals that are achievable and specific and actually getting to check them off the list. Not that I check them all off – I’m getting to realize that not completing some of my goals is part of the process, too. For my personal growth – and for realizing there are things we can’t plan for in our years and when life happens to give grace to myself and others.

The other thing I love about setting goals (besides the whole, “new day, fresh start” which always gives me a little thrill) is the feeling that we aren’t just floating through our days, letting the distractions of each day blind us to the possibilities of the future. When my eyes are on a point a little further down the road, I find I’m able to handle the daily things better, too, and not be discouraged by the setbacks that are always guaranteed to come.

Word for 2017

I chose a word for 2012 and 2013, and then didn’t for a few years until “Selah” found me last year. I waited for a new word this year – I only want a word if it truly means something to me and not just something I plucked out of the air because I felt I ‘had’ to. A few weeks ago a new word was impressed on my heart – and I feel it was straight from God.

HOPE

There are a few issues our family has been dealing with for awhile and you know how when things just seem to go on and on and prayers seem unanswered? Yeah, not a good place. Darkness starts creeping in and you start to wonder…

But God isn’t on my time frame and He’s not done with our story. I don’t have a lot I can control, but I do know I can pray…and HOPE. God is always there – I know that with a surety down to my soul. I plan to do some word studies, as well as read books on hope to really focus on this in 2017.

2016 Goals Recap

I set a few goals in each of 4 areas – while that seems like a lot, many of them were things I knew had to happen (sell the house) or were things I want to continue to work on every year (moving, reading). I do think it’s good to have only a couple of main focuses each year and for me last year they were:

• Prep & Sell House (done!)
• Increase Blog & Business Income (gained – will continue on this)
• Become more intentional with my time (feel I gained a new perspective, but of course will need to keep diligent)

So, how did I do? As usual, it’s a mixed bag!

Personal/Health:

1. Goal: Move more! Standing breaks during the day, 3x/week workout routine and add a 2x/week walk or bike ride. Results: So-So. I used the Stand Up app to remind me to get up every 45 minutes, worked out 3x/wk with weights, but only walked extra days occasionally. And bike? Never – even though I love it. However, I moved a LOT getting the house and yard ready to sell, ha!
2. Read 2-3 books a month with a better balance of fiction and non-fiction. Results: Met! 3 books a month – stay tuned for my top 5 which just happen to be a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction.
3. Morning routine with She Reads Truth devotional + add a prayer journal. Results: Met. This has been a lifesaver for me this year with all our changes this year.

Relationships:

1. Monthly date nights. Results: Met. It took awhile to get it scheduled, but we’ve actually been having twice-monthly date nights since September!
2. Monthly kid dates. Results: So-So. Our son comes to dinner 2x/mo. but it’s harder to be consistent with our daughter in college.
3. Coffee dates & dinners with friends. Results: Met. Though this is an ongoing area, since it’s easy to let life fly by without being intentional.

Home/Finances:

1. Prep house to sell & put on market. Results: Met. Whew we did it!!
2. Fully fund emergency fund. Results: S0-so. We’re about halfway.
3. Save for a used car to replace our 20 year old jeep. Results: Delayed. It occurred to us that we probably could be a one-car family with both of us working from home (duh moment there…). So we’ll just slowly save for when our 2006 Escape needs replacement in the future and save money on insurance and second-car upkeep!

Professional/Blog:

1. Create products: menu plans, a planner and more. Results: Unmet. This is my biggest regret (notice how I’m avoiding the word ‘fail?’ 🙂 ). I’ve been testing the planner all year – and do hope to get a version up in a few weeks! – but HOW to actually offer all the things I have floating around in my mind has stymied me. That and a little thing called time…
2. Improve photos & update old pictures and recipes. Results: Met. I steadily worked on this all year, though there’s still a number of recipes to update.
3. More videos. Results: Met. You can see them here.
4. Work on a newsletter. Results: So-so. There has been updates and a few extra newsletters I’ve sent out, but it should be more consistent.
5. More emphasis on recipes-  2 recipes a week, gardening 2x/month and DIY-crafts-gifts 1-2x/month. Results: Hmmm…there was more emphasis on recipes, but one a week is what we had and I think gardening was weekly. Honestly, I forgot I wrote this out so specifically – it wasn’t like this in my goals planner!

And now, for this year’s goals! I’m making them simpler this year by combining personal/health and relationships and keeping to just 12 goals total this year. My main focuses this year are:

• Find/Build New House
• Financial Stability (to make up for a number of years of under employment) – includes goals for retirement and income.
• Better Work-Life Balance

Personal:

1. Maintain health: lose 5 pounds that have crept back (using real foods and no diets, of course); weights 3x/week & walking 2-3x/week.
2. Read 40 books – just a bit more than this year’s 36 read.
3. Find a ministry area at our church to invest in (maybe mentoring or something flexible with my schedule).

Home/Financial:

1. Find/build a new home! (goals: low mortgage & maintenance)
2. Fully funded emergency fund.
3. Ramp up retirement funding – meet with a financial advisor?

Blog/Business:

1. New site design + refinement (this is already in the works!)
2. Create products that help us live better, simpler, beautiful lives.
3. Attend a conference (this has not been my “thing” and is actually a scary goal for me!)
4. Increase video focus: YouTube and Facebook Live
5. Make newsletter more personal with exclusive content.
6. Learn affiliate marketing to increase income and decrease dependence on ads.

That’s it – these 12 goals all feel really do-able to me. A few are scary which pushes me out of my comfort zone (which is a good thing!), and some are already in the works. While I’m not spelling out all the details here, they all are specific and measurable (for example, we have dollar amounts set for our financial goals), so we are able to break them down into concrete, small steps.

Do you make a few yearly goals? Choose a word for the year? What are they?

Curious about previous year’s goals and words of the year?

2016 goals and word

2015

2014

2013 goals and word

2012 and word (first word of the year)

2011

2010 (my very first!)