In order to understand what I mean by a mid-year Goal Refresh, I probably should give you a bit of background on this Goal Setting process that I have been doing for the first half of 2018.

Background

You may be like me, I have often thought about making a New Year’s resolution but if I had to guess most of us don’t remember our New Year’s resolution a few weeks later much less in July.

I was so excited last summer to be introduced to a concept called Powersheets by Lara Casey.  Powersheets are a tool to help you be intentional in goal setting – help with processes to set goals in a way that will stick and so you can see things start to happen.  For the first time that I can remember, I actually know what my goals were in January and how far I have come since then.  I am excited about reviewing them at this mid-year point to see what may need to change and what I want to keep plugging a way toward.

If we have seen each other in person recently or you have followed me on social media in the last few months, you probably have picked up on how much I am loving what Lara Casey has to share about intentional goal setting and cultivating what really matters in our life.  She teaches about breaking down those things that matter into bite size chunks and then working on them a little at a time. I am a believer in Little By Little Progress Adds Up!

The Process

I started before the end of 2017 with purchasing my first Powersheets goal planner, I spent a little time reflecting and planning and then jumped in with both feet.  You don’t have to have a fancy planner to tackle your goals intentionally but a pretty planner and new pens always help.

I thought about the things that were important to me, where I wanted to be when I am 80 years old, what I wanted to see progress on in this season of my life and what were the things that were in the way of me making progress.  I brainstormed lots of ideas, dreams and wishes and put them on paper.  I spent more time in prayer & reflection and began to find some common themes to the items on my list, for example: “taking care of my health”, “loving the people I am around well”, “finding joy in the work I do”, and “extending hospitality”.  I grouped my items into a list of 8 goals.  These would be my framework for decisions about personal relationships, business growth, career path, faith, finances and much more.

Now that I had the framework for my goals to start 2018, I had to break them down into manageable chunks. This is where the fun come in – you get to pick which goals you will focus on, how you will break them up and how to take the next step whether it be the first step or the next step forward.

Lessons Learned

I learned quickly that some goals are good monthly goals to be worked on over the whole year or during a season of several months, some were better as weekly where I could see progress a little bit more regularly and some needed to be daily habits.  I learned that I can’t “do it all and do it well”.   When I try to do it all, I will generally deprive one area of my life while trying to improve something else and neither area gets the proper attention.  Sometimes there are seasons to focus on different goals and when I embrace this, letting go of the other areas that are not priorities this week or month, I can make real progress on the goal I am working on.  I also learned that there is a compound effect from being intentional with this system and working on the right things a little at a time but consistently month after month, week after week, I started to see real progress.

It has been refreshing to have a plan for both action and a plan for reflection.  Some months I have been able to knock things out and check them off my list and then other months I have had to extend myself an extra measure of grace.  Part of this journey has been a focus on cultivating gratitude each month too; pausing to think about what I am grateful for, who I am grateful for, progress I am celebrating, areas I am extending grace, things I am letting go of for the next month and things I am saying yes to in the next month.  We can all too often take people, experiences and times in our life for granted.  Cultivating gratitude is one way to make sure I am mindful of this each month.  I still have plenty of room to grow on being intentional about sharing with those around me my gratitude in the little and big things.

Goal Refresh

Each quarter I have been pausing to take a look at my goals and making sure that I still believe they are to be on my list for this year, checking off any that are completed and adding any new ones that may come up.  My goals this year have stayed the same so far but I enjoy seeing the progress on each of them.  One of my goals back in January was to “Cultivate a positive and joyful attitude at work”.  When I wrote this several months ago, I envisioned this being at my current job, doing the things I needed to do to bring joy to those around me, help my days be less stressful, and find new rhythms to my routine to get out of the rut that I felt that I was falling into.  In my work to explore this new perspective, I had no idea that God was weaving together another part to this story.  This part would take through one of the hardest decisions I needed to make and one of the biggest changes of my life – a major job change.  I know that the focus on my goals and the framework of where I wanted to go personally and professionally helped guide my decision.  It was hard to leave what I knew for so many years but I am excited that this job change that has re-energized me with excitement for the work I do and the people I can help.  I can’t wait to see where the next 6 months takes me as I continue to work on little by little progress in many aspects of my life.

 

If you are interested in following Lara Casey and the Cultivate What Matters Team, I encourage you to check out their blog and website: Cultivate What Matters