Wild River Collective

“Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

Jon Acuff

Resolutions, Goal Planning, New Habits

Do you spend the last part of each December and the first weeks of January planning for the next year? I always do this, I can’t help it. There is so much anticipation as we turn the calendar page to January and a brand new year begins. Understandably, this is not always a happy and celebratory time for everyone as each of us has our own circumstances and emotions to navigate each season but I choose joyful anticipation for what is to come in the next year.

There are numerous books, blogs and podcasts regarding the topic of New Years Resolutions and just as many telling us not to set a resolutions at all. It can feel over whelming if you’re the type who wants a straightforward and foolproof answer on the best way to start your year off with the guaranteed 100% success. Let’s leave these perfectionist thoughts in 2021. For 2022 we need a better approach than being perfect, something more attainable.

Look at your 1 year, 3 year and 10 year goals.

When you look ahead to January 2023, 2025 & 2032 where do you want to be in your faith, in your finances, in your career, your health & fitness, your relationships and in your fun or material life? If you have heard of the Oola books by Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl you may recognize these categories as the 7 key areas to create a life of balance or the 7 F’s of Oala (Faith, Finance, Family, Fitness, Field, Friends, & Fun). If you focus too much on any one of these areas and neglect the others you may find your life out of balance or even worse upside down. Others take a more simplified approach with anywhere from 3-6 areas they are focusing on such as personal, financial, family and career goals but within each of these categories they may list goals that encompass a wider range of areas. For example, within personal goals you might include faith, fitness & relationship goals. Do what works best for you today and take action, you can always adjust it later but the most import part is getting started.

1 Year (2023)

Take some time to reflect on each of these areas and what you see is already working in each of these areas, acknowledge the areas you are finding joy, success or fulfillment. Celebrate these areas no matter how big or small they seem to you now. Once you know where you currently are in each of these areas, start to imagine 1 year from now what you want each of these areas to look like. It could be a word picture at this point such as a marriage that is thriving and filled with love, a strong and healthy body, take a fun filled family vacation. You get the idea, at this point these are not specific goals but a sense of what your 2022 might look like. Repeat this process for your 3 year and 10 year visions.

Next make SMART goals

Take a look at what you wrote down in each area and now turn these into SMART goals by making them Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.

• A marriage that is thriving and filled with love will look very different for each couple but some ideas of SMART goals: schedule a two-night couple’s getaway in 2022 without the kids, make reservations for 12 monthly date nights with my partner, make my significant other their favorite breakfast weekly, schedule a daily 10 minutes of distraction free time with my spouse to connect, pray & listen.
• A strong and healthy body will also look different for each of us but some ideas of SMART goals would be: attend three 1 hour fitness classes at the gym each week (M,W,F), take a walk for at least 1 mile each day, make a healthy meal plan each week and stick to it, only eat out once per week.
• A fun filled family vacation may look like: We will go to Fort Meyers Beach, Florida for spring break in March, in July we will take a road trip to Yellowstone National Park for 7 days or we will rent a lake cabin for a week in August.

Daily habits & time block to reach your goals

Now that you took the time to review your life and write down all these goals please don’t expect them to just magically happen. You may have heard the statistics that by writing down your goals you are more likely to achieve them but we are not looking for ‘more likely’ we want real results. This is where we need to create new daily habits to reach these goals. Get out your planner, calendar or grab your phone and really look at your schedule. Do you have a side hustle to help with your financial goals? When will you work on this business, Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 6pm-9pm? Block the time and protect it. When can you and your spouse take your 2-night getaway? Block a time on your calendars to discuss and plan your trip; then block another time on your calendar to request the vacation time, reserve your lodging, make a dinner reservation and line up your childcare. When will you take your daily 1 mile walk? If 6:00am is the most convenient and consistent time you have available, add it to your calendar and set reminders. Make this new habit stick by stacking it with other habits you already do, when I let the dog out in the morning then I will take him on a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood. By using these tools of time blocking and creating daily habits, you will day by day be creating the person you want to be and creating the year you want to have.

For more information on our favorite goal setting, life planning and daily habits books check back soon.

Remember: Progress over Perfection in 2022! You are one day closer to becoming the person you were meant to be. 🤍