Setting Goals for the New Year

It's that time of the year again when people are sharing and working on their New Year's Resolutions. My social media feeds are filled with people sharing their goals this year and them tracking their journey as they try to reach their goals. To be quite honest, it's encouraged and motivated me to work on my goals and resolutions as well!

Yesterday, my youth accountability group met up for the first time this year. Our discipler asked us what difference we wanted to see this year and we went around sharing our goals and resolutions. While I had been thinking about and writing down all my goals for the new year, I never really thought about how I wanted to achieve them, so I had to think about it deeply before I got to share to my small group.

This year, I wanted to change how I approached the goals and resolutions I've made for myself. Instead of simply setting goals, I also want to create an action plan as to how I wanted to reach them. Of course, I'm leaving room for things to just happen, but I've found that having an action plan is really helpful in achieving my goals.

Read: Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.

Last year, I decided to read my Bible more consistently. But after years of trying to read my Bible on a schedule every day, I knew I had to change my approach if I really want to reach my goal.

Instead of reading my Bible at the same time every single day, I decided I would read my Bible whenever I had the opportunity within the day to read it -- while I'm in an FX on the way to school, at a coffee shop before my next class, or at home after dinner.

Aside from planning how I wanted to achieve my goals, I understood that I needed to set goals that were reasonable and practical. If I kept on setting a goal I knew deep in my heart wasn't realistic, I would only set myself up for failure and eventually discourage myself from trying to reach that goal again.

Now, it seems like I'm giving God the breadcrumbs of my time, but having this kind of setup allowed me to meet God more genuinely and less "formally". And though my devotions haven't been happening every single day, reading my Bible has become less of a chore and more of a joy -- something I want to really devote my time to.

When it was finally my turn to talk about my goals to my accountability group, I shared both my goals and how I planned to achieve them. Being accountable not just with my goals but also with how I was planning to reach them is something I wanted to do. For me, it was the first step to achieving my goals for the year.

Of course, what works for me might not work for everyone. So what's important is that you find something that works for you. You know yourself best. Consider your capabilities and limitations when you create goals. Don't set goals that you know deep down are not feasible or unrealistic. From there, create an action plan that will help you achieve your goals. Once you've got that down, do the work you need to do to turn your goals into milestones.

If you've already started, keep going! If you're still thinking about what direction you want to take this year, keep going! The year just started. We have so much time and opportunities for all of us to work on our goals. 

Here's to 2018 -- the year you achieve the goals you've set and the resolutions you've made!