Christian Life

My Goals for the New Year

New Years is like a birthday: you always except to feel different, but you almost never do. I think in my old age at 28 I’m finally figuring out that the passing of time doesn’t really make a huge difference in your life unless you use that time well.

 

That’s why last year I decided to set a bunch of goals for the year. I read some Dave Ramsey book that talked about a method Zig Ziggler used called the wheel of life. He identified seven different spheres of life: Physical/health, personal/social, work/career, family, spiritual, finances, and mind/intellect. The idea is that you make a couple of goals in each of these categories and work towards them throughout the year.

 

My Goals Track Record Thus Far

I did that last year and (perhaps) surprisingly I actually fulfilled several of them. Even on the goals I didn’t meet, I made decent progress on them. It’s actually been encouraging to look back on my goals from last year and see the progress that I’ve made in all those areas

 

I also just finished reading Jon Acuff’s book Finish which is (not surprisingly) all about how to finish the goals and that you set. Based on that book, I’ve modified a bit how I did my goals this year. I highly suggest that book if you have had issues finishing goals in the past. He’s got some really great ideas to help you overcome your own perfectionism and fears.

 

If you’ve got things you want to do this year, I highly suggest you make some goals of your own. There are plenty of websites out there that can help you determine how to make good goals. It’s not hard and it’s actually kind of fun (or at least I think so, but maybe I’m just a bigger nerd than most people)

 

My Goals for 2018

Just to keep myself accountable and to give you some ideas of what kinds of things go in each category, I figured I would share with you some of my goals for this year. I’ve organized them by the categories listed above. My goal (see what I did there?) is to share how I did on these at the end of 2018.

 

Career

  • Get 500 email subscribers by December 2018
    • I’m starting with 27 currently. This is kind of a scary goal for me and I’m not sure I’ll reach it because it’s so big. However, even if I get halfway there, I’ll be happy with those results. If you want to help me with that goal, you can join my mailing list via the sign-up form on the side of the page. Also, feel free to tell your friends or your grandma or your grumpy neighbor to sign up for my email list. All new emails are appreciated and get me closer to my goal!

Intellectual

  • Read 3 books a month, one of those being a business/leadership/Christian living/helpful for life type book
    • Last year I read at least one book a month and since I graduated, I’ve more than surpassed that each month. This year I want to make sure I’m reading at least one non-fiction book a month. I always have a “to read” list going, but if you’ve got suggestions for either novels or non-fiction books, please share them with me. I’m always looking for my next great read.

Financial

  • Make $5,000 profit in my Business by December 2018
    • Last year I spent a decent amount of money (like over $1,000) on my website, courses on getting published, courses on platform building, tickets to a business conference, and Facebook post boosts to get my little blog and such off the ground. I didn’t make a single penny last year. I’m cheap, so the idea of spending all that money and not making anything in return makes me sad. That’s why this year I’m going to start selling Ebooks. I’m not expecting to make a ton (though if that happened I wouldn’t be sad about it), but I do want to recoup some of the money I’ve spent on my blog and such. In the process , I also want to give people a great and helpful product. You can check out my first ebook here.

Social

  • Have someone over for dinner or games or both once a month
    • My husband and I have kind of become hermits. Zach would probably always want to be a hermit, but I like having people over (partially because I like cooking for people). I’ve been discouraged too by how long it’s taken me to really develop a friend group here in Oregon. It’s just so hard to make plans with people. I also get weirdly socially anxious about asking people over. I just have a really bad track record of people saying no, cancelling at the last minute, or plans falling through for some reason. I’m trying to overcome this fear and continue to develop relationships through this goal.

Physical

  • Get weight down to 130 by July and maintain that weight to end of the year
    • I lost a decent amount of weight at the beginning of last year, but then I started ticking back up again. That’s gotten a lot worse over the Christmas holidays (no surprise there). I’d like to get down to 130 and maintain that for a couple of months before hopefully trying to get down a little further.

Spiritual

  • Fasting Regularly
    • Ugh, if you’ve kept up with my blog or you did the Six Week Spiritual Journey with me (which PS: I’ve turned into a free email course and you can take at any time) you know how I feel about fasting. I really don’t like it. However, I know that it’s helpful for my connection with God. This was one of my goals last year and I didn’t really meet this one, so here it is back on my list again. My goal is to do a dinner to dinner fast at least once a week. Bonus: this should help with that weight loss goal…

Family

  • Do gratitude journal with Zach
    • When I was on staff retreat with my church/work this past fall, someone suggested doing a gratitude journal with your spouse where you each write daily three specific things you’re grateful to that person for that day. I’d like to do this with my husband just to make sure we’re both continuing to have a spirit of gratitude for one another and for God.

 

So there are a few of my goals for the year. I actually have a lot more than that, but I didn’t want to bore you with all the details.

 

Make Your Own Goals and I Can Help You With One of Them!

You should make some goals of your own! It gives you something to look back to at the end of the year and see how much you’ve accomplished and grown. Share some goals you that you have and we can encourage you in them!

 

Not to be sales pitchy, but If one of your goals for this year is to grow in your relationship with God (which honestly I think should always be a goal) and if you want to help me meet my financial goal listed above, you should check out my new Ebook devotional, 30 Days of Grace. Over 30 Days we dive deep into five different passages of Scripture that will help you come to a better understanding of what God’s grace really is, how it should affect your life, and practical ways that you can extend godly grace to the people around you. This study can be done on your own or you could do it together with a small group. I’m offering this Ebook devotional and a separate leader’s guide with small group questions at an introductory price of $7.99. Additionally, you can get an additional 20% off by sharing the book on Facebook and Twitter when you check out. I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep it at this price, so check it out now!

 

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Share This:

2 Comments

  1. I love this, Ashleigh! I especially love your comment at the very beginning of the post – passing of time doesn’t much matter unless you do something with that time!

    Thanks for sharing your method of goal setting, it’s always interesting to see how other people do it. I’ve got my goals set up similarly, in different categories across my life. I’ll definitely keep your e-book in mind through out the year – strengthening my spiritual life is one of my goals.

    I can definitely relate with the scary goal of that many email subscribers, but if you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll still land among the stars!

    Can’t wait to read more of your blog!

    1. Ashleigh Rich

      Thanks for reading and commenting! Glad to have you as a reader!

Be a part of the conversation.