How To Set Goals For the New Year

Goals vs Resolutions

How is a goal any different from a resolution, you may ask? That’s a fair question considering that most people make New Year’s resolutions and break them by the middle of January! Think of a resolution as a big picture. Saying something like “I’m going to lose weight this year.” (And haven’t we all said that?!?) A goal would be the specifics of it…i.e., I’m going to work out three times a week and lose 20 pounds by my birthday. Setting goals instead of making resolutions can be the difference between success and failure. Today I’ll walk you through how to set your own goals for the new year.

Why You Should Set Goals for the New Year

Goals give us something to work toward. It’s very easy to feel defeated and just give up when life is unkind. Setting a goal gives you an objective and an endpoint. All you have to do is put in the work. And reaching those goals gives us a sense of accomplishment and pride, in addition to your desired outcome!

How To Set Your New Year Goals

1. Do a review of the previous year. Decide what you did well, how you succeeded, how you failed, and what you learned.
2. Make a list of all the things you know you need to do to improve your life–whether it’s health, family, finances, or happiness level.
3. Make a list of all the things you want to do, all the things you want to learn, all the places you want to go, and all the people you want to spend time with. (A bucket list, if you will!)
4. Combine all of those things into one big list and then pare it down into things you think are doable in a year’s time!

Complete a Year-End Review:

A year-end review is new to me, but I’ve been working on mine for a few days now. It’s hard to know what to focus on in the new year if you don’t have a clear view of what you accomplished in the last one. Having this information in front of you will help you set new goals! Here are a few questions to ask for your year-end review:

• What did you accomplish?
• What are you most proud of?
• What were your biggest challenges?
• What is one thing that happened that you will remember for a long time?
• What did you do well?
• What do you need to improve on?
• What are you most grateful for?
• If you could change one thing about this past year, what would it be?
• What did you learn?

There are several year-end review articles online that have even more questions. I think it’s best not to over think it unless you intend to write a memoir about this past year!

How Can You Improve Your Life In the New Year?

I’m fairly certain that we all have some way that we can improve our lives. Whether it is a healthy habit, working on our relationships, getting out of debt, or just allowing ourselves more self-care time, there is always something that we can do to make life better. Make a list of these things and actively work toward completing them. It’s not necessary to complete your entire list in a year’s time, but it will help keep you on track!

What’s Your New Year’s Bucket List?

I love bucket lists!! I make them for so many different reasons, because there are so many different things I want to do, see, touch, taste, etc., etc.! Making a bucket list will help you work toward your goals because it gives you something to look forward to. We all have to clean house and pay bills, but if there is something fun on the horizon, those tasks aren’t quite so bad!

Take a Challenge

A great way to reach your goals is to turn them into a challenge. I have daily, monthly, and yearly challenges set for the new year. I won’t beat myself up if I don’t complete them, but these challenges will help me reach the goals I’ve set for the new year. Some examples of challenges I am participating in this year are:

Yearly — Read 100 books and try 52 new recipes

Monthly — photo a day challenge with a friend, clear the clutter, have a no spend month or at least 1/2 month, perform random acts of kindness during my birthday month

Daily — Read every day, write 750 words a day, find five things that I am grateful for every day

Pick a Word of the Year

This is fairly new to me and I know that a lot of people choose a “word of the year” as opposed to making New Year’s resolutions. The purpose of this is to focus on that word and make an effort to bring more of it into your life. Choose a word that is specific to you and that relates to something you want to work on.

My word for the new year is “create.” I made a whole list, but I ultimately chose that one because it relates to me in several ways. I want to create new written content, create beautiful crafts and decor, create happy memories, and create a better life for me and everyone I love!

There are so many words to choose from that it’s hard to narrow it down. Here a few that might appeal to you:

1. Alive
2. Abundance
3. Dream
4. Powerful
5. Imagine
6. Celebrate
7. Happiness
8. Gratitude
9. Connection
10. Self-Care
11. Purpose
12. Miracles
13. Fun
14. Focus
15. Movement

Do you have a word of the year?

I Set My Goals, Now You Set Yours!!

I actually have 26 main goals this year, but I’ll just share a few with you today.

My Goals:

1. Read 100 books this year
2. Go on vacation with my husband and children in June
3. Go into complete remission immediately
4. Laugh more
5. Spend more time creating and less mindlessly scrolling
6. Pay off debt by the end of the year
7. Complete some savings challenges every month
8. Declutter my house before summer
9. Finally start the Happy Mail campaign I’ve been wanting to do for years
10. Organize my photos, papers, and sentimental things
11. Learn to sew
12. Have 7 Streams of Income by the end of 2023
13. Create things

Now it’s your turn: Write out your goals on this “New Year Goals” printable and let us know what they are!! And make sure to sign up for the That One Mom email list to get more great printables!

2023 New Year Goals