by Tessa | Personal Development
The best goal setting book I have ever read is The Power of Focus: What the World’s Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret to Financial Freedom & Success
, by Les Hewitt, Mark Victor Hanson, and Jack Canfield. I have been using the outline in that book for my business and life plan, on and off, since about 2005. I love how it organizes goals into 7 main target areas: financial, business/career, fun time, health/fitness, relationships, personal, contribution/spiritual. I have tried to keep all these areas in mind as I set my goals and figure out my priorities for 2014. I have also tried to keep in mind the different roles that I fill: child of God, wife, mother, homemaker, entrepreneur.
I’m going to admit that I don’t have a personal (or family) vision or mission statement. I’m sure that goal setting would be a lot simpler if I had one. One day I’ll write one up. For now, I’m borrowing an idea that I saw on a blog just over a year ago: a one word yearly theme. 2013 was Peace. My family desperately needed peace and we sought it and managed to maintain it, in spite of the move and new farm set up (and more recently a new baby). We praise the Lord for that!
One word for 2014: Pursue.
Definition: To follow in an effort to overtake or capture.
I have felt called to pursue God in a way that I never have in the past. I also want to teach my children to pursue Him. I want to pursue my husband. I want to pursue my children’s hearts. And I want to pursue my God-given dreams.
My goals will revolve around this theme and be broken down into monthly habits/routines that I want to instigate. I am working on making a plan to apply this in the 7 main target areas of my life and the 5 major roles that I have.
I have been spending a lot of time in prayer about where I’m currently spending my time and effort. Some things I have figured out and other things I am still waiting for guidance on. I’m planning to talk to some mentors in my life (including my husband) to ask their advice in certain areas. Only time and the Lord know how the next year will play out, but I’m excited to enter into it with a clear picture of where my focus will be.
I’m also excited to be sharing this journey of Personal Priorities: 2014 Edition and want to say a big THANK YOU to Tammy from Creative K Kids for organizing this wonderful way to stay accountable to these goals and priorities. Make sure you hop on over to the other blogs participating in the 2014 edition of Personal Priorities.
Grab the button from the sidebar and join me on this journey. Link up the LAST Friday of the month at any of the participating blogs and let’s help each other stay accountable to have an unstoppable 2014!
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by Tessa | Personal Development
In the midst of
Pinterest,
Facebook fan pages and all of the really great blogs and articles out there, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and intimidated when it comes to making lifestyle changes. It seems like everyone else is living the lifestyle that you want and, if they can do it, why can’t you? I think it is fair to say that we read all these great ideas, see all these projects ideas, organizational techniques, and recipes, and we don’t know where to begin. So we don’t ever begin. We don’t ever move ahead.There are many areas that I want to change for my family. I’ll give you a partial list:
Food:
- Make bread weekly (from flour I grow and grind myself)
- Make yogurt weekly
- Make cheese quarterly
- Make butter monthly
- Cook healthy dinners from scratch
- Raise chickens for the eggs
- Tap trees to make maple syrup
- Homemade vanilla coffee creamer
- Homemade pasta
- Make freezer meals monthly
- Well stocked pantry so I can do one-a-month shopping instead of weekly
Garden:
- Tomatoes
- Carrots
- Herbs: garlic, basil, thyme, rosemary, ginger, chives, calendula, motherwort, St Johns Wort, chamomille, mint, lavander, plantain, comfy, lemongrass, hyssop
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Broccoli
- Cauliflour
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Apple trees
Home:
- Always clean enough to have company over
- Decorated and matching furniture
- Declutter – clothes, toys, books, and kitchen stuff
- Wood burning fireplace
- Organized bookshelves
- Chemical free cleaning and body care (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo etc)
- Line dry laundry
- Build my dream home for my family
Christian Living:
- Attend church every week
- Read the Bible through every year
- Keep a prayer/miracles journal
- Have a Bible study journal
- Study scripture with my family
- Memorize passages regularly
- Have regular a family worship time
Education:
- Read daily something to expand my mind in a subject of interest
- Read daily to my children
- Write and publish a book (or two)
- Learn a few languages
Business:
- Meet my sling sales goals every month
- Do 1-2 trade shows per year
- Get 1000 followers on my blog by the time I write/publish my book
- Get the farm to the point that Adam can take regular days off
Family:
- Two weekends of camping every year
- One family “field trip” per month
- One date with Adam per month
- Institute a weekly family games night
- Crafts with the kids weekly
That is a long list. And that is not even the complete list! If I look at my complete list I can get very overwhelmed. I think that if I actually was doing everything on my list then even I would not want to read my blog! The reality is that I’m more like you: big dreams that I haven’t followed through on.
Instead of focusing on what I’m not doing, I’m going to fill you in on a little secret. This secret revolutionized the way that I look at my life goals. And now for the cliff hanger: I’m going to put it in another post because this one is getting too long. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I have a challenge for you: Grab a pen and piece of paper. Make your own list. Break it into different areas of your life and list (in as much detail as possible) how you want those areas to look and what you want to accomplish in those areas.
