My Goals & Word for 2017
A New Year’s Day tradition I’ve carved out for myself is to process the goals swirling around in my head. As an ENFJ I can be overly idealistic. I get excited over leading myself and others into new territory, but I have a great tendency to bite off more than I can chew – which leads to disillusionment, discouragement, and failure. Processing my goals through writing helps me see what’s manageable, and what’s not.
Admittedly a personal goals post may not be the most interesting to read, and it’s totally understandable if you’d prefer to skip this one. But if you’re the sort of person who gets excited and inspired by reading other people’s goals, read on!
“2017 just feels different,” I confessed multiple times to my husband throughout the course of December. And it does. Not only because 2016 seemed to be ‘The Year Which Must Not Be Named’ for so many, but because our family is at a precipice.
Parenting two children has forced us to identify the next best thing. We don’t have the margin to be all things to all people, so giving careful NO’s has been more straightforward. The Year of No was a success in that sense. As far as developing self-discipline, I can’t say I’m as disciplined as I hoped to be at this point. However, Ben and I have identified several areas in which cultivating self-discipline is critical and have taken steps to work that muscle.
If we’ve had a cup of coffee together over the past two months, you’ll know that our family is official taking the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps. During the course of 2016 we realized that we were running on fumes and spinning our wheels, which was leading to a lot of underlying stress in our home. Our student loan payments turned out to be one big culprit! We’ve known about Dave Ramsey’s teaching for a while, but never took it seriously. About September the light switch flipped. “We would be less stressed if we took charge of our finances and told our dollars what to do.” Because frankly, working very hard but not getting ahead is frustrating. The thought of not owing anything to anyone for any reason just lights us up. We’re excited about what we can do for others and God’s kingdom with financial freedom. I’ll post a few updates regarding that journey this year.
But back to my personal goals.
As I sit at my desk on New Year’s Day, I see four great passions of my life. (Which I’ve mapped out in my GORGEOUS Brilliant Life Planner. Full disclosure: I do work on Beth Anne’s team and I truly believe in this product. This link is not an affiliate one, it’s just me sharing a product I’m proud to be a part of!)
Those areas are:
- Faith: Christ as my greatest joy & His church as my greatest service.
- Family: Sacrificially loving Ben, my husband, and Carson and Nora, my beautiful girls.
I understand that ‘work’ and ‘calling’ are basically one in the same. I have two jobs: virtual assistant and birth doula. But to my mind it makes sense to separate them into the job that pays our bills (VA) and the heart-work job that I want to grow into (doula).
- Work: Nurturing women in business by serving them so they can reach their full potentials.
- Calling: Nurturing women in pregnancy and birth so they can be the best moms they can be.
And I have a few goals I’m prayerfully pursuing in each:
- Faith: Making Bible study and meditation a daily occurrence. Making being discipled by women in my church a priority.
- Family: Getting more consistent praying with Ben. Getting better at undistracted playtime with my girls. And becoming debt free.
- Work: Keeping routines in place that allow me to work 20 hours a week as a Virtual Assistant. Creating and launching my first online course. (SO excited to share more about this one in due time!)
- Calling: Streamline and automate my doula business so I can seamlessly and professionally serve my clients in the summer.
These goals feel more focused, older, more mature. Like I’m coming into my own. (And having just turned 27, I hope that’s true!)
When I asked Ben for a word of the year, he replied ‘Execute’ without hesitation. Over many years of trial-and-error, it feels that we finally are confident in our course. The spot we’re in tastes sweeter than ever before. And, at the same time, requiring more hardwork and dedication than ever before. That’s why I have a hunch we’re in the right place.
Happy 2017, friends!
Let’s execute.