New Year Goal Setting
© Mari Brodersen
A new year has arrived, and many of us find ourselves trying to determine our goals for the year - a process that may seem overwhelming. But there may be a way to simplify the process.
A good place to begin is to review last year's successes and setbacks, and how they have influenced our lives. What could we have done differently? This review can be a tool for deciding where you need to simplify your life, or where you need to make changes to bring your actions more into accord with your values. For example:
Did you take good care of your health last year? How healthy are you right now? How important is your health to you at this time?
Perhaps you neglected your home last year. What repairs or improvements would you like to make around the house? How pressing is the need for certain repairs?
What about your finances? How do they compare to last year and the year before? Are you happy with how your finances stacked up last year?
How did you fare with relationships last year? Do you and your family feel that you spent enough time together? What about your friends?
Don't forget to review last year's successes. What enabled you to meet your goals? The answer to this question can be helpful in creating your blue print for the current year.
Now ask yourself which areas of your life you want to simplify or improve.
Our busy and multifaceted lives encompass a number of domains - financial, health, relationships, spiritual, and many more. It's a good idea to narrow our focus to one, two, or (at most) three areas where we would like to create some changes.
You can narrow the field by asking yourself what domains you neglected last year, what potential changes are most necessary at this time, or what changes you want to make. You could also determine what unfinished business from last year could be wrapped up this year. Your priorities are yours, and you're free to decide which are most important at this time.
When you have determined in which areas you want to improve, you can move on to the next step.
It's one thing to make a general statement like, "I want to improve my health (or finances, relationships, etc.) this year." However this general statement needs to be made more specific.
Using "improved health" as an example, determine what specifically about your health needs improvement. For example, you may want to improve your diet, create a regular exercise regimen, and do something about back pain.
Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article New Year Goal Setting in Living Simply is owned by Mari Brodersen. Permission to republish New Year Goal Setting in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Mari Brodersen's Living Simply topic, please visit the Discussions page.