Apart from seeing family and the time off work over Christmas, one of my most favorite things about December is spending some time setting goals and getting ready for a new year. This year I decided to splurge and buy myself Lara Casey's powersheets. I read her book a few years ago now but this is the first time I have gone with the actual sheets.
There are so many great steps to work through during the prep section . One of my most favorite though was identifying those things that fire me up. That term, fires me up, has always seemed a little abstract to me until working on these sheets and then it hit me.... it just means those things that either excite me or those things that leave me feeling refreshed in my mind, body and soul. Using Canva I created a vision board of what fires me up for my powersheets book and I love how it turned out.
After compiling the list of things that fired me up, I then moved onto my Big Picture for the new year. Lots of ladies did collages for this one but I wanted to keep it a little more simple - words and pretty water colors was all that I wanted for this. It was nice to think big without having the pressure on myself to make it a goal; at this stage it was just general thoughts, ideas and whispers down on paper.
If this is the first that you have heard of the powersheets or if you weren't able to get your hands on a copy don't worry, Lara is doing a mini series on her blog which you can follow along with. Another thing that Lara encourages you to do is to pick a word. I have taken part in Ali Edwards One Little Word project for three years now and have signed up for my fourth year. By the end of November I already new what my 2017 word would be (I will share more about this in January) so this part of the process was already taken care of.
Next and finally came the actual goal setting and this year I feel like these goals are REALLY going to be stretching me.In all honesty, they are rather scary but I truly believe that these are where I need to start. What I really liked, and what relieved some of the pressure to get these goals "perfect", was that the powersheets book has a quarterly reset section. This gives me the freedom to tweak and change my goals if I feel they need to be. For now though, here are my 2017 goals:
01 | Waste less time in front of the TV and spend that time doing something that fires me up because I want to take better care of myself which meas no hiding in front of the TV. I plan to do this by having a TV cut off time, actually plan activities that fire me up, spend some time reading and create a night time routine that works for me.
02 | Impact my wider community by raising £4053 for A21 to use to help set someone free from human trafficking while continuing with my local volunteering because I want to make a different in other peoples lives. I plan to do this by researching different ways to raise money, set up a Go Fund Me page and execute the plans decided on.
03 | Learn and explore what it means for me to truly live a life that is whole because I want to live and experience a full life. I plan to do this by completing Ali Edwards One Little Word prompts each month, blog about what I am learning along this journey, take part in a weekly photography project and take the time to celebrate all that life has to offer.
04 | Dive deeper into my relationship with God and remember that it is about relationship and not about performing, tasks or legalism because I want to really know God and have Him be a part of my every day life. I plan to do this by tracking my prayers and God's answers, spending time in bible studies, reading books, praying and exploring what a whole relationship with God looks like.
05 | Figure out what it really means to care for myself mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually and how to do it more often because I need to look after myself before I can care for others fully. I plan to do this through spending time in worship and prayer, by replacing Satan's lies with biblical truth, sitting with my emotions more, enjoying pamper sessions and taking the time to create.
06 | Nourish my body well more consistently and focus on building strength and flexibility in my body because I want to be honoring God with the body He has given me. I plan to do this by only getting on the scale once a month, track the consistency of both my nutrition and body movement, create weekly meal plans, create a well rounded exercise plan and attend all doctor and dentist appointments as required.
07 | Share meaningful content and impact others by purposefully using my blog and any platform God gives me because I want to improve my writing skills and impact others while building a community. I plan to do this by deciding on reoccurring content, pray and set a blog schedule and routine.
08 | Research and create a plan for my long term/retirement needs because I want to be a good steward of what I have been given. I plan to do this by researching different retirement plans, speak to a financial planner, learn about the stock market and continue to budget monthly.
09 | Cultivate richer relationships while taking the time to make new ones because God made me for relationship. I plan to do this by scheduling friend dates, making an effort to connect with friends I haven't seen or spoken to in a while, make an effort to meet new people and have people around my house for a meal more often.
10 | Prepare myself to be a wife and mother while I trust and wait on God's timing for this area of my life because I want to continue trusting God in this area and be prepared for what He has for me in the future. Some ideas on how to do this include read articles and books on marriage, consistently pray for my future husband and children and clear my home of clutter and excess to make room when the time comes.
I plan to document my monthly goals and progress and would love for you to encourage me along the way. Make sure you share your own goals and progress with me so that I can encourage and support you as well.
