2018 GOAL SETTING, Part 5: Make it Happen

*We are so grateful that ALL of the dated One-Year 2018 PowerSheets are headed to happy homes! If you haven’t ordered your PowerSheets yet, we still have three beautiful color options for undated six-month sets that are shipping now! The Prep Work is identical to the one-year sets. Get yours here.*

Want to listen to this post instead of read? Here you go!

Welcome to the final post in my seventh-annual Goal Setting Series! Each year, I am left in awe of the leaps of faith you take as we go through this process together, and this year tops them all. We are all so excited for you we couldn’t help but dance!!!

The Cultivate Team Just Wants to Dance from Lara Casey on Vimeo.

Here we come 2018! You are doing the hard work, making a mess, and making meaningful progress! I’m so grateful for how this process has been refined over the last seven years. What a joy to do this work alongside you, friends. If you are just joining, it’s never too late to begin and you aren’t “behind” one bit. Now is the best time to get started!

Part 1: What Worked and Where to Start!

Part 2: What Didn’t Work + What I Learned

Part 3: Say Yes, Say No, Choose a Word

Part 4: Uncover Intentional Goals

Okay, now let’s do some dreaming together! Imagine the end of 2018. The weather gets colder, December 2018 rolls around, and you start looking back at the year you’ve just lived. What would it take for you to look back and know that you cultivated what mattered? What will you wish you had started today? Fill in the blanks below (get your free printable here!):

Knowing where you want to be at the end of 2018, what do you need to cultivate today? Literally today. Every decision we make has an arrow attached to it, pointing us in one direction or another. Your decision arrows have the power to fly through all the distractions and fear and hit the target, OR they can float around and miss it completely. However many hours or minutes are left as you read this (even if you are reading this in bed), how can you shoot one of your decision arrows in the right direction?

I want my decision arrows aimed right at the target. That’s what being intentional is all about.

As I finished my 2018 PowerSheets and this goal uncovering process today, I made some decisions, aiming my arrows at the target. The goals I’m about to share with you may seem simple, but these are my favorite goals I’ve ever written. I have great hope in these goals, knowing that God can change everything on my path. And you know what? His plans have always been better than mine. I’m up for it.

I’m all in.

Maybe you are feeling the same hesitant-scared+excited-I’mALLin(I think!) feeling with me right this second! Maybe it makes you feel a little uneasy like you’re stepping into the unknown. Let’s step forward together, believing in what we can’t yet see. I’m choosing faith over my fear and I invite you to take the leap with me. Let’s take some steps forward and, little by little, the fear part will dry up. We’re not going to fertilize the fear this year, friend! Are you with me?

Let’s decide to take action on goals that cut through all the things to get to the things that matter.

If you feel hesitant to set goals, remember this my dear, passionate, capable, inspiring friends: you were created to grow and change. We are always “in progress.” Your goals may do the same! As you grow, your goals may shift. As you go through different seasons, your priorities may change. As you learn new lessons and take on new life responsibilities, your capacity to do different things may change. So, as you write out your goals, remember that you don’t have to set them for the calendar year. Set them for just this season ahead, and refresh your goals every few months. This is why I put a Goal Refresh in the PowerSheets for every season. We were created for seasons. This gives me so much freedom in knowing that these don’t have to be forever, and I hope it encourages you too!

Ahhhh!!! I’m so ready!

Write out your goals using these helpful prompts. I call this the Cultivate What Matters Method. Here are some tips for each prompt help you:

– Goal: Your words don’t have to be perfect. Just write the goal in whatever words you have! We’re just WRITING here, not doing anything about it yet. So, be brave and get the words out!

– Why? Remember by training clients who came to me with arbitrary goals? We aren’t doing that. Write out why you want to cultivate your goal, and connect it to something that really means something to you.

– The positive effect taking action on this goal may have on my life and others: How will this goal change you and others? Think of the biggest possibilities here—the most profound positive impact this goal could have. Even if your goal feels “small,” write out the big possibilities! This can be a huge motivating factor when you define the possibilities.

– How I will feel at the end of this year having made progress on this goal: Imagine it. You made progress, finished your goal, or made it to a milestone. How will that feel? Remember: focus on progress, not perfection!

– Starting steps: I used to write out “action steps,” but after listening to thousands of women tell me how stuck they felt in starting things that mattered to them, I realized that the most important steps were the first ones. So, write out some very small starting steps. You’ll see my examples below!

– How I will know I accomplished or made progress on this goal: Most of my goals don’t have an “end” date, but it’s important to be able to measure your progress somehow. How will you know you made progress on this goal? Write out some ideas.

– Encouraging words: Give yourself a strong pep talk, encouraging words, or a Bible verse to go with each goal.

– How I will celebrate at the end of 2018: Writing this out helped me so much this year! One of my 2016 goals was to pray. A lot. Without ceasing. And the way I envisioned celebrating at the end of 2016 was to, “paint my answered prayers on Christmas Day on a big canvas for our living room with Grace.” Well, at Grace’s request, we started early in the fall. And we didn’t use paints, we used pressed flowers. Here’s what we created!

Photo by my dear friend Gina Zeidler

We pressed flowers from our garden and special milestones all year—in cookbooks, Bibles, and anything that had pages! Then, we used some Mod Podge and sealed these onto the canvas. It is so special! Better than we could have imagined. This reminds us of God’s faithfulness and so many answered prayers through each season of this year. I love it so much.

Okay, let’s write out some 2018 goals! Are you ready?

Here are my 2018 Goals for this year of LIGHT SPACE (and I can’t wait to hear yours too!). You’ll see here that some of my prompts are still undone and in-progress. If you don’t have an answer yet, that’s okay! But, don’t get stuck because of fear of your plans or answers not being perfect. For me, some of these things I genuinely don’t know yet, and I’ll wait on God to tell me!

Goal 1: Read and pray through the Bible. Pray the Word of God while reading through the Chronological reading plan again. Memorize Psalm 119. Use my prayer journal, say my prayers out loud, or record my prayers to my phone notes.

Why? To directly connect with God and to align my life, expectations, and value with the truth of the Word of God, not the ways of the world. To grow my faith, the faith of my family, and to build up the faith of others.

The positive effect taking action on this goal may have on my life and others: This will help me to be rooted in faith, to trust, and to love others abundantly.

How I will feel at the end of this year having made progress on this goal: Solid. Matured. Rooted. At peace.

Starting steps: 1. Sign up for the Chronological reading plan again. 2. Print Psalm 119 and put it on flashcards and on digital flashcards for my phone. 3. Set up my 2018 prayer journal.

How I will know I accomplished or made progress on this goal: I will make progress in reading through my Bible plan each day + documenting or saying prayers out loud.

Encouraging words: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, a light on my path…” (Psalm 119:105). “For the Word of God is alive and active…” (Hebrews 4:12).

How I will celebrate at the end of 2018: I am not sure yet. Any ideas?

Goal 2: Love the things above, not the things of the world. This includes minimalism as a spiritual joy, cultivating contentment in our children, clearing out the stuff and information overload, and generous and wise stewardship of what we’ve been entrusted with.

Why? We can’t take our stuff to Heaven with us! To gain a deeper love for God and joyful contentment as we GIVE and let go.

The positive effect taking action on this goal may have on my life and others: I believe it will bring all of us joy in the Lord, closeness with each other, and the ability to see and meet the needs of others so much more.

How I will feel at the end of this year having made progress on this goal: So refreshed and grateful, like we are on the right path!

Starting steps: 1. Make a “Heaven is Our Home” date with Ari (January 6th!) to pray over our home, giving, and financial stewardship goals—and to set action steps together as a family. 2. Talk to our financial advisor + bookkeeper to get their guidance. 3. Ruthlessly clear out the house, my office, and our cars by January 15th.

How I will know I accomplished or made progress on this goal: We will make major progress on our budget goals, give more, and spend less time cleaning the house so we can spend more time loving the people in it—and hosting others.

Encouraging words: “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:15-17).

How I will celebrate at the end of 2018: Giving! By giving even more as a family!

Goal 3: Make 2018 The Year of Kissing! 

Why? To cultivate closeness and our daily bond as a family so we can love each other well and serve God together. To grow our family narrative—one of faithfulness and affection. To build Ari up and encourage him daily.

The positive effect taking action on this goal may have on my life and others: We will be closer and more joyful as a family and close to the Lord. Planting kisses is planting seeds of legacy!

How I will feel at the end of this year having made progress on this goal: Light. Grateful. Bonded together.

Starting steps: 1. Kiss Ari! (today!) 2. Pray about this goal to seek God’s guidance and to always do this from a heart of gratitude and loving because I have been loved, not to check this off my list each day. 3. Set date nights for January.

How I will know I accomplished or made progress on this goal: I will kiss Ari each day!