Three Steps for Keeping Your Reslutions in 2012 - It's Not Too Late

As the New Year dawned, I made my list of resolutions like many others. I prefer to refer to them as goals. A natural goal setter, I like to know what I am aiming for. Sometimes I hit the mark, sometimes I don't. I like beginnings - the start of a new year or a new season - because they are a good and natural opportunity to take stock in where you are and where you are going and decide if that is really where you want to be. It is a time to reflect back, analyze the success, failures and surprises of the past, and make adjustments to your goals, plans and dreams. 

But goals are meaningless without a strategy for achieving them and a structure for accountability. It is great to have a goal to lose weight but I know from years of experience, if you don't have a detailed plan to accomplish that goal the first temptation is going to derail you before you even get started.

So, I'd like to share with you some ways I am being intentional about keeping my resolutions this year. Hopefully, they will help you accomplish your goals.

First, you have to identify your goals (as Yogi Berra says, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up some place else.”)

• My goals for 2012

• To make home life as organized and peaceful as I can
• To better meet the needs of my husband and each of my children 
• To grow deeper in God's word with a daily devotion time
• Of course, to lose 20 pounds (My 20th High School reunion is in November, I have incentive)
• To build our emergency savings fund
• To have a monthly date night with my husband
• To try one new recipe per week
• To stay up-to-date with my 2012 Project Life 
• To learn to sew
• To have a weekly devotion time with my kids
• To do a minimum of 15 minutes of exercise a day
• To improve my photography skills
• To keep track of my car keys! (Those who know me well, understand this is a huge area of weakness for me)

Okay, so some might say I am an overachiever. 
 

Next, you need to have a plan in place for each goal.

Then you have to evaluate how you are doing along the way.

My next several posts will break out individual goals above and discuss my plan of attack as well as the accountability system I have set up to make sure I don't lose sight of these goals amidst the craziness of being a full-time working mom in a time intensive career with a long daily commute, taking care of three children (one with special needs) and volunteering as a Girl Scout leader and a member of the board of the Down syndrome Association of Atlanta. 

I will not be perfect and may have missteps along the way (like leaving my keys in the car and the car running in the parking deck for an entire day while I worked) and I'll share those with you. Maybe it will bring you a chuckle or you'll be able to apply something to your busy life.

Happy goal setting and Happy New Year!