2018 Goals Recap

Welcome to our annual goal series! My heart for transformation in our lives runs deep. It’s why we share so many tools and resources to help you in your prayer life (because we can’t change without the Lord) and free worksheets to help you put things you learn into action.

Important side note: If you have big goals this year, do not attempt them without prayer. I cannot stress enough how instrumental praying for each of my goals has been over the years. The more I pray for them, the more I see God work in the goals He has prepared for me and the more I see Him clear the clutter and change my heart when my goals don’t match His plans for me. If you don’t have a Yearly Prayer Journal, grab one today! It’s got a specific section to pray for your goals each month! 

So with that, getting goal-minded at the beginning of the year is big here. Today I’m sharing a recap of my 2018 goals and how they went. Over the next week, I’ll also be sharing what I read, what my 2019 goals are, my 2019 word for the year and 25 books I hope to read in 2019! There’s also a BIG giveaway coming during the series!

GOAL #1. PRIORITIZE THE CARE OF MY SOUL OVER ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

This is in line with my word for the year. I want to be less focused on doing. To speak candidly, we’ve had our most successful year in business and even great things personally but it hasn’t been my healthiest year emotionally. Nothing crazy but like I mentioned yesterday, I am commonly left with the nagging feeling of discontentment at what I do and I want to focus on who I’m becoming.

Outcome: So this one I have grown much more aware of and made a lot more progress toward the beginning of the year but have honestly struggled with over the last few months. I actually broke out my copy of Soul Keeping the other day and got rejuvenated to prioritize this.

GOAL #2. READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR.

Ok, so I have a whole blog post coming on this. Why I never wanted to do this and why I final am!

Outcome: YES!!! It was not easy but I’m on track to finish on December 31! This feels like a big accomplishment mainly for the steadiness it required. I have slacked in so many ways this year as far as daily disciplines but this kept me in the word daily.

3. LIVE OUT THE SHE WORKS HIS WAY MOTTO.

This goal is not a work goal. This is a family goal. The Lord has been revealing how much attention I put on my work and how little I have been investing in my family. My hope is to remember that I can grow my business while protecting my priorities.

Outcome: Progress made! I still worked a lot but was able to consolidate it to work time for the most part. Boundaries for being home with the girls and nights without work are going strong.

4. MAKE OUR HOME A LIGHTHOUSE.

Sally Clarkson used this term and it stuck in my soul. I want our home filled with giggles and grace. I want this to be a place where Tyler, Vivi and Vana and everyone who comes here feels loved and accepted. I really want the Holy Spirit to just fill this place up. Even in the last few days, with this goal in mind, I have been praying more intently and inviting the Holy Spirit to just come and take over. Y’all know I’m passionate about this if you’ve tried our House Prayers but I’m wanting to do this even more.

Outcome: It’s hard to measure this but we’ve definitely experienced more joy in our home this year and seen God work in amazing ways as we prayed for stubborn hearts (uhh, kids and adults), fears, sleep interruptions, sickness, etc. I felt more determination to choose joy through the hard moments and be a cheerleader for our family.

5. EXPERIENCE A MONTH IN ANOTHER CITY.

When Tyler and I were a year or two into marriage, we spent a month in Philly. We worked from a tiny apartment and got to enjoy the city and weekend trips to Boston, NYC and DC. We’ve wanted to do it again and this feels like a good time! We are planning to go to Charleston this time so if you have any tips for Charleston, I’d love to here!

Outcome: Yes! We ended up in Serenbe in Georgia and it was the best experience!!! We were able to feed farm animals daily, stroll the neighborhood in a golf cart, hike and just enjoy a slower pace. We also got to experience fun adventures in Atlanta. We’re hoping to go to a new city for a month again this year! Any recommendations?

6. STRENGTHEN MY BODY AND RELIEVE MY FEET AND BACK ISSUES.

I got really consistent in my workouts in 2017 but definitely need to beef ’em up and strengthen my frame. I’ve had no ab muscles for about 5 years now – the two pregnancies and two C-sections definitely played a role – and feel this is at least part of the issue with my feet and back.

Outcome: Yes and no. I most definitely found relief with my feet and back. The issues aren’t completely gone or even figured out but I know how to respond through PT exercises. I am however the flabbiest I’ve ever been because I didn’t work out as much as I would have liked to this year. 🙂

7. MASTER BUDGET PLANNING AND CONSISTENTLY STICK TO IT.

We have been terrible when it comes to sticking with a system or our budget each month in the past. I can plan a budget at the beginning of the year but haven’t ever figured out how to keep one up. I know this will make a huge impact on the things we want to invest in in the future and can also reduce our need to work more if we are simply saving more.

Outcome: A little progress made but honestly, it was because we started using Shipt for grocery shopping. Being able to see the total before I “checkout” on the app and not going into a store grabbing things we don’t need meant our food budget went way down. Otherwise, I didn’t follow through on this much! 

8. ANNOUNCING SOON!! So my #8 goal that I couldn’t quite share at the beginning of last year was that I was writing a book!! 🙂  

Outcome: Finished! And holy cow was it a crazy season! Two weeks before my manuscript was due we headed to Spring at the Silos. God was so faithful. I was ahead in book writing so this was not quite as insane a you’d imagine. Grumpy Mom Takes a Holiday comes out April 9, 2019!

9. OPERATE A BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY BUSINESS BASED ON THE LORD’S LEADING.

Since I naively started selling our prayer journal in 2013, our industry has exploded. Over the years, I have felt overwhelmed by what felt like my business shrinking as more competition arrived, but in 2017, we really honed our direction and message and found a lot of freedom. I felt more confident than ever in what we were doing and that we had a purpose and place, not just another voice as I had felt at different times when things got saturated. We started doing things differently: We only sell paper products and will continue that even in a world that keeps telling us to create passive income, we close on Sundays, we changed our social media game. We will continue this, not to spite the world but to follow God’s vision for our company which I wholeheartedly believe, is unique and not the same as what He’s calling other businesses to do. Not because we’re special but because we all are.

Outcome: Yes! I feel like this was big for us this year. It is so easy to get distracted but we did several things this year that we felt confident were from the Lord instead of following trends. We sent out a catalogue in the mail. We cut back on products. We got really intentional with packaging and waste. And we have more plans next year. : )

10. INVEST IN 5 FRIENDSHIPS REALLY WELL.

I have failed in the friendship department the last few years. Being “social” on the media always gives me this false sense of deep connection so when I’ve just responded to 20 DM’s and have 3 text messages waiting for me to respond, I, unfortunately, put real friends on the back burner thinking that what I do online requires my immediate response since it is my business. In November and December, I prayed about who God wanted me to invest in 2018 and felt Him leading me to 5 friends. When I landed on these 5, I immediately felt a weight lifted. I immediately felt like I could be a good friend if I was focusing on 5 and not trying for 10, getting overwhelmed and quitting them all.

Outcome: I feel like I did better than years past but honestly, this didn’t go as well as I had hoped.

CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR 30 BOOKS I READ IN 2018!

And a fun YouTube series starts tomorrow! Go subscribe to catch my 3 videos about how to jumpstart your prayer life in 2019!!

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