2017 Goals Recap

If you’ve been around here long enough, you know how passionate I am about transforming our lives. I think a mix of prayer and taking action is what makes it all happen. We aren’t sitting on a couch waiting for God to do everything but we also aren’t thinking we can strive and strive without including and ultimately surrendering to him.

Today I’m starting a 7-part series on goal-setting. This is actually my sister and I’s third year doing our #goalgetter series! See her goals recap here!! And with our heart in mind, this series will share how we find the balance of transformation that both calls us to action and includes God in the process.

The first post is a review of my 2017 goals. I started the year with 10 goals and refreshed them a few times throughout the year. See a recap of those initial goals below.

GOAL 1:  KEEP GROWING VMP

This goal is not specifically talking about size, but about continuing to transform instead of getting stuck or refusing to change. I feel like this totally affected VMP’s 2016. I rested on what we had done for years but the climate is changing and I don’t want to be stubborn and think I know everything.

Outcome: Our business grew so much! Not just in size, although that did happen as we added two team members and sales as well (an increase of 150%). We really kept honing our message, kept learning and it’s made such a difference in our own ability to put out content and keep creating as we kept pushing forward. It has actually set us up for more change in 2018 that I’m excited to share in my 2018 goals.

How I will celebrate: 2-day workcation in Austin.

This did not happen but we are planning a trip for our team to visit Haiti this spring. 🙂

GOAL 2: TO HAVE THIS SAID OF ME BY MY HUSBAND, “SHE WAS DELIGHTED – NOT HARD TO MAKE HAPPY”

I read this in a book the author said of his wife and it stuck out because I don’t think my husband would say I’m easy to make happy!

Outcome: Yes! I had to ask my husband to think about this honestly because it’s pretty objective.

How I will celebrate: Plan a full day of adventure with Tyler.

Planning this now!

GOAL 3: TO LIVE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

Last year, I had a similar goal of living with peace and joy, not fear and depression. This is very similar, but really the root of that kind of life. More thoughts on that here.

Outcome: I spent much of the year more in the presence if the Lord than ever before. This holiday season has challenged me for sure but even in times where I don’t feel His presence as much, I still feel more of an awareness of His truth if that makes sense.

How I will celebrate: Living in His presence is celebration enough!!

GOAL 4: PRODUCE CONTENT THAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO KNOW JESUS IN PRACTICAL WAYS

I really want to get people excited about prayer!! This feels somewhat immeasurable but practically, my goal is to double our readership and newsletter subscribers. I know if people aren’t being encouraged, they won’t keep reading!

Outcome: Yes!! It’s funny to read this goal I made a year ago because I feel like this didn’t really start happening until the fall when we had our first VMP Retreat. Our heart is to keep y’all motivated on a consistent basis and this is definitely happening. Our subscribers have more than doubled too.

How I will celebrate: Make a fun investment in the area of writing.

I am in the process of doing this right now! 🙂

GOAL 5: TO MARVEL AT WHAT MY BODY CAN DO INSTEAD OF BE FRUSTRATED/DISCOURAGED BY IT

This is one of my big ones for the year. I made health a priority last year and now I’m going into turbo-mode. I’ve got little chronic things I want to alleviate and I also want to learn to love the body God gave me even if it doesn’t function how I would hope.

Outcome: A nutrition coach totally changed the game for me in the fall. My body felt better than ever and even as I’ve added back some foods, I am more motivated than ever to keep making progress. My back and feet issues are better than they’ve been in a while so I think these will be things I have to continue working on rather than an immediate fix.

How I will celebrate: Fly in a plane!!  – Happened this June! Read more here. And I’m booking my ticket this week for a trip to Savannah in February for my Mastermind Retreat!

GOAL 6: TO SPEND MORE TIME INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE IN FRONT OF ME INSTEAD OF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN

This feels contradictory to #4, but it’s actually to help keep #4 in perspective and not let that goal take over my face-to-face relationships.

Outcome: I semi-abandoned this one during one of my refreshes and an especially busy season but I actually learned a lot. I’ll share more when I share my 2018 goals but I realized why this wasn’t working for me and am making a better game plan for next year so I can see this through. 

How I will celebrate: Girls’ Weekend!

GOAL 7: TO PRACTICE SELF-DISCIPLINE/SELF-CONTROL/GOOD HABITS THAT BRING REAL FREEDOM

This goes along with my word for 2017. I really want to live abundantly and I know that will require lots of discipline, but ultimately, it will be better than the life of excess that I think will satisfy.

Outcome: This one got dropped too. I didn’t really know how to actually pursue this besides just starting habits and keeping them. This is still something I want to do but need some help figuring out what this looks like.

How I will celebrate: Buy a fun organizational splurge.

GOAL 8: PRAYERFULLY FOLLOW GOD ON WHERE TO PUT HIS MONEY

I have some ideas on giving, saving and spending but I really want to surrender those plans to God’s vision.

Outcome: This one got abandoned too from feeling like I just didn’t know how to pursue this. More on this in 2018 though. 

How I will celebrate: Blow it all at the casino. JK!! I have no idea!!

GOAL 9: LEARN NEW SKILLS AND GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

Things I’d love to learn about: cooking (still), photography, webinars, gardening. I can feel myself slowly getting more stubborn (I don’t feel like learning how to use SnapChat or EchoDot) but I don’t want to be an ornery old man who hates change at the ripe age of 32!

Outcome: Technically, I released this goal feeling I needed to stop trying to do so much but I actually did take a cooking course and learned a lot (I can cook a whole chicken now!) and did my first webinar in December. Totally unexpected progress! 🙂

How I will celebrate: Share the skill with others (i.e. cook a meal, give flowers or herbs).

GOAL 10: TO HELP SHAPE MY KIDS ACCORDING TO THE PLAN GOD HAS FOR THEM, NOT MY OWN

As I have been reading Paul David Tripp’s book, Parenting, I am getting such a clear picture of how to steward them. It requires time and energy, but it’s one of my biggest responsibilities here on earth so I want to be super intentional about it!

Outcome: This one has grown more and more throughout the year. The biggest thing has been a mindset shift and it’s affecting my goals drastically for next year and I’m excited!

How I will celebrate: Trip to New Orleans for Christmas festivities.

Hindsight, this wasn’t doable. Christmas is always crazy so I’m not sure why I wanted to cram something new in. I am excited about one of my 2018 goals and feel like it will definitely be a way we celebrate progress in this goal.

DIDN’T ACHIEVE SOME GOALS?

A John C. Maxwell quote has been super impactful in my life and it actually gave inspiration to a worksheet I created to help you figure out what’s holding you back from your goals. You can check it out here.

And I loved this post from She Works His Way with 4 questions to ask about those goals that didn’t happen. Read here!

Check out Val’s best tips for making real change happen in her book The Finishing School. You’ll get all the best information on goals, habits, margin, prayer and more!

COMING UP NEXT: What I Read in 2017