How To Set Goals For The Summer

Are you trying to learn how to set goals for the summer, but find yourself forgetting them or not having enough time? Sometimes when we finish the school year, we just want to sit back and relax for the whole season.

Setting goals in the summer can be a daunting task, but it’s important to take the time to do it. I think it is important to set goals, and use the summer to accomplish some of the things that you have been neglecting, or that are hard to get to during the school year.

Here are my favorite tips for how to set goals for the summer that will help you accomplish the things you often don’t do well in the busier seasons:

How To Set Goals For The Summer

First, I listed the areas that I want to be sure and focus on during the summer. Creating a broad overview of the things that are important will help you come up with smaller, more actionable steps as you form your strategic goals. For example, my broad areas this year are: 

1. Spiritual growth

2. Self-renewal

3. Recreation/fun with family

4. Housework

5. Business responsibilities

What are some good goals to set for the summer?

The goals you set for your summer will be personal, and everyone’s goals will look different, even within your own family. Once you have your broad goals like we discussed above,  you’ll want to write down more specific things you’ll want to accomplish in each of those areas. 

For example, from my broad goals, I broke it down to: 

• Spiritual growth: daily time spent reading God’s Word, and in prayer;  read a couple of inspirational books.
• Self-renewal: work on better nutrition, and regular exercise.
• Recreation/fun with family: I planned one activity a week to focus on quality time with those I love. 
• Housework:  de-clutter, then deep clean.
• Business responsibilities: Write new blog posts, review new books, send out speaker packs, answer emails, etc.

What are personal goals?

The personal goals part of this method means you take your goals from step two above and make them actionable steps that can bring you step-by-step closer to reaching your broad summer goals. 

This final goal list is much more detailed and broken down into parts. This way nothing will be too overwhelming. (For example, I will de-clutter and deep clean one room a week.)

To ensure that I actually accomplish these goals, on the weekend I set up the specific plans in each area, and break it down by days.

*Quiet time with God;  15 minutes of inspirational reading (Every day)

*Exercise; Get to bed on time; take vitamins (Every day)

*Play game with family; spend time in pool with kids; date with husband (varies by day of week)

*Declutter – bedroom dressers; bedroom closet; boxes under a bed; (varies by day)

* Fill orders; Spend 15 minutes reading one of the review books; 15 minutes answering emails

Breaking things down like this helps me to focus, and at the same time not be overwhelmed. Rather than put down clean the entire kitchen, I list each job for the kitchen (clean silverware drawers, organize medicine cupboard, clean/organize/pantry, clean/organize cupboards with dishes, etc.)

Then I choose a couple of those things and put them on the list for the day.

Each evening  I make a master list for the next day. I may not always get to everything, but having attainable goals that are and broken up for me, makes it much more likely that I will get many of the things done each day, and DEFINITELY more than if I didn’t list the goals I wanted to accomplish.

I want to make this summer count, and spend time on the priorities that God has placed on my heart. That requires planning. “To fail to plan, is to plan to fail.”

What are your goals for this summer? Do you have a plan to reach those goals? I’d love to hear what you are working on this summer, and how you are going about making those plans happen!