Goals For The Summer

How many of you made goals for the summer? Does the picture portray your summer plans? Sometimes when we finish the school year, we just want to sit back and relax all summer. However, I think it is important to make 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 is how I have set my goals for the summer months.

First, I listed the areas that I want to be sure and focus on during the summer.

1. Spiritual growth

2. Self renewal

3. Recreation/fun with family

4. Housework

5. Business responsibilities

Next, I wrote down the things I want/need to do in each of these areas. For example, for the spiritual growth: daily spend time reading God’s Word, and in prayer;  read a couple of inspirational books. For self-renewal: work on better nutrition, and regular exercise. Part of the self-renewal would fall under recreation/fun with family. For housework:  de-clutter, then deep clean. My business responsibilities: blog posts, review new books, send out speaker packs, answer emails, etc. My list for all of these is much more detailed, and broken down into parts, so 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 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!