Well, friends, it is mid-July, I guess, kind of later July, and I did a six-month check-in on my goals. I wanted to share them with you because number one, I know we're all nosy when it comes to other people's goals and what's gotten accomplished, how people are doing what they're doing, all that good stuff.
Also, I wanted to give you encouragement if you are feeling like your goals just are not happening, or you're struggling, or maybe you just didn't even make goals at the beginning of the year because you weren't sure how to make them actually happen. The first thing that I want to encourage you with is in making goals actually happen.
One of the things that I found that works well and that I coach my life coaching and business clients in is to figure out your areas of stewardship. Where is God calling you to steward, or what is God calling you to steward? I typically say that we have like five to six different areas that were called or given to Steward at a time.
I wouldn't say that's something that I've found in the Bible. I would say that's more of a gathering of things that I've seen and heard over time, more like a systematic theological viewpoint.
Stewardship and Anchoring Your Goals
I usually say that we as women are called to steward our homes, even if we don't have a typical home. You can take care of your room in your parents' house or wherever you're living, your dorm room, all that. Kids are a big one that we've been given to steward and take care of as little joyful gifts from the Lord, and that takes up a ton of time as a mom.
We also have finances we can steward. We have our jobs, we have the things that we've been given. Everything that you do is stewardship because everything is the Lord's, and we've been given that as stewards. In Genesis one and two, it talks about God giving what. I was given to Adam to keep it and take care of it, and that was a way of God giving the animals and the earth to Adam and Eve to take care of.
So stewardship areas of stewardship. Once you understand what God has given you, I would write these down, have them written as something that's a reflection. Just so that you know, moving forward, this is something that God has given me to steward, and this is what I need to use my gifts and my talents towards.
Again, five or six different areas. I typically will say everything in the house and within it, or? Yeah, in the house. Everything within it. So, kids, family, money, the house itself. Food. And then my body is another area that I spend a lot of time on. I actually have a folder in my phone because I track my macros.
Macronutrients using a fitness app, a Faster Way to Fatloss, and I have that. And then the app that I use to track my runs or walks and my Oura ring, all in a folder called Steward Your Body. So it's a reminder when I look at that folder that God has given me my body to steward. Once you've accomplished this and you understand what God is asking you to steward, or you've brought that back to mind, anchor your goals to the areas that God has asked you to steward.
A lot of times, we see something and we're like, "Oh, we should have a goal to do X, Y, or Z," and then we make a pointless goal. Because we saw that from somebody else's life, but that's not the area that God is asking us to steward right now, or it's not as high on the priorities list as on somebody else's.
Oftentimes, when people are having issues, fulfilling goals, or really struggling to fulfill their goals, I see them drowning in pointlessness. Goals and pointless to-dos because they are not anchoring them in things where God has actually called them to. And we need to align what God has called us to with the goals that we are creating because God has given us all different areas to steward and different lives and different callings and giftings and talents.
Our goals will be. Probably similar, but they're gonna be different than other people's. So we can't just look at a popular influencer, even if they're Christian, and say, "Oh, okay, their goals should be my goals." Now granted, there will be some that are similar, but everybody has different areas where they need to work on.
So at this point in time, I wanna give you permission to change things up. I want to give you permission to throw out your old goals if they're not related to the areas of stewardship that God has given you, and I want you to instead focus on. Anchoring your goals in areas of stewardship and areas that align with what God has called you to.
Journal Questions for Your Own Mid-Year Check-in
Now, the second part of this mid-year check-in that I did was I started looking at my goals and asking myself some questions. So I asked myself,
– What's working?
– What's not working?
– What does this look like for the next six months?
– What do my goals look like moving forward?
What about the next five and a half months? I have been using this book that somebody recommended. And I absolutely love it, it's called the Growth Book from Growth Notes Company. And she has an area for faith goals. So it's Christian-focused, it's biblical. She's got different headings for the goals that you could have for your life.
My Own Goals
Some of my goals are to have a better, healthier marriage. To sleep more, which sleeping more means having the discipline to actually put away the book at night and go to sleep. Fitness, my goal actually, that I completed, was to run three different road races in three different states. This year.
So I actually completed that on July 4th, so yay. It was one that's going to be more difficult moving forward because we've, we've now done the majority of things within driving distance of Wisconsin, and now we just have to get really creative.
The next one is praying for my family. If you look at consistency, the episode that Melissa Whaley and I did on consistency (episode 116), one of the things that we talk about is setting an alarm to remind us to trigger us to do different things. This has been really beneficial to set the alarm to pray for my family.
Typically, I do it. There have been times when it's not every day that I am doing it because I'm busy at 6:30 or there's something else that I'll dismiss the alarm, and then I'll totally space it out. But for the majority of the time when my alarm goes off at 6:30 PM, not am, I'm praying for my family.
Reading my Bible daily has been something that I am working on. I wouldn't necessarily say I set out to read the Bible in a year, but the growth book actually has a tracker so you can track which books of the Bible you've read, and I think that's really cool. It's really helpful to see progress visually and know where you're at.
The next one is under the heading of learning. I have signed up for a marketing psychology class that I haven't actually started on Coursera. So I've done Coursera has free classes. Hillsdale College, out of Michigan, has free classes online. And then the other one I put in here is reading nonfiction.
I struggle so much with reading nonfiction, especially if it's longer books. I'm like, I wanna sit there and I wanna think about things. But then I also really love fiction. So I get drawn into the story, and I'm like, I don't wanna read nonfiction. Or I'll have kids talking at me all day long, and the last thing I wanna do is sit and listen to an audiobook.
But that is another way that I have been working on getting nonfiction in is by doing Audible, or like online libraries that have audiobooks that you can listen to. So, really looking at learning, growing my skillset, and making sure that I am stimulating my brain.
The last area. For goals are paying down debt and saving money every month. I was talking with a friend earlier, and we were talking about how hard it has been these summer months, and all the expenses and all the things. We're struggling to save money. But I also know that I have an emergency fund.
I've been putting money into, to make up for these emergency spending, whatever the thing on the oven is that broke, that I haven't had an oven for like three weeks. And the car needs all the repairs and just all the things where it's like all these things come together and you're like, okay, Jesus.
I'm trying so hard to steward the money that you give us. Well, but. It's hard because there's all these expenses that keep popping up. So those are my goals. Looking forward, the races are done, so any races that I do this next year, or this next six months, we,
when. So, for example, my husband has a work trip to the Orlando area in November, and I'm like, he actually posed it to me. He was like, Do you wanna go to Florida with me and run a race? And I was like, yes. Obviously, I found a race. So if it works out and we can find babysitters for the kids, I'll go to Florida and run the race.
I will tell you, when we set out to run in every state, I didn't realize how daunting it was gonna be to do this, and now I'm gonna be 38 in November, and I'm like, oh my gosh. I have so many states left to run, and I feel like time is running out, and I really just need to focus on getting this done.
Granted. It's not like I acknowledge the fact that I have many years left, that I can walk these five Ks, and some of the most inspiring people, like there was a guy who was running the 10K in Fargo last year. He's like, I'm 83. I've been running this race for years. And I'm like, dude, I wanna be 83 and running a 10K, which is six miles.
When I'm in my eighties, like life goals right there, so I run and I walk, like I use running and walking interchangeably. I walk most of my races. I jog some of them. For you runners, I average between 15 and 19-minute mile. I anchor that goal in stewarding my body. As I said, I want to take care of the body that God has given me.
When you are training for races, you really have to think like an athlete. You have to eat well, you have to sleep enough, you have to muscle train and strength train so you can continue to, uh, use your body well. And it's kind of a mindset shift. So. Having that goal of stewarding my body and then this, this way of fulfilling that by walking in every state, a race in every state, it goes simultaneously.
So this is a long-term goal. But it's, it's a goal in progress, and I am breaking it down to make it manageable. And tangible in a year. It obviously will take me longer than a year to run a race in every 50, all 50 states. I think that we, I just finished my 14th, so that's that.
The one thing that you guys did not hear, and I don't know if you recognized that, you didn't hear it or not, I didn't say any business goals. That is because my husband switched his job at the beginning of the year, and in January, I really just felt like my business was going to have to be last on the totem pole.
My capacity for coaching several clients was not there anymore. I actually had been serving as an executive assistant to a nonprofit owner, and I gave him my notice, saying that I just didn't have the capacity anymore. My husband's job has him traveling a lot. And I was like, okay, Jesus. Like, I need to support him.
I need to be here for my family. I cannot have several, like three, four, or five clients at a time with the way that our schedule is right now, and with me taking on a larger burden while he's gone.
My sister asked me in June what my five-year plan for my business was, and I was kind of like, uh. I have no idea. And I kind of got mad about it because I was like, I'm a life coach. I have coached six-figure business owners. I should have really good goals for my business. I should do X, Y, and Z. But I was like, Danielle, if this is not where a lot of your capacity is being pushed right now, there's no way.
That you would have solid five-year goals or five-year plans. That doesn't mean that I don't have dreams; I don't have, uh, the ability to fulfill those dreams right now. And when God called us to homeschool, my business really just took the backseat. I'm still supporting clients. I have the availability for one to two more coaching clients.
An Invitation
If you're interested in helping get or in helping get your goals accomplished, figuring out what works best for you and how you can do what you wanna do. One of the best things about being a life and business coach is that I can help Christian, Business owning moms get from where they want to be to or get from where they are to where they want to be.
And I love that. I love it when we can set up a roadmap, and that roadmap works. I worked with a client two summers ago, or maybe last summer, and she was like, "Okay, this is what the schedule looks like. This is where I need to be. How do I do this?" And so we looked at all the different places, figured out what God was really calling her to do, and where God was providing work for her.
And she ended up leaning into something that was not necessarily what she had planned, but it was where God was providing the work and providing the money for her family. So we got her a schedule that worked for her. Us. She was also a homeschooler, so figuring out what works best for her and how she can maximize her time and energy and still grow her business while taking care of her kids and her home, and it was so cool to see as she just learned and grew and was equipped to do what God had called her to do.
So I don't want you to think that just because the world is telling you should do something or you should be something that that's the direction that you need to go in coaching. We can look at your focus. We can create. A path for you. That's where you're at, instead of shoulding yourself to death.
And that's kind of what I had to remind myself of as my sister's. Like, oh, in 10 years, what are you gonna be doing for your business? And I was like, well, I know I wanna keep podcasting because I love podcasting and talking with people. I would love to keep coaching women, too. Equip them and help them get where God is calling them and pushing them to be.
There are different things, right? Like we all have dreams, but it's like, okay, if I'm going to let the shoulds of what I should be doing, overtake me, that's not walking in alignment with God, where God is calling me to be right now. We need to align ourselves with what God has for us as we make goals and as we walk our daily walk.
So we're walking with him in accordance with what he has for us, following his plans for us, and leaving a margin to do what he is asking us to do. So. If you are looking for a partner, somebody that's gonna walk with you from where you are at, where you know God is calling you to be, and go that journey with you, let's chat.
Okay? I would love to see if what I can do is what you need. I can point you in the right direction. Or, I have really great friends, so if I'm not what you need, then I could potentially help you find the right person for you.
And that, you know, it's, I wanna say it's as simple as, but it really is as simple as talking. Once a month, and then creating the ideal of where God wants you to be. How do we get there? Making plans, looking at your schedule, personalizing it to what you need, and going from there. So the last thing, and this is kind of, you know, looking at that, what do I, what can I do?
What's my schedule allow? Where, where's my margin? How am I gonna do what I want to do?
My overview of my own progression
As I'm checking my goals, I want to be honest with myself. So I'm asking you to be honest with yourself. I asked myself, "Am I doing too much?"
Am I doing too little? Which is really interesting because. Doing too little. Sometimes we can get apathetic and just say, "Well, this isn't gonna happen, so why even bother?" But there are little things that we can do every day or every week that will get us where we want to go. Back to the running example and running a race in every state, I made a goal to do so.
At the beginning of the summer or the beginning of the spring, it was 7,000 steps a day. Some days, I really had to stretch to try and get 7,000 other days. That was no problem. So then I increased it to 9,000 steps a day. But you know what? 9,000 steps a day gets me to. I'm walking a lot for my health. This has been beneficial in numerous ways.
I am now walking more for my mental health because I acknowledge the power of walking for mental health. As my good friend Aubrey will text me. I'm doing a mental health walk, which, it's been, it's just been our running joke, like we're walking for our mental health, but really we know it benefits us in other ways.
And then it's getting me, building up my stamina for my road races for the 5Ks and 10Ks that I'm doing. So little things can make a big difference, but there are times when maybe it feels like what you're doing is inadequate. Like, potentially I should, in quotes, be doing more to help my family.
Well, let's examine that. What more does that look like? What expectations are you having of yourself as you're going through your day? And lastly, I want to encourage you and remind you that everyday action equals progress in your goals. So think about that every day. Action equals progress in your goals.
And then also with the honesty piece, what extras am I adding to our schedule? Because every yes equals no to something else. That's a hard one because we wanna keep adding, especially in the summer months. Well, those of us up north, maybe in like California, and down south, you're like, oh my gosh, I can't be outside.
But in the north here. We wanna get outside because this is the best part of the year. Unless you enjoy winter activities, which I don't know who enjoys going outside in zero-degree weather, not me. But that's something else to think about. And then the last thing is, if I'm not seeing movement, why? This is where we get to check back in with the Lord and say, "Okay, Jesus, why am I not seeing movement here?"
What am I doing that may not be in alignment with what you have for me? Or why am I just experiencing so much blockage when it comes to doing whatever the goal is? So, checking back in with him, those areas of stewardship, and then going with what he says. So that is what I did to mid-year check in with myself.
I shared a couple of things with my friends as to where I was and my answers to these questions. The question that my sister asked about in five years, I probably gave her a flippant answer at the time because like I was frustrated at my inability to make a huge, bigger year, five-year plan, or to tell her my big five-year plan.
But then I went back to her and I was like, okay, so these are the things that I'm thinking the reason why I had such a flippant pat answer. It was because I feel like I'm not able to do as much of my business as I want to be doing. And there's a podcast episode about surrender that I did a couple of episodes ago (episode 110), and that's huge.
Surrendering our hopes and our dreams for what God has for us instead. So you can go listen to that one next if you haven't listened to that. But I hope this is helpful for you. Again, if you are interested in coaching and having that accountability partner to help you in your business or in your life.
Like I homeschool, I've been homeschooling the last three years. We've done traditional school, we've done Catholic school. Um, I have helped multiple six-figure business owners in their own businesses and coaching through that. So I have a plethora of experience I would love to share with you.
Contact me
You can hit me up on social media, on Instagram, and then you could also email me at [email protected].
My Growth Book Page
I also started making a check-off sheet for inside each month for the growth book. I will share those with you. But I, who has been really, really beneficial for seeing visually my progress.
And I've shared that with my accountability coach, my fitness coach, and it's just a great way for her to see how I'm doing, to check in with her and see myself and say, okay, this next, you know, the beginning of the month was rough with. Not eating enough food because we were on vacation. I want to see check marks for the rest of the month.
Like that is my goal is again, breaking down the small goals to everyday action, to seeing that progress of being healthier, eating the right things, having enough protein, all that jazz. And then I also have my 9,000 steps a day in there. So I will share that in the show notes as well. And you guys can ask all the questions, be all the nosy things, and it'll be great.
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