The last couple of weeks we have been discussing planning a lot. We've covered how to pick the best planner for you this year, how to plan for a year of SUCCESS, how to pick a word for your year to help you get focused, and how to get on track with your daily disciplines (with a free printable). 

Today we are taking all of these concepts one step further - how to make and set goals for your life and homemaking! I know this can sound like a boring topic at first, but hang in there, because it's VITAL to getting things under control in your home. 

If you want to go from survival mode in your home to actually thriving, then a key piece of that is goal planning. 

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If I can plan out my time, set priorities, and even craft some goals for my day and life, then it's so much easier to be diligent and effective with my time. Of course, things always come up: sick kids, you forget to put dinner in the crockpot, unexpected guests and so on. 

We can never 100% control our time, because at the end of the day, God is in control of our time and where it goes. We can plan and set goals but then hold those plans and goals loosely in our our hands and be willing and open to God changing those plans. 

Goal Setting & Our Homes

“Many times busyness is often mistakenly equated with productivity. But those words are not synonymous. Just because we're spinning our wheels, rushing from one commitment to the next, doesn't necessarily mean that we are doing anything worthwhile.” - Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine

It's so easy in our culture to mistake busyness with productivity. We may run from activity to activity. Our days may be bursting at the seems with stuff, but when we get to the end of a long week or a long year and look back over what we accomplished, we realize that we've filled it with a lot of stuff that didn't really matter in the long run.

Getting Productive

I realize that those days that I don't feel productive, those days that I feel busy and running around, those days where I get to the end of a long day exhausted and tired but feeling like I didn't really accomplish much of anything...Those days were spent focusing on the wrong things. Or not really focusing at all. 

When I wake up in the morning with some clear objectives and goals (even if those goals are to get dinner on the table by 6pm and take my kids to the park for some much needed fun play time) then I feel like I can dictate where my time goes much better than if I wake up without any idea for how I want the day to go. 

And this all goes back to setting priorities and planning out goals. This topic is really much better than we could ever hope to cover in one article, but I hope to scratch the surface of it today. And I wanted to share, that for a really limited time, I have a super special New Year Bundle on sale. 

It's a collection of my very best goal setting and planning resources to help you make the most out of this year! It includes my super popular goal setting course (a video course that walks you step by step through setting and achieving goals in your home and life), a 7 part audio series on investing in yourself (a critical lesson for every homemaker to learn), and more. Hop on over to check it out - it's on super sale for a very limited time. 

1) Set Realistic Goals 

I am a dreamer and a doer - this can be a powerful combination for setting and achieving goals - but it can also lead me down the rabbit hole of setting far too many goals and g...