As a follow-up to yesterday’s post…..
Setting goals is so important. I think it gives purpose, direction, confidence, and a deep joy when you achieve them. But…. it’s so dang hard to remember what goals you set 🙂 and come up with a consistent plan for achieving them without turning it into a chore.
We’ve tried a couple of different things.
One year we tried to go over goals every Sunday… and we’d give stickers when a goal was passed off. That was too much. It ended by March of that year.
The next year we set goals at the beginning of the year and…. did nothing else. That wasn’t super productive.
This year we set the goals I talked about and then about once a month I try and remember to check in with everyone. It can be at dinner, at family home evening… whenever. So far all the way into February (so we’ve checked in twice) that seems to be working. My kids are young. I want setting goals to be an exciting thing – just think of all you can be and do and accomplish! I want them to know that to achieve a big goal you have to set little goals…. and that you have to keep track of your progress. I don’t want them to roll their eyes and think, “Here comes Mom/Dad again to hound me about my goals. This way we remind them that their goals exist and that they should be making progress toward them, but there is no guilt trip and no pressure. I try to check in as a whole family so we can talk about how we are doing on our family goals, and also so that they can hear when a sibling is making progress or completed a goal. That way everyone is supporting each other and is excited and proud of each other. – That is of course in an ideal situation – Sometimes there is teasing or jealousy involved when one sibling can do something that another sibling is still working on (It is much to Josh’s dismay that his little sister can do a perfect cartwheel and he can’t keep his legs straight to save his soul). But you know someday when we are a perfect family there will only be love, support, and excitement…
We do keep goal notebooks. – that tend to disappear.. – Josh’s and MAx’s are currently missing….I like keeping goals in one spot though. That way they can look back through the years and see how their goals have changed and grown. They also just get plain excited about the notebooks. Anna’s has Tinkerbell, Josh’s has Phineaus and Ferb and Max’s is green (fits each of their personalities perfectly). Justin and I have them too, they just aren’t as exciting.
We also let them set their own goals and try not to crack any smiles when they bust out with something like, “I want to give food to all the hungry people in town.” or “I want to fly…” not in an airplane, just fly. Goals will not be met if they are what Mom and Dad think you should be working on, instead of what you want to do. — and the same goes for spouses. No matter how much I want Justin to set the goal of being on time for church, it just doesn’t work unless it comes from him….. maybe I will try whispering it in his ear while he’s sleeping. The “I want to fly” one we did have to adjust a little bit.