Goal Setting

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”

-Elder M. Russell Ballard, Preach My Gospel

When me and my husband got married we knew that we wanted to strive to reach our full potential.  How do you do that, and how do you measure that?  With goals! We have been married 3 years so we've had some trial and error with our goal setting.  Here are some of our tips:

• Make a specific time to evaluate past goals and set new ones. We review our goals once a quarter for Family Home Evening.  What has worked for us so we remember is to do it the first Monday in January, the first Monday in July, and the first Monday after April and October general conference.  If you don't reach your goal, evaluate why you didn't and maybe try something different the next time.

• Set specific, measurable goals.  For example, making a goal to exercise more will not work.  Set a goal to exercise Monday, Wednesday, Friday in the morning. Setting a specific time will make you accountable for the goals that you set.  Another goal we had previously was to get our 72-hour kit ready by the next quarter.  That did not work. This past time we decided that every Monday we would pick something else to add to our 72-hour kit and buy it that week.  We are doing a lot better on this one.

• Put your goals somewhere you will see them often.  After we set our goals for the new quarter I write them on a paper and put it on our fridge.  

• Set goals for a variety of areas of your life. You can set goals for anything that is important to you that you want to see accomplished.  We have had a goals about a variety of things including food storage, temple attendance, exercise, meal planning, vacations, finances, etc.  

• Set goals that will make you stretch.  Once something becomes a habit it doesn't really need to be on your list of goals anymore.  For a while we had the hardest time doing family scripture study. We finally figured out what worked for us and now we don't really have to think about it anymore, it's just part of our day, so it is no longer on our goal list.

Goal setting doesn't have to be a drag.  My husband and I really enjoy it and I'm excited for when we have kids that our older and they can be included in the process.  It is a wonderful way to see that you are actually growing and becoming better.