Goal-Setting for the New Year: 10 Questions to Ask

There are few things I love more than the fresh start of a new year–a clean slate, a new beginning. With Christmas just days away, I am starting to look ahead to the New Year. I love to think about what is possible…to dream. However, goal setting for the New Year can feel elusive if we aren’t intentional about reflecting back and looking forward.

Are you a goal setter? Have you given yourself permission to dream or have you gotten stuck somewhere? Maybe the past couple of years have knocked you off your feet and the thought of dreaming feels like a bit of a bad joke, but I believe there is power in creating space for vision, in positive thoughts, in forward thinking, in writing down where you want to go…do you know where you want to go in the year ahead?

If not, that’s okay, now is the perfect time to begin to create a vision.
Or do you know, but something is preventing you from moving forward, from taking action?

As you begin to think about your year ahead, try to steal away for some uninterrupted time over the next week, grab a journal, and write down the answers to these questions.

Celebrate

What can I celebrate this year–what went well?
What are the little and big wins of this past year?

Move Forward

Are there areas I need to let go of?
Ruts I need to get out of?
People I need to forgive (myself?).
Broken places I need to move on from?

Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

Envision

Start praying and asking the Lord what his vision is for your coming year.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Focus

What is 1 big goal or a few small goals that you want to accomplish in 2021?
(more on breaking down a big goal to come…)

Cultivate

What relationships do I want to cultivate? Where do I want to press in, to be intentional, to love well?

Build

What are 3-5 habits I want to build?

Learn

What do I want to learn this year?

Grow

In what areas do I want to grow (finances, relationships, health…) and how will I practically do that?

Read

What books will I read this year? Make a list! Buy or check out the first one out from the library and get started!

Uproot

What is not serving me? What will I do less of or cut out altogether?
What is stealing precious time and capacity from what I am called to?

I love this quote by T.E. Lawrence… (Parentheses added by me.)

All (wo)men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous (wo)men. That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.

May we be dreamers of day.

Are you ready for a New Beginning? If so, read here.