Mid-Year and Back to School Goal Setting | Blessed is She - Blessed Is She

back to school goals

I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions. I have nothing against them, of course. I just always felt that you can start at any time to make improvements on your life. God is always calling us to be our best, so why not live that way?

However, over the years, as life has become busier and busier, I have begun to appreciate having that set time and fresh start at the new year to write down my goals.

As with most resolutions and goals, starting strong is easy, but continuing through the months can become difficult. August, when so many of us or our children are heading back to school, is a great month to take some time and reevaluate where we're at with our goals.

What has been successful? What hasn’t?

This is definitely not a time to beat ourselves up about ways we have fallen short. This is simply a time to update our goals and make adjustments.

Mid-Year Goal Setting

Here are some steps to help you refocus and remember that all you do is ultimately for the glory of God.

Start in prayer.

Spend some time in quiet prayer, either in your home or in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Ask the Lord to fill you with His peace and clarity as you sit down to work on your goal setting.

Clear your brain.

Set a timer for ten minutes. Play some calming music, and sit down with a blank paper and pen. For the next ten minutes, write/draw/doodle whatever comes to mind. Maybe it has to do with your goals and maybe it doesn’t. Simply dump out everything on your mind: worries, hopes, fears, grocery lists. All of it.

Write out your goals. Evaluate.

Go back to when you last set goals (perhaps the beginning of this year?). Rewrite them, leaving a few lines underneath each one. Write down what is/was working for that particular goal and what was not.

Imagine December.

Now write a few sentences about where you see yourself in December in conjunction with your goals. What has changed? Are their any new goals? What in your life would be different if these goals came to fruition?

Tweak your goals.

From there, rewrite out your goals and your new game plan. Are there goals that are no longer relevant? Are there goals that are still important but don’t require as much time as you previously thought? Do you have a particular goal that you’d like to focus more on? Remembering where you you’d like to be in December, draw up a new game plan for each goal.

Make a visual.

Create a brand new Pinterest board dedicated to your goals for the next four months. Are you working to buying a house? Pin images of your dream house. Are you trying to finish the semester at a certain GPA? Pin some quotes that inspire you.

Or you can go old school and make a “Vision Board” to hang up in a place you’ll see it often. A vision board is basically the original Pinterest board. Use magazines, scrapbook paper, photographs, and anything else to create a visual representation of what you are trying to accomplish and the motivation you need to accomplish it.

Find a verse.

Finally, find a Bible verse (our Scripture cards would be great for this) to help keep you focused over the next few months. Put it on your nightstand, on the bathroom mirror, or maybe next to the coffee machine. It just needs to be somewhere you’ll see it often.

Our lives get so busy so fast. It is helpful to have a piece of Scripture dedicated just to your goals so that it can help remind you why you are working as hard as you are to achieve those dreams.

Our Ultimate Goal

Whatever your goals may be, do not be defeated. Focus on what you can control and do not waste energy on the things you can’t. Lay your goals at the foot of the cross and give it all over to the Lord.

We can dream and plan all we want. But if we aren’t trusting in Him, we will ultimately find ourselves disappointed.

We can dream and plan all we want. But if we aren’t trusting in Him, we will ultimately find ourselves disappointed. #BISblog //Click to tweet

A Prayer for Dreamers

Lord, You know my heart so well. You know every thought, prayer, idea, goal, and dream. Please help me to not become lost in the hustle of today’s world. Help me to slow down and remember that You are the author of my story, You are the greatest inspiration to my hopes and dreams. Give me the strength to pursue my passions and glorify You with my every step and every breath. Your will be done, O Lord, Your will be done. Amen.

How are your goals for this year going? Are you setting new goals with the start of a new school year? Share them with us in the comments—we'll pray for you!

Mid-Year Goal Setting #BISblog //Click to tweet

Susana Starbuck is wife of a youth minister and mother to four littles five and under. She lives in Phoenix, AZ and enjoys reading a good book, posting her highlight reel on Instagram, and drinking wine. You can connect with her here.