Before we can get into writing our goals, we need to ask a question.  Why are goals are important?  The reason is pretty simple, you need direction.  Without goals you don’t have direction.  Yes, you may be moving in a direction that you like, but it isn’t with purpose.  Instead you are moving through life at a whim.  That isn’t always bad.  However, I will challenge you to make a plan for your life.  Why?  So you can go deeper.  Deeper with your relationships, with your community, deeper with your kids and homeschool.  Goals help you to do that.

I haven’t always been a good goal setter.  I would think of these lofty ideals for my life, and expect that I could get to that point just by speaking my wishes into the air.  Clearly that isn’t realistic.  In fact, I don’t even think I went as far as to speak them.  I thought “this is where I want to be,” and then expected to eventually get to that point.

Surprisingly {not so surprisingly} that didn’t work out.

Freedom

Have you ever felt like setting goals would be restrictive?  Like, once you write it down you have to follow it up?  Or perhaps as soon as you write down your goal it no longer makes sense to you?  Or do you think of a goal and then when you get halfway to the goal realize that it isn’t the right goal to begin with?

Freedom is something that I love, as I’m sure most of you do as well.  It is part of the reason we homeschool.  For the freedom to be able to do what we want as a family with our time.  Do you feel like goal setting would hinder or help that freedom?

I used to think that it would hinder it.

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Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies always comes to mind when thinking of goal setting.  As a rebel goals are hard.  You can write them down, and then immediately want to throw them in the fireplace.  They aren’t good enough.  They don’t fit exactly what you want.  Or now that you have written them down you wonder whether it was really a goal of yours to begin with, or if it just sounded like it should be a goal.

Goals vs. Freedom

What we realize is that goals and freedom work hand in hand.  They do not work against one another.  You can still live a care-free bohemian lifestyle with goals.  In fact, I would argue that it is harder to live that way without goals.

Instead of a goals vs. freedom mindset, we shift our thinking.  It is actually set goals in order to live that freedom.

Personal Goal Setting

The first place we will be stopping this week is personal goal setting.  This is where it all begins.  This is what helps to put you on the path for goal setting with your family and your homeschool.  Setting personal goals is extremely personal.  Once you figure out how to set up personal goals, as well as figure out the steps associated with those goals, you will be better off.  It will help put you in a frame of mind to expand your goal setting to other areas of your life.  It will also model a great behavior to your kids.

I use some very specific tools when it comes to goal setting.  One is the PowerSheets from Cultivate What Matters.  This is an amazing tool we will talk more about this week.  The amount of pre-goal work, to really understand what we want out of our lives, that is the most eye-opening.

Personal goal setting is going to allow you to mold your life into what you want it to be.  Yes, there will be some constraints, but being realistic about the constraints will help you.  You will figure out a way to overcome those challenges in order to get to the next goal on your list.  It is all about building blocks.

We want to take the time for personal goal setting so that we are in control of our lives.  Yes, God is ultimately the one in control, but you want to be on the right path.  Personal goal setting will help you become aligned to the path that you need to be on.

Kids and Goal Setting

Do you have goals for your kids?  I’m sure you do.  You think through the homeschool year and know that you want your oldest to be proficient in x, y, and z by the end of the year.  But, do you ever set goals with your kids?

My guess is that it doesn’t come up very often.

It is easy to set goals for your kids, but an awful lot harder to set goals with your kids.  Especially if they are young.  Now, if your kids are in the baby and toddler stages, you aren’t going to be able to sit down with them to make a goal plan.  However, if they are pre-school and up, I definitely believe that you can help your kids to make some great goals.  They may be incredibly childish, but it doesn’t matter.  The point is that they are starting to learn how to make goals for themselves.

Kids will often want to know the why behind something.  Why do they have to complete this math lesson?  Why do they have to read this book?  Why do they have to do this chore?  These questions are all valid questions.  When you sit down and work through goal setting with your kids, they will see how a lot of life works around them.  They will see the steps involved in getting to a specific place in life.

The Bottom Line

The real reason that goal setting is important is because you do not want to become stagnant.  You do not want to get into a rut where you can’t get out.  When you get into a rut, it is overwhelming.  While I am giving you the tools to set goals this week, you need to take the time to do the work.  I can’t write your goals for you.  Believe me, I have tried writing goals for other people – it doesn’t work!  Goals are specific to a person or a family.  If you are writing family goals, it needs to include your family, not just you writing goals.

You want to keep moving forward in life.  Overcoming obstacles and challenges, and getting to where you think you ought to be is hard.  Goal setting is what is going to show you the steps in order to overcome those obstacles.

Are you a goal setter?  What is one obstacle that stands in your way?