Best Laid Plans
It’s the time of year when printed planners, family agendas, and Google calendars are ready to help us map out our best laid plans. What will be the right workout regimen for the year ahead? Maybe we need a new weekly family activity? When and where will we book that perfect vacation? Sound familiar?
The new year is a natural time for fresh starts, reflection, and setting resolutions and goals. Who doesn’t like a clean slate? The challenge is that most goal-setting starts with us—our ideas of what “should” happen and how “success” looks.
So how can we set goals that actually work—whether you approach life through faith or simply want meaningful, values-driven progress? In this post I’ll share more about what values-based goal planning is, why it’s effective, and some steps I follow that you might consider trying when setting your resolutions or goals for the coming year.
Values-Based Goal Planning
Instead of planning around where we think our lives are lacking, or focusing on personal improvement and achievement, values-based goal planning focuses on our alignment with our core values. Maybe for you it’s focusing on family, or various causes you support. For me, it’s all of those things, but also chasing the plans God has in store for me. I believe that if He created us—He did—and He has a plan for us—He does!—then connecting with His values should be my utmost aim. This is keeping God as the guidepost, the source of our prosperity and hope:
Jeremiah 29:11: “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.”
How it’s done
Values-based goal planning involves lots of quiet time, or prayer, and reflection. Here’s the step-by-step process I follow:
1, Prayer or Quiet Time – I pray, asking the Lord to guide not only the outcomes of my goals but the desires of my heart. If this is a new approach for you, simply take some quiet time to ask the Lord into your planning time. Ask for His grace and help in ordering your steps toward clear goals and plans; extensions of His plans for you.
2. Reflection – As I pray and think through aims for each area of my life, I reflect on what the Lord has done in seasons prior. Perhaps there’s a pattern or a repeat behavior to learn from or a goal that’s never taken hold. These can all be signals that a goal may need to be refined or even abandoned for a completely different goal. If this is the first time you’re reflecting before making a resolution or setting a goal, ask yourself: Can I see eternal impact from this resolution or goal? Does it help other people? Does it bring God glory?
3. Connect them to Scripture – While I’m drafting my goals, I’ll select a key scripture verse for each goal to connect it to truth and to help me remember it when I’m actively working towards it in my daily life. Just as stated in Proverbs 16:3: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” If this is a new concept for you, think of an uplifting song lyric, bible story or passage, even a simple phrase that reminds you of your goal and could help you commit your goal to memory.
4. Envision the Outcome – Think about how you want to actually accomplish that resolution or goal. What steps in your goal could make achieving it more specific, measurable, or achievable? What would successfully achieving that goal look like from an outcome or timing perspective? Get clear on who or what it is helping, and why?
5. Check-In – Once I have my goals planned, I like to share each goal with a wise friend, maybe a bible study pal who can relate to that aim for my life. The objective here is not to have them adjust or edit the goal, rather to help me identify any blind spots or additional resources or considerations for me in that goal area. If you need accountability, setting up a check-in with a buddy is such a helpful step. Then, I create a calendar or task for myself with the monthly or quarterly check-in cadence to ensure it’s happening. I even include a prompt in that check-in for me to take notes of my progress directly into my journal, or my phone—wherever I’m keeping track of that goal.
Continuously Going Back to our Guidepost
The exercise of values-based goal planning is so important. When we seek to align our priorities with our core values, or with the Lord’s plans for us, this reinforces that our resolutions or goals mean more than our achievements. Maybe this is the first year you’re considering investing time in family worship or going to church regularly as a goal. Start by making sure you’re praying and reflecting on your options, then deciding on specifics, setting up a check-in with an accountability buddy—these would all be great next steps.
For me, values-based goal planning is a reminder that I’m not pursuing a perfectly neat and tidy roadmap for my life, because that would mean I’ve put my faith in my plans instead of putting my faith in God! Following a values-based resolution or goal planning approach allows me to stay in continuous reflection and connection with Lord about my goals. It doesn’t matter if it’s January or June, pursuing alignment with His will is always the best idea. This approach reminds me that if God is at the center of my goals, then the “what” and “how” can shift because: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails,” –Proverbs 19:21
