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I used to make big, sweeping resolutions for myself at the beginning of each year. But year after year, I failed to achieve them.

Many of you know the ritual I’m referring to: New Year’s Resolutions.

It’s the tradition where we decide what big things we’re going to change or do differently in the next year in order to improve ourselves and our lives in some way.

Maybe it’s that we want to lose weight or break our phone addictions or write a book or start a business or make major strides in our marriages or we’ve decided we’re going to pray and read our Bibles every day.

All of these “resolutions” or goals are very well intended, but often poorly executed.

Our hearts are in the right place, but we make these sweeping declarations without taking time to make a roadmap to actually achieve them. Often, we declare we’re going to make a change without taking the time to think it through and make an achievable plan.

Because of this, nearly 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February.

Has this happened to you? I know it has happened to me.

So, one year, I decided to make a change. Now, I do something else instead. I set myself up for success and for long-term progress to be made. And I want the same for you.

So, what do I do instead of making New Year’s Resolutions?

I set intentional goals instead of New Year’s resolutions.

Instead of resolving to change something about myself or my life come January 1st, I set intentional goals that I can work on for the entire year.

Instead of making a list of all the things I’m going to change at the beginning of the year, I make a cultivated, prayerful list of big goals I want to spread out over the course of every month of the year, not just the first one.

Most of the reason New Year’s resolutions fail is that we bite off more than we can chew right at the beginning without room for change or error.

Another reason resolutions can be harmful is that they often come from a negative place. It comes from a mindset that says, “these are all the things I dislike about myself and want to change” without diving into the “why?” behind those ideas.

It focuses on the negative things we think about ourselves.

Setting intentional, grace-filled goals takes “you need to change this about yourself” and turns it into “you get to make progress on becoming who you want to be.”

Instead of resolutions, I make action plans.

Another reason I no longer make New Year’s resolutions is that resolutions rarely are accompanied by a plan to make them happen.

Instead of saying, “I want to lose weight” as a resolution, you could say “I want to eat more vegetables and less sugar” or “I want to complete a workout program from start to finish.”

And then I go a step further and actually do the research to find a system or program or tool that will give me the structure I need to make progress on that goal.

For example, in 2019 I set a goal to pray more consistently and actually pray over my loved ones instead of just saying I would. Around that time, I discovered the ValMarie Paper Yearly Prayer Journal which has a system in place to help women pray regularly and for others.

So, I purchased it.

Making a resolution or setting a goal without having a plan to achieve it sets you up for failure and disappointment. If you want to make progress, you’ve got to have a plan in place.

Instead of big resolutions, I break my goals into smaller benchmarks.

I use an awesome goal-setting planner that helps me break down my big yearly goals into smaller, achievable benchmarks.

One of the things I love about the goal-setting tool I use is that before you even set your goals, you take some serious time to figure out everything you want to accomplish and then group those little goals into bigger overarching goals.

So, the “resolution” to lose weight becomes a birds-eye view goal of creating healthy habits that fuel and care for your body. Going through a workout program or committing to a nutrition plan may be one of the ways you make progress on that big overall goal.

It also guides you through a process that helps you figure out why you want to do certain things and whether those desires truly matter to you.

The tool is created by a company called Cultivate What Matters and that is exactly what they help women do.

RELATED: How Goal Setting Can Radically Grow Your Faith

Instead of rigid resolutions, I measure success by progress, not productivity.

Resolutions often have an “all or nothing” connotation to them. There isn’t room to celebrate progress with resolutions. You either did them 100 percent or you didn’t.

Once I stopped making New Year’s resolutions and started setting intentional goals instead, I created the space to measure my success by progress made rather than goals met.

Do I still ultimately want to reach my goals? Absolutely. But there is so much more that goes into reaching a goal that also needs to be celebrated and acknowledged.

Once you break your big goal into smaller benchmarks, set an action plan, and start to make progress, seeing this and celebrating it is incredibly motivating and it creates a positive relationship with the goal you are trying to achieve.

Focus on how much progress you are making rather than how productive you are being.

I leave room for God to shift my heart and my focus throughout the year.

This one is huge.

Again, New Year’s resolutions are often very rigid. Either you lost 10 pounds or you failed. Either you read the whole Bible in a year or you failed. Either you prayed every single day or you failed. And there is no room to change or shift your resolutions.

Intentional goals are different. The planner I use has a goal refresh every 3 months. In these sections, you rate the major areas of your life and take a look at your goals. Then you get to decide if you want to change, edit or remove them entirely.

Just because you said it on January 1st doesn’t mean you’re stuck with that goal all year. So much can happen and change within a year (2020 sure taught us that) and your priorities might shift. Your goals can shift accordingly.

God may plant a new desire in your heart or put a new relationship in your path and we need to be open to shifting and following His leading.

Are you done making New Year’s Resolutions too?

If you’re ready to ditch the resolutions and start setting intentional goals you can work on all year long, the PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner is the tool for you.

That’s a no-brainer, right?

Your Sister In Christ,