Being Intentional in the New Year

It’s the first day of a brand new year and many of us are reflecting about how this year could be different from the last one. For a lot of you it’s a time when you set new goals. We did a Wire Talk episode last year answering questions from moms on how to be more intentional in the New Year; so be sure to check that out, but for now, here are some of my thoughts:

The first step to being intentional is to take a realistic assessment of where you are. If you aren’t where you want to be in your life, whether that’s in your marriage, with your body image, your home, your career, your friends – take some quiet time to assess where you are and ask yourself why? So often we start with a goal in mind (i.e. I want my marriage to be happier, I want to read my Bible more) but we don’t look at why we are where we are. Why don’t you read your Bible? Why isn’t your marriage flourishing? This can be uncomfortable moms, but it’s a necessary step toward making changes.

Next, write out a few realistic ways you can start making some changes and then only tackle 1-2 changes at a time. If you take on more than that, you may get discouraged and quit. There’s a quote I love, “perfect is the enemy of good,” which means doing something (anything!) is better than waiting around to do the perfect thing. Just start somewhere. It’s okay if you decide to start reading your Bible and forget five out of seven days the first week. Those two days are a start and a place to grow from. I would rather change one small thing at a time, change one bad habit to a good habit, and have it stick than try to overhaul everything and in three months, be back to square one.

Being intentional is a lot of work! Don’t get discouraged.  The main thing is to keep moving forward!