The new year starts Saturday (!!) and for many of us, this in-between week is when we think about the past year and how we want this coming year to be different.

For a lot of you, it’s a time when you set new goals. so here are my thoughts as you think about the coming year:

• 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 – spend some time assessing where you are and ask yourself why?

  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, brainstorm realistic ways you can make 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 that 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 5 out of 7 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!

If you want more about new year and new goals, check out this  Wire Talk episode answering questions from moms on how to be more intentional in the New Year!