Goals

When I first started writing again, after having little babies in the house, the topic was on frugal living mostly. Well, motherhood and frugal living. I would have balked at the concept of Abundance. Why? Survival Mode Scarcity Can’t See Abundance Well, as I’ve written before regarding poverty, when you’re in the thick of it […]

Every year for the last several years, I’ve prayed about and chosen a different word as my “theme” for the year. This year, 2018, the theme is Mastery. One of the reasons for choosing mastery is that this has been something I’ve been working on in some areas in my life. I’m great at starting […]

I have a serious problem sometimes. Maybe I should say “Had” a serious problem. Although to be honest, it still crops up from time to time. Steven Pressfield in War of Art would call it “Resistance”. Maybe Gretchen Rubin would call it a bad habit. It’s procrastination, my friends.  Mixed, to be honest, with self-loathing, […]

Maybe this is a bit of wisdom that comes with age — the biggest danger I see for me and for others in getting things done and managing our time best is not so much in being lazy, but in doing the wrong stuff. For me, productivity is all about doing the right stuff and […]

One of the best skills you can ever develop as a human being is the fine art of acting vs reacting. This is one of those things you learn more and more as you get older. That is if you’re willing to listen to life’s lessons sent your way. A professor in college used to urge […]

A recent report I read revealed a shocking statistic about financial emergencies. It reported 47% of Middle-Class Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency on their own.  They would need to borrow the money via credit cards, family loans, or other means. An odd rush of emotions came through as I read Neil Gabler’s excellent article in the […]

There are seasons in our lives when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Here’s how to cope with those seasons.
Seasons when treading water is the greatest accomplishment.

Is living by faith and setting goals at odds with one another? These are topics I’ve wrestled with in the past. Maybe you have too. The Two Sides of Living By Faith or By a Plan Is it too rigid for us to set goals and write out missions statements when we, as Christians, are to […]

I’m sure that sounds like a strange thing, to suggest we should embrace failure. Well, maybe. I wouldn’t say we should try to fail, but we certainly shouldn’t fear it. Every time we fall short we can learn and grow if we get back up again. My own fear of messing up early in life […]

We all probably realize we need better focus in our lives to take care of what we feel we need to do or should be doing. The real issue for most of us is how to maintain that focus. Here are a few tips I’ve learned in my life. Some Mental Downtime is Good for […]

You may have heard it said that if you are aiming at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. Although life isn’t as perfect and linear as we’d prefer it to be, having goals in mind can help you stay on track, making progress towards the end you have chosen. This sure beats meandering through life […]

Crafting my own personal mission statement has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. My personal mission statement has saved me much time, money, and frustration in my life. I think many of us when we hear the phrase “mission statement” don’t think of ourselves. You think of a large organization or business. Yet, […]

Setting goals is one thing; actually achieving them is quite another. How many of us write out our goals and New Year’s resolutions at the start of each new year, only to not even remember what most of those are by the end of the new year? Keeping those goals and New Year’s resolutions before […]

I am a goal orientated person. Now, this is not because I consider myself to be very organized or particularly productive. In fact, I think it’s more of the opposite. I know that, if I don’t keep goals in front of me, I usually get nothing done. I’ve posted in the past about having long […]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: we all have the same 24 hours in a day. When it comes to trying to achieve our goals, it’s not enough for us to decide to start doing certain things (such as working out more, eating better, creating an emergency fund, etc.). We also have […]

A reader asked me, Your post on “saying no” hit home for me. I don’t handle saying no well. I say yes and then regret it. I feel like a jerk if I say no too many times to people or events. Then I burn out quickly if I have too much going on. I’ve […]

I post quite a few articles on getting things done. I’m always making goals, to-do lists, and trying to press forwards. However, when it comes to goals, schedules, to-do lists, and productivity in general, there are a few common misconceptions and complaints I’ve heard. Misconception #1: Productivity Means Less Time for People and Relationships This […]

In recent years, I’ve been learning more than I ever thought possible about exercise: the proper way to do it, the value of it, and so forth. I’ve been amazed at how some of what I’ve learned specifically about exercise also applies generally in all of life. Take for example the concept of rest and […]

Frequently, I get asked to do things, help with activities, given offers for employment or volunteering, and otherwise opportunities to invest my time and money in a good cause. That’s when it’s most difficult to make decisions: when you know the cause is a good one. If you had an unlimited amount of time and […]

What do I mean by parenting with the end in mind? By Parenting with the End in Mind, I mean to decide where you want to end up, at the end if this parenting journey, and come up with a plan, step by step for how to get there. This is basically the same as […]

As the saying goes, the good really is the enemy of the best. One of the most frustrating parts of life, for me, is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be enough time in each day to do what I want to do or feel like I need to do. No one has the […]

The problem with New Year’s Resolutions, you may have found, is that they often result in failure a short time after you created them. I don’t know about you, but I’m great at writing out a list of ambitious goals and New Year’s resolutions, only to have them end in disappointment and failure. As I […]

When it comes to setting any kind of goals, I always take the time to pray about those first, seeking out God’s wisdom in setting my goals. God promises to give us all wisdom if we ask Him for it, so ask away! (see James 1:5). When it comes to praying about your goals, there […]

Over the years, learning what works for me and what doesn’t, I’ve drastically pared down my system to consist mostly of a sheet or two of goals to achieve annually, and then smaller goals and to-do lists that I craft from week to week. This works well in conjunction with my calendar for appointments and […]

Living frugally, to be successful, has to be about saving money in ways that don’t leave you or your family feeling frustrated or deprived. A frugal living tip is only going to work effectively in your life if it fits your lifestyle and your values. It took me years to learn that. I could never […]

Life changes, and so do our priorities. Although at our core, I think we tend to value the same thing overall, I know that how I enacted that has changed over the years. For example, as I’ve grown and matured in the Lord, and as I’ve grown and matured in other areas (being a wife, […]

When it comes to WAHM ideas, that is, ideas for moms to make money at home, most of them seem to involve selling some multi level marketing product that is far overpriced, endless home parties, or maybe making crafts and hoping to sell them either online or at craft fairs. Very few people talk about […]

Are you worried about your personal savings (or lack thereof?) You’re not alone. Since the day when a financial planner guy caused me a few weeks’ worth of lost sleep, and several dozen panic attacks by telling us we should be putting aside $1,000 a month to our savings for retirement and college for our […]

On Monday, I talked a little bit about why goals fail. Today, my post is going to zero in a little bit on one of those points: how to make your goals part of your every day life. In our family, we created some long term goals for different things. One of those areas was […]

Many people don’t bother with goals because they feel goals are a set up to failure, instead of success. But that’s not true. Goals aren’t to blame for why goals fail. Let’s look at some reasons why Goals fail and how we can succeed with our goals anyway. I don’t think it’s a secret that […]

Is being motivated and driven to improve one’s situation (financial and otherwise) contradictory to the call to be content? Does being content mean being complacent? That’s the heart of a back and forth conversation I’ve been having with someone on Facebook. The conversation has left my brain operating in high gear for a while now, […]