There are a lot of great tools for annual planning, and I’ve experimented with most of them. One of my favorite practices is going on a silent retreat—sometimes for over a day—to listen to God for guidance on the year ahead. I have some time set aside later this month for just that.
However, I recognize that busy lives don’t always permit that kind of space. Around the holidays, there are often sports tournaments, administrative tasks, and end-of-year business deadlines that compress our time for planning.
On top of all that is parenting. Over the past few years, we’ve experimented with ways to help our kids create their own vision for the year. This practice is important to me because it helps them uncover their unique identity while allowing us to form a stronger family identity by rallying around a shared goal or vision for the year.
The purpose of this post is to share how we did it (at least this year)
How Our Family Sets Goals for the Year in One Hour.
Gathered markers and large white sheets of paper
We watched this video as a family (keep in mind I have young children)
After we watched the video we talked about the power of having a purpose or vision statement. We also tied up the “looking up” portion of the video to listening to God.
We discussed 4 or 5 ways that God speaks to us as a review
I showed a template of the plan we were all going to work on
Name: You write your name
Word: After a time of listening prayer, you will write down one or more “purpose words” God has given you for the year
Goals: After writing down a purpose word, fill out the goals lists
LEARN - Learning Goals: Things you want to learn this year (skills, subjects)
DO - Things to God: Accomplishments, habits, activities, adventures
BE: - Ways to Change: Character qualities you want to embody, ways you want to change
Time of journaling and listening: We then put on worship music on our Google speaker and spread throughout the house for 30 minutes. The goal for the next 30 minutes was to complete the above template
Regather - we then regathered in the living room
Each family member shared a 1 minute version of their plan with the rest of the family. Even my four year old came up with a slightly random, something!
We then prayed over each family member after they shared
Of course, as you can imagine, all this was very imperfect. There were interruptions, snack breaks, and some jockeying for who got to share when. But all-in-all, it was a win. I’m so excited for our family to lean into purpose words this year like faith or selflessness. And I’m beginning the year with energy seeing that we all have goals. And it only took one hour!
Goal setting is never perfect, but always important. When you do this you build identity in your family. We are family that listens to God, sets goals, and makes the most of the year ahead.