“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)

We’ve reached the halfway point of 2019. Yikes! Where did the time go? Before any more of 2019 slips away, I’m evaluating my goals for the year. In the past, I’ve broken my larger, yearly goals into smaller, monthly goals. I didn’t do that this year, and I’ve noticed my progress has lagged.

I set goals in seven different areas: health, financial, work, personal writing, Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI), spiritual, and relationships. For each of these categories, I set two to three overarching goals for the year.

Having so many goals felt necessary in order to move forward, but overwhelming at the same time. I decided to focus most of my efforts on one area: health.

For the health category, I set five overarching goals covering physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. In this way, I rolled some of my other goals into this one.

Anyone who knows me knows I fill my off hours with activities. Because I run my own business, I work long, odd hours, including most weekends. I created a goal of scheduling a block of time off each week. I struggled with this for the first half of the year, but I’m starting to see a new routine emerge. For the first time since I started running my business full time three years ago, I have at least one entire day a week free. This has made a difference in my mindset, and I’m thankful for the progress I’m making.

I love to walk with my dog, so I set a goal to walk five times per week. Unfortunately, I’ve slacked on this while increasing my sugar intake. My body has let me know it’s not happy with me by the higher number on the scale and the general blahness that comes with not eating right. I know I must make changes in a way that will stick. I’ve committed to a short walk each day (if I mow the lawn, does that count?), and I’ve reduced my portion sizes, which in turn reduces the number of calories I take in. These are small changes, but when done consistently will make big changes in my health outcomes.

Speaking of food, I committed to increasing the immune-boosting foods I eat, and I’ve accomplished this goal. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve missed only a day or two of eating the appropriate amount of immune-boosting foods such as spinach, broccoli, citrus, fish, chicken, and almonds. I feel a sense of accomplishment about this goal that makes me not give up on the other ones.

A quick glimpse of the rest of my goal categories shows me I’m behind, but not too far off track. In fact, I’ve met my OWFI goals and can take those off my list.

I delayed working on my personal writing projects until after the OWFI conference in May. I’m diving back into writing and slowly developing a new routine. I’ve found a critique group to help me shape up my fiction, and I’m setting aside time each week to work on my projects.

Relationships are important to me as well. For the last few months, I’ve felt called to focus on people over things. This means making time to have coffee or dinner with friends, getting together to play games, or just talking. This means making time to visit my parents as often as possible. This means taking an impromptu trip with a friend who’s moving to learn the lay of the land in a new city. I’m determined to make time for the people in my life while they’re still here.

Looking back over my goals occasionally is a good thing and can help me determine when it’s time to adjust. I’m achievement oriented, so it’s important that I review my goals with the right attitude: one in which I will adjust what’s not working and not one in which I beat myself up because I didn’t meet my goal.

With the Lord’s help, I can review and adjust my methods to meet the goals he has for me. With prayer, I can determine whether a particular goal is actually from him or my own idea. When I make sure the Lord’s hand is in my goals, then I will continue to make progress. He will help me focus on the people and things that are important and put everything else aside.

Dear Jesus, thank you for goals and the ability to discern when to continue striving toward a goal and when to adjust my course. Help me not to be so achievement oriented that I forget to focus on people. Amen.