Creating Your Personal Goals for 2022

I love goals. I mean that. I really do.

I love creating them. I love achieving them. I love writing them down. And I love hearing about the goals of others and what they are doing to make them happen.

I've talked to many people who don't see the point. They have failed to achieve their goals so often they have given up. Or they are so overwhelmed by life they feel like the best they can do is survive. They have no vision for how to thrive.

I get that. I've been there myself. There were several years I didn't set goals at all. I was too busy just trying to survive a divorce, the sickness and death of my father, and personal illness.

But 2021, was a great and beautiful year for me and for the first time in a long time I am optimistic about a New Year, and I want to start setting goals again.

Here are a few tips from my experience that might help you in setting your goals for 2022. Use them as you see fit. These are only ideas. There are as many ways to do this as there are people. Do what works for you and makes you feel excited not burdened by the process.

Start with a Year-End Review

I like to write down some responses to a few questions that get me thinking about how things went for the year I am exiting and what I need to drive me forward into the New Year.

• What did I learn this year?
• What did I accomplish?
• Where did I fall short, and do I know why?
• What do I want to leave in 2021?
• What do I want to take into 2022?
• What am I most thankful for in 2021?
• What am I most looking forward to in 2022?

Add more questions if you like, or just pick one or two of these. And don't feel like you need to write page long responses, either. Key words and phrases are plenty.

Pick Your Goal Areas

I like to choose a few areas where I will set goals. These will be personal to you but here are mine:

• Discipleship (Or spiritual life if you prefer.) This covers my relationship with God, my involvement in church and in service to my community, and my character growth.
• Health and Fitness: This is not just physical health, but emotional and mental health as well.
• Family
• Writing
• Financial
• Work
• Fun: This one is REALLY important.

Set Some Guidelines

I admit, I like rules, so I call them rules when I set my goals, but many people often bristle at the idea of rules, so set some personal guidelines for your goals.

These should be simple. They are designed to help provide some boundaries for you and keep you focused. They can also keep you from setting yourself up for failure.

For example, for a couple of years I set out to achieve 101 goals. That was simply ridiculous. I didn't get anywhere close to achieving even half of them because I got so discouraged by my lack of progress that I gave up.

Here are my personal guidelines:

• Average of 2 to 5 goals in each area.
• No more than 5 in any area.
• No less than 1 in any area.
• No more than 20 goals for the year.

These guidelines help me focus. Usually, the area of discipleship gets at least 4 goals and so does work and writing. That means I only have 8 more goals maximum that I can set to cover the other areas.

Doing this helps me really focus on what is most important. What is going to make the biggest and most positive impact on my life and the life of the people I love?

Review and Edit

Don't be afraid to write down your goals, cross some off, write down new ones, and cross them off too.

Work on your goal list until you have it down to what is most important for you and what you are most excited about doing.

Remember, setting and achieving goals in your personal life should be a delight not a drudgery.

And one more thing. If you're in a place in your life where you are just trying to survive. That's okay. You're not a failure. You're doing what you need to do. Hard times really do come to an end and there will be light in your life again where you can see the future more clearly. Press on. That is a grand goal.

Have a great 2022!