Happy New Year! As we step into the new year, it’s the perfect time to focus on fresh starts and healthy habits.
Change Your Resolutions
It’s 2025 already! You know what that means: time for New Year’s resolutions! There are a few reasons we may not set New Year’s resolutions:
We haven’t seen them through in the past.
We didn’t make time to reflect on the previous year.
We didn’t make specific plans to accomplish the resolutions.
We doubt our ability to achieve our resolutions.
Whatever the reasons for not setting or achieving New Year’s resolutions in the past, we can change! This guide is designed to help us reflect on our past year, think about what we want to achieve in the new year, and set realistic goals. It will help us take specific actionable steps to reach our goals consistently and prove to ourselves that we can do hard things. Let’s start on this New Year's Resolution journey!
Reflect
As we prepare to create a plan for the upcoming year, let's take a moment to reflect on 2024. This isn’t just about the changes we want to make; it’s also about celebrating the moments we cherish and want to carry forward. This is an interactive guide that you can save and print. I encourage you to write out your responses. It will help you slow down and give thought to your answers.
2024
What are you most proud of this past year? What is something that happened this last year that you are thankful for? What was the most important lesson you learned? How did you live by your core values? What advice would you give your last-year self? What challenges did you overcome? What would you do differently if you could?
2025
What will you continue doing in 2025? What do you want to change completely? What will you accomplish by the end of next year?
SMART Goals
Now that we’ve reflected on the past year and generated some ideas for our New Year’s resolutions, let’s write them down while keeping SMART goals in mind. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. These five attributes help us set attainable goals and follow through with them.
Specific - When thinking about your New Year’s resolutions, make sure they are specific. Goals that are too vague like Eat healthier are hard to achieve because what you define as “healthier” may change over time. Instead, set a goal like, Eat more fruits and vegetables daily.
Measurable - Similar to being specific, the goal must be measurable. We can take our Eat more fruits and vegetables daily goal and expound on it: Eat 2 servings of fruits and 4 servings of vegetables daily. Or, Eat every color of the rainbow in fruits and in vegetables each week. Now, I have defined what “more” means.
Achievable - Make sure your goal is achievable and reasonable. Set goals that are achievable to you, like eating 4 different vegetables and 2 different fruits each day. As you reach your goals, revisit them and add to them. Keeping goals achievable helps give you a sense of accomplishment!
Relevant - Your New Year’s resolutions should be relevant to you. Ensure that they line up with your core values. If family is important to you, your goal might be, Find and cook new recipes for my family each week that include a wide variety of at least 5 different fruits and 5 different vegetables.
Timely - Consistency is key! Timeframes create routines to help you be consistent. Depending on the goal, it may look like, Eat fruits and vegetables daily or Try a new vegetable once a weekorCook every vegetable in my local grocery store in a month’s time. The time frame can specify how often the goal will occur or at what point the goal is complete if it has an end date
Write Your SMART Goal
It’s your turn to write down your SMART goal! For each letter below, define the portion of your SMART goal and then combine them all into one sentence at the bottom. If you have multiple New Year’s resolutions, do this for each goal that you set
My SMART New Year’s Resolution
Why?
It’s important to affirm the “why” behind our goals. It’s easy to forget and lose track of a goal when we don’t remember why we set it in the first place.
Going back to our example goal of eating fruits and vegetables, why do you want to eat them? Because we’ve been told they’re good for us? Or because you want to stay healthy so you can spend quality time with your family?
The reason behind your goal is just as important as the goal itself. Ask yourself these questions to create the “why” behind your New Year’s resolutions. If you have more than one New Year’s resolution, ask these questions for each one.
What’s Your Why?
Start with the end in mind. What will your life look like when you achieve your goal? How does this goal align with your core values? What do you ultimately want to achieve? You will complete your New Year’s Resolution because. . .
Tips And Tools
Set Reminders
Now that you’ve set your New Year’s resolutions and defined your “whys,” you’re ready to take on 2025! Here are a few tips and tools to help you stay consistent.Set reminders on your phone or calendar. These Could be daily, weekly, or monthly reminders depending on your goal.
Reflection Days
Evaluate your progress throughout the year. Pick a day each month, or each week to reflect on your progress. You can use this time to encourage yourself on how much you have already accomplished, to change your strategy, or to adjust your goal. Be sure to add reflection days to your calendar so you don’t forget! There is a Goal Reflection sheet toward the bottom of this guide that you can print out and use on your reflection days.
Keep Your Goals Visible
Consider writing your resolutions and your “whys” on a piece of paper and putting it somewhere you’ll see every day. You could even use a dry-erase marker on your bathroom mirror, don’t worry, it rubs off. This will serve as a daily reminder to help you stay consistent. A printable calendar is also at the end of this guide. You can use this calendar to record your goals and your “whys,” as well as any important reminders for dates, like your reflection days.
Goal Reflection Questions
What are you proud of and what’s been going well?
What’s been challenging? What could you do differently?
Does the goal still feel achievable, or is it too easy and needs to be adjusted?
If the goal is just right, keep it as is. If it’s too lofty or too easy, readjust it and write a new goal, and be sure it’s a SMART goal.
Setting Goals with Bible Verses for a Purposeful Year
Let Scripture guide your new year with Bible verses that inspire and encourage thoughtful goal-setting. Reflect on God’s promises as you plan for growth, healing, and purpose in the year ahead.
People usually think of setting goals only at specific times of the year. And this is admirable but far too often something vital is left out of the planning stage. As these Bible verses about goal setting remind us, God can speak to us at any time.
As you meditate on the Bible verses about goal setting, you have to ask yourself some tough questions. What if our earthly ambitions hinder the Lord’s power in our lives and hold us back from achieving the incredible plans the Lord has destined for us?
We talk often about the abundant life promised in John and the seven areas where we see that abundance walked out: spiritual, mental, physical, emotional, occupational, social, and financial health.
When it comes to making plans, the Bible verses about setting goals say there is one thing we need in order to experience abundance. This is diligence.
Dictionary.com defines diligence as: “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.” This certainly speaks to our family with our 5P’s (Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance) motto.
We take this seriously too! It’s one thing to KNOW what we should do, but results come when we DO the things we know we should do.
How can you develop a spirit of diligence in your life? Some tips that have helped us include:
Journaling through your journey. As you see God faithfully rewarding your diligence it will inspire and encourage your next steps.
Create your plan wisely. Pray over it. And remember a good plan leads to a better outcome.
Use tools. Set reminders, build accountability for things you know may be tough to overcome, and track your progress.
PRAY! God rewards the faithful so loop Him into your planning process and ask Him to guide you to diligently accomplish the things you set out to do this year.
What other Bible verses about setting goals are speaking to you and your heart right now? Read through this list and meditate on what God has to tell you.
But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 15:7
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
Psalm 20:4
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Psalm 33:11
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Hebrews 10:35-36
My prayer is that these bible verses about setting goals will encourage you to rely on God’s perfect strength, His omnipotence and magnificent power that is able to accomplish exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine!
Let’s surrender our goals, dreams, and desires to Him and watch in awe as He multiplies, expands, and increases our influence and impact on this generation! Let’s let go and let God shine His incredible power through us!
References
BalanceofNature.com/New Year's Resolution Guide.pdf
https://biblehealth.com/bible-verses-about-setting-goals/
Mabel Martinez-Almonte, OTR/L, MA, MHC, NCC
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DISCLAIMER: The content on this blog is generated for entertainment or/and informative purposes, but not intended to be a substitute for professional medical or behavioral health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.