At the start of this year, I began considering my goals. What did I was to do this year? Where did I want to be? How did I want my business to excel? I tried time and time again to define my annual goals. However, each time I began, I found myself distracted and unmotivated.  I soon decided that enough was enough and I needed to get these knocked out. I sat down and jotted down numbers.

“Book X amount of sessions per month. Book X amount of weddings each year”.

While these are all really good goals to have in order to grow a successful business, I still felt like I was missing something. I had purchased the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets back in November because I wanted to make sure that I had the annual book before it was sold out. After initially opening it, I never looked at it again as it sat collecting dust in my office.

After realizing that I was struggling to make goals that felt purposeful, I decided to open the Powersheets book.  I was a little late given that it was half way into January, but I thought there was nothing to lose since I still didn’t feel passionate about the goals I had written out for the year.

Like most things that require a little deep root digging, I was tempted to skip over the pre-work and jump right into jotting down meaningless goals on each line for January.  But!!  Something stopped me and told me to do it the right way.

Hesitantly, I opened the book and started from the very beginning.

I soon realized that the reason that my goals didn’t feel “right” was because they were all business related, and while my business is doing better than it ever has, my family life was the expense last fall during the busiest season that AHP has ever experienced.

Realizing that my heart was longing for goals that went deeper than just business, my pen began to move.  With each letter written a new goal was composed and with each goal that was composed my heart began to feel a little more settled.  For the first time in months, I was creating actionable steps to make sure that what matters most is always first on my agenda.

See, it took me a while to understand this, but when I am 80 years old I bet that the stories about playing and laughing with my daughter and stories about having family dinners with my husband by my side around our handcrafted table for generations to come will be the first stories that I want to share with those near me.

As important as they sometimes feel, I know that a clean inbox, social media, and constant to do lists will not be the memories that fill my heart when I have (more) grey hairs and wrinkles on my hands… It wont be and I understand that now more than ever before.

Yes, of course I am still maintaining all of those things and I enjoy those aspects that come with running a business so much!! But! I want to make sure that my roles as a mom and a wife are nurtured before my roles as an entrepreneur because they are the most important.

With that in mind, Im going to be a bit vulnerable here. All of the above led to some pretty powerful goals for 2018 and I’m sharing all of those with you right now!

Goal #1.   Love on Brad and Henley Hard.

Be joyful.  Be kind.  Be patient.  Be present.  Be my best self for THEM

Goal #2.   Less Phone.  More Life.

Look up, put the phone down.  Look into their eyes, play more, snuggle more.  Remember that I will want to remember these days without distraction.

Goal #3.   Now, Not Next.

I have everything I could ever need and thats al that really matters!!  Let go of “Whats next” and love the “now”.

Goal #4.   Take Care Of Myself.

Good foods.  More water. Less weight. More sleep. More relaxing.

Goal #5.   Grow My Faith.

Allow Jesus to guide my heart and my decisions.  Read The Bible.  Become closer to Him.

Goal #6.   Share Selflessly. Give Freely.

Make time for those that matter.  Let go of ill feelings.  Don’t give negativity any mind space.  Love others.

Goal #7.   Get Out Of The Burden Of Debt.

I have food, shelter, and a loving family.  There’s no need for mindless spending.  Pay off debt and then save, save, save.

Thanks to Dave Ramsey we have already made huge strides in this by paying off both of our credit cards!  What a blessing!  I’ll be sharing more about our decision to try the Dave Ramsey method on the blog soon!!

Goal #8.   Accept a Defined Number of Weddings and Sessions In 2018.

Stick close to the limits in numbers that you’ve set.  Learn to say no, so that you can say yes to what matters.  Serve others but in a way that still keeps your family first.

Goal #9.   Do More That Inspires My Soul Outside of Work.

Walk, run, write, letter, laugh, play, snuggle.  Make time for things that bring me joy.