As I’ve been thinking about the new year and what goals I want to set it’s taken me a minute to figure out how I want to write my goals.
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I love the start of a new year and the excitement and energy it brings as we all try to improve and become a better version of ourselves.
Setting Goals
Over the years I have done a bunch of different things. I tried a vision board one year, I wrote top 3 goals for each category one year, and one year I simply wrote a list of things to do in the year.
For the last few years, I have been making a top 10 list with 10 goals to complete during the year. I have used that list of 10 goals to help set monthly goals and it’s worked really well for me. (my husband and kids do this too.)
Last year I decided to change how I wrote the top 10 list and instead of simply writing a goal like “lose 20 lbs” I would write an “I am statement”.
So, for my weight loss goal I wrote “I am a healthy person” and under that statement I wrote the goals like lose 20 lbs, exercise 5 days a week, etc.
I really liked adding in the “I am statements” since the whole point of setting goals is to become a person that does the things I’m working on.
This year I’m going to write the I am statements about the person I would like to be and then from there write my Big 10 List of Goals and then each month I’m going to break down the habits I need to have to hit those big 10 goals.
I’m hoping to do some habit stacking so start with my top 3 and add additional habits as the year goes on.
As I reviewed my goals and looked at things that worked and things that didn’t I decided to make a list of Ins and Outs for the upcoming year.
Ins and Outs for this Year
I wrote two lists of Ins and Outs one for myself and one for our homeschool. The Ins are things I want to continue doing or add and the Outs are things I want to cutout in the new year.
Personal Ins and Outs for this Year (as a mom of 4)
Ins:
- Consistency
- Being Present
- Exercise
- Games
- Bible Study
- Family
- Early Mornings
- Outside Time
- Homecooking
- Email list
- Top Producing Business Tasks
- Boundaries
Outs:
- Soda
- Social Media
- All or Nothing
- Expecting Perfection
- Posting without purpose
- Excuses
- Trying to do it all
- Comparison
- Late Nights
- Fast Food
- No Boundaries
- Chasing all the Platforms
- Procrastination
- Low Value Tasks
Homeschool Ins and Outs
Ins:
- Read alouds
- Podcasts
- Routine
- Independent work
- Journals
- Family studies
- Field trips
- Scripture study
- Life skills
- Flexibility
- Games
- Progress over perfection
Outs:
- Busy work
- Schedules
- Comparison
- Feeling behind
- School before connection
- Every subject every day
- Long school days
- Saying yes to everything
- Finishing books no matter what
After looking at these two lists, I decided on the following 10 Goals for the year.
Goals for 2026
The best part about setting goals is that we each get to pick what goals we want to achieve. These are the big 10 I’ve chosen for the year.
If you would like to set one of the same goals as I am, do it and let me know so we can encourage each other!
Lose 35 Pounds
I hesitated to write the actual amount of weight I want to lose in this post…but I’m doing it. Losing 35 pounds puts me down to my pre kid weight and has been a goal for a couple of years. (This year it’s happening)
My I am statement that goes with this goal is “I am a healthy person with energy and stamina for all life holds”.
The daily habits I’m creating to hit this goal are consistent workouts, macro tracking and homecooked food over fast food.
Read the Old Testament
I’ve never read the entire Old Testament… I have read some parts multiple times but never the entire thing. This year I want to read or listen to the whole Old Testament.
The statement for this goal is “I am a person of faith, I work daily to strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The daily habits I’m creating to hit this goal and become a person of faith is intentional daily scripture reading and gosple study.
Write or Update 300 Blog Posts
It seems like a crazy number of posts…it is a crazy amount. But for this goal I’m going with the principles taught in the 10X Rule.
The I am statment I have for this goal is “I am a person who creates and shares ideas to help and inspire others.”
6 Months No Social Media on Phone
I’ve felt like I should take a break from social media specifically Instagram (and I have taken a few short ones) for a few years now and I’ve had a hard time doing it. I somehow always convince myself I “need” Instagram as part of my brand.
Ultimately as I thought about goals for 2026, I realized that I waste a lot of time scrolling Instagram and creating content for Instagram that doesn’t really do a lot for my business. (traffic to my website from Instagram doesn’t even register on the list so it was less than 2%)
The hard thing is I love creating video content and I’ve made a lot of great friends on Instagram so I’m not planning to get rid of it forever just take a break for the first half of the year (probably starting the 2nd week of January).
Now Facebook on the other hand I’m not taking a break from…but I am removing it from my phone.
Facebook was the third highest sources of traffic to my website this year so I’m going to continue to post…from my computer. (so connect with my on Facebook if you haven’t yet)
My statement for this goal is “I am present with those around me, I don’t compare my life to others and I don’t seek validation from others.”
Finish US States Curriculum
I have been working on a United Statese Curriculum with my mom for over 3 years and I’m almost done with it. This is the year I’m getting it finished and sharing it with all of you!
We have been using the curriculm and it has been tested in a co-op as I’ve been writing it and it’s so fun. It’s filled with fun activity pages, videos, activity ideas, recipes and book lists.
My statement for this one is “I love to learn and share the things I learn with those around me in a fun and engaging way.”
Wake up Early
There have been seasons of my life where I was an early moring person and I was so productive. I’m ready to become an early morning person again.
Buy a House
We sold our house in Maryland in 2024 and I am ready to be a home owner again and add lots of house projects to my husbands list. So fingers crossed this is our year to buy a house…at a minimum we will have a down payment saved.
Read 12 Non Fiction Books
I have an ever growing stack of books to read and I love it…but ficiton is what I’m drawn to.
This past year I read very few non-fiction books, so instead of setting a goal to read a set number of books I’m just setting a goal for non-fiction books. (I love tracking my books on Fable it’s free if you want to see what I’m reading).
Related Post: 12 books to read this year to change your life
Make X Amount of Money from this Blog
I have a set amount of money I would like to make from this blog and it’s written on my goal page but I’m not going to share it in this post.
When I first joined Mediavine I shared my monthly income reports, but now I don’t share them anymore.
Let’s just say the goal I have set is one I’ve had for two previous years and never come close to hitting yet. It’s big, it’s scary and it would be amazing if I can make it happen.
To hit this goal little habits I’m working on are sending emails to my newsletter, pinning on Pinterest, creating blog posts (those 300 mentioned above), sharing to facebook and good old SEO for all my posts.
Couple, Kid and Family Dates
The last big goal I have for this year is to make dates happen. Get them on the calendar and go. Couple dates, monthly one on one kids dates and family dates.
Final Thoughts
Your probably thinking what the heck do these goals have to do with being a homeschool mom…probably not a lot other than I am a homeschool mom.
Most of these goals aren’t homeschool specific and could be set by anyone and that’s great.
As for homeschool I don’t really have specific goals I’m setting right now for the rest of our school year. I’m going to use the Ins and Outs list I made as I plan the upcoming semester in our school.
For the most part our homeschool is going to continue on how it was before our Christmas break.
But also some of the 12 nonfiction books I read will probably be ones we read for school.
What goals are you setting for the new year?
My plan is to come back and update this post at the end of the year and see how I did…here’s to keeping me accountable!
Happy New Year!