Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 03, Issue 03: Make no Little Plans

Most of us are still putting together our goals for the new year. It is important that we make our goal setting and goal getting process a continuous progression. Don’t just rush to make totally new goals, start with picking up from where you left things in 2012.

Some of the goals we made last year were one-off targets, the ones we accomplish and move on to the next thing, while others were continuous or even lifelong goals. For instance, if one of your goals was to embrace a healthy lifestyle in order to improve your physical well being, then you may not want to drop this goal in exchange for a totally different goal this year. Such a goal would fall under your on-going goals and would remain in your resolutions year after year.

See how far you went in accomplishing the things you wanted to start doing last year, and evaluate your performance. If there are items that you did not get to, or did not complete, consider if they are still important to you. If they are, they should be on your list for this year, with a tighter plan on how you will go about attaining them.

Move on to the things you were doing before last year, and purposed to continue doing. Review your priorities and decide if you still wish to continue doing them, or if you wish to drop them if they no longer serve your interests. We should always keep up good habits and practices while remaining dynamic enough to pick up new methodologies and strategies.

Also, consider the things you decided to stop doing last year. Some of these were good things, but you set them aside in order to focus on the best. See if any of those could come back on your list of things to do, given the changes that have taken place in your life by now. One of the reasons why it’s important to review this list is to ensure that you don’t find yourself allowing old disparaging habits and practices to creep back into your new improved life.

At this point, you are now ready to make some new goals. Make no little plans; they have no magic to impress anybody, or guarantee their realization. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work. As you do, go for balance. Make goals for your career and business, relationships, finances, health and fitness, fun and recreation, spiritual growth, and legacy goals.

I challenge you to raise the bar. Set yourself up for higher horizons. Dare to go further than you did last year. Stretch yourself, get out of your comfort zone while remaining true to your purpose.

Lillian Chebosi