2021 Goal Planning

Life is busy, friends! I’m talking family of five, active duty army, breastfeeding blogger busy. My hands stay full, and you always ask me how I manage to get everything done. The short answer is I DON’T (haha), but I do try my best to plan things out ahead of time. I’m teaming up with Southworth to share my new 2021 planner and how Mark and I will tackle our goals for the upcoming year.

This post has been sponsored by Southworth Papers. I make it a point to only collaborate with brands that I truly enjoy and love. All opinions are entirely my own.

I am a huge fan of (cute) practical gifts, and the 2021 Rustic Harvest Planner is the perfect stocking stuffer/gift idea. Give something you know they’ll actually use and find helpful when navigating into the New Year.

Mark and I met in graduate schools, while we were both earning Masters of Science degrees in Corporate and Professional Communication. The way we plan out of goals is a direct result of the classes we took in that program. Here is the system we use for goal planning:

GOALS > OBJECTIVES > STRATEGIES > TACTICS

Goals
A goal is a broad primary outcome.

An example of a family goal could be: Take a family vacation in 2021.

Strategy
A strategy is the approach you take to achieve a goal.

Using the goal above, a strategy example would be: Save and plan in advance for our family vacation.

Objective
An objective is a measurable step you take to achieve a strategy.

This is where you get down to the nitty gritty and really create a plan. Objectives have to be S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely).

So, in our family vacation example:
Strong Objective: Save a $5000.00 cash vacation fund by May 1, 2021.
Weak Objective: Save enough money for the vacation.

Strong Objective: Choose a vacation home and solidify the reservation before March 15, 2021.
Weak Objective: Book a place to stay on vacation.

Objectives are the things I plug into my Southworth planner to keep us on track throughout the weeks and months. I love that each month of my planner starts with pages that allow me to journal, take notes, review last month, and measure progress.

Tactic
A tactic is a tool you use in pursuing an objective associated with a strategy.

A few tactics that would work in our example would be:

– Put aside $450.00 from our household income every two weeks.
– Call the bank to create a vacation savings account.
– Find space in our budget where we can pull in extra money.
– Set aside time together at night to research vacation properties.

These broken-down tactics allow me to build up to our larger objectives when it comes to goal planning. You’ll usually find these in my notes space.

• 

• 

Whether it’s planning for a vacation, getting rid of personal debt, giving more time and energy to your church family, or planning for fun purchases like a new home or family pet, I know that you’ll thank yourself for creating a detailed plan.

We have been planning for our own trip to Disney, and it felt so good to already be able to go into my 2021 and plug in our goals, and how we are going to make them happen. I encourage you to do the same, friends! You can start with plugging in all of the fun stuff like birthdays, anniversaries, and vacation time first. Snag your own 2021 planner today at your local Staples. I love all that it’s practical with so many pretty details.

If you have questions about the Goals/Strategics/Objectives/Tactics model above, please feel free to leave it below, as I am happy to help as much as I can.

Happy planning, and happy memory making, friends.

xoxo
Shakira