Not every person comes to the New Year fully inspired and fully with what their goals are going to be. Goal setting for moms can feel nearly impossible. I have to say that I’m right with those of you that stepped into 2023 waiting for the inspiration to hit. Waiting for the big goals, waiting for the enthusiasm. Quite frankly there were just a lot of other things that happened in the first two weeks of this year. I am totally okay with that. In its perfect timing (it’s never late) frankly, it’s still very very early on. I’m still telling people as I walk past them in the grocery store or out in the neighborhood “Happy New Year!”
Wherever you’re at, right now is still the perfect time for you to gain inspiration. Right now is the time to get just a little bit of clarity as you work on your goals! I was lacking some clarity with my goals for this new year, but after working through them, I finally have a whole bunch of excitement. I’m ready to share with you what 2023 is going to look like for me in my home and in my business. In this easy, breezy, light, and super fun blog, you’re going to read the behind-the-scenes of what I’ve got my heart and my mind focused on this year. Goal setting for moms is possible while raising a family and growing a business without losing yourself! So grab your favorite drink, maybe a pen and paper because there may be a few things that you want to jot down.
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
Too Overwhelmed for Goals? Get Organized!
If one of your goals is to get it together this year, I want you to know that there is an incredible resource for you. I have a super free and really straightforward place where you can see my method come to life in a visual and audible format. Go to chelsijo.co/getorganized to learn my four-week framework and method that I not only use but live and breathe every single day. This is there for you to learn and figure out exactly what it would take for you to manage your time. This is what it takes to get all your tasks, all of your cleaning, your cooking, your laundry, and all the things that you’re juggling on a regular basis (plus a little self-care sprinkled in.)
You can get your entire family on board with this system. The way that your family operates could actually be changed 100% into my method in just four weeks. If you want to learn all about that, you can go to chelsijo.co/getorganized and spend 30 minutes with me to get started!
How to Prioritize Goals
Let’s shift gears and talk about goal setting for moms and how to make this a priority. I will be focusing on the framework that I have used: my home management system (I’ve been using it for years and I will continue to focus on that). This is what allows me to show up to running a business, pouring into something that I’m super passionate about, and still showing up wildly for my husband. That is always a focus of mine, but because I’ve been doing it for so long it’s second nature to me. I now get to take my time and my energy and pour it into other things I get to grow. I don’t want to say with ease because growth is never easy, but it’s not so painful, chaotic, or overwhelming.
That’s why I love coming to a new year with a fresh set of goals! Now there is one caveat to that. I mentioned this in another blog that I don’t get into the major hype. I like celebrating just across the board. Get me any reason to celebrate! I love setting goals in the new year, having a vision board, and dreaming about big things.
It’s Never Too Late to Start Planning Your Goals
However, I know that it doesn’t matter what month it is, what day it is, or what week it is, it’s always a great time to start! It’s never too late, and it’s never too early. If this is not the exact moment for you, that’s okay. I came into 2023 and ended 2022 with a lot of sick people around me. Even though I had set out great plans, and I was feeling really excited, it just didn’t happen. I’m grateful for that mainly because I didn’t have the clarity that I have now (even in just the last 72 hours) to be honest about some of the things that I was really uncertain about. I didn’t have a burning desire for some things and there were some things that I felt super passionate about.
Making Goal Setting for Moms Manageable
I’ve had certain things that I’ve wanted to grow with my kids, my marriage, my home, my health, and my business. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was the one tangible thing. When you go to set goals, you can journal your heart out, or cut out whatever you want from a magazine. That’s fine, but the thing that has always made me so successful (after looking back and in hindsight) is the fact that I can actually put my finger on a thing that’s very tangible.
For most of us, that seems super silly it seems really simple to say “well I just want to complete a positive parenting course this year.” That doesn’t seem big. But guess what? It’s so attainable that I’m going to be able to do it! If in the span of the next 12 months takes me 11 months to complete it, that’s okay!
Taking Back Control of Our Lives by Setting Goals
There really isn’t a deadline for these things. It’s simple aspirations, and what we want to focus our time and our energy on. Without a focal point, we’re just left to the wind and the waves taking us in any direction they’d like. We start floating through life. Our children begin to control us. The mess begins to control us. Other people’s schedules and needs begin to control us. Some people hide or run away. They disengage, but I don’t want to do that.
I want to engage so deeply in my life. I want to be so present, so much so that I want to know exactly the one thing that I’m saying yes to until I master it. Until it’s no longer a question of whether or not I will or won’t do it, but rather just a way of living my life. Then I’ll look up and I’ll say “Okay what’s the next level of me? What’s the next exterior layer that I want to fluff off, or the next big challenging, fun thing that I want to grow into?”
What Are You Going to Focus On?
There’s no right or wrong way to grow or to set goals. It’s just a matter of really knowing that one thing that you want to focus on. Then the how, when, and what are the things that you’re going to do to get there. So let’s talk about the things that I am going to do this year. Every single year and all days and weeks of my life is basically broken down into these main categories.
There’s my home (the actual dwelling place), health (could be physical, spiritual, emotional), marriage, business, and motherhood, and finances. Those are the main six categories that I break things down into. Obviously, there are so many different ways that you can categorize the buckets in the areas of your life. This is what I really tend to look at with a bird’s eye view of what I want to put my time and energy into.
“I want to engage so deeply in my life. I want to be so present, so much so that I want to know exactly the one thing that I’m saying yes to until I master it. Until it’s no longer a question of whether or not I will or won’t do it, but rather just a way of living my life.”
Looking Back at Last Year’s Goals
Before I jump into my goals for each of those categories this year, I want to just share quickly how last year went for me with what goals I was able to accomplish (and what I was not able to accomplish). I did already share some of the things that worked well and that didn’t work well for me here.
Related to my goals there was probably only one big epic “oh my gosh this is a goal that I didn’t get to.” I publicly announced that I was going to read twelve books in a year, and I read three. Here’s why it’s not because of the time or it wasn’t because I didn’t know what to read.
Why This Goal Didn’t Happen
I have all the books I want to read. I am just genuinely at 100% bandwidth max capacity for learning. Right now there’s a lot of learning going on in my marriage, in our finances, a lot of learning that’s always happening with children, and there is a lot of learning happening as a business owner. There was so much that I didn’t even listen to a podcast last year. I literally had no room in my brain for consuming more information. Every day I was truly challenged deeply.
I got through three books last year, and I was like I can’t do this. Not because I couldn’t read the books, but because I couldn’t apply them. For me, the application of what we learn is what learning really is about. So I decided to put a hold on that goal. Goal setting for moms is not about doing everything perfectly. It’s about recognizing where you are in what season of life you’re in. With that look back on last year, let’s get to each of my goal categories for this year!
#1 Home
Within my home, we have one big goal. All our systems are actually really dialed in. So our only goal this year is to move with complete and utter systematic ease. I already have my binder out. I’m really excited and looking forward to that. Moving with ease is our big goal, and I’ll be putting some time and energy into it
#2 Health
For health in my life, this is where a lot of my time and energy is going to go. I have a big goal (this kind of stretches over between motherhood and health) to nourish my family at a whole other level. I am a huge advocate of getting broccoli that’s already been chopped and Trader Joe’s, and no shame in it. I’ve been doing it for years.
But I’ve had this really strong call and urgency to get back to more sustainable cooking practices, and make sure that my food truly is nourishing my family the way that I want it to. This means that this year we will be using meat from ranchers that have sustainable practices. Either my mom or I will be making our sourdough bread. I want to be trying to get back to some of the basics of providing nourishment for my family.
How this Goal Works With My Schedule
I personally am super excited about this new development for me. Now I finally have a consistent schedule. I set a schedule for myself (no matter if my husband is coming or going). It’s no longer what I like to call an inconsistent schedule.
We talk about all this a lot in my program and whenever I coach people I ask, “Do you have a static schedule or do you have a schedule that pretty much just changes all the time?” I’ve never had a static schedule, but I finally found one that I believe will work for me and for our family. This is going to be one of the ways that I allow myself to get to the gym three to four times a week.
#3 Marriage
We definitely have a goal to go on a marriage retreat this year. It’s something that we’re really big on. We’re going to continue our weekly date nights, and we have set a specific day of the week that we will do them. If Blaine is on shift we will then move it from Tuesday to Thursday. No matter what his rotation looks like we will be able to do it either day once a week. I have project days set up in my business that I can easily flip-flop depending on my schedule. We’ll have one night out once a month, but the other dates will be low-key day dates. I like to go out in the evening and I think once a month is great for that, so we’re going to test that out and see how that goes!
#4 Business
Now really my big goal for chelsijo.co and for my podcast is just to reach more communities. I want to go and find all of those women that are struggling. The women who want to give up on themselves or don’t even know how to dream. I want to find the women who think that the chaos is normal or that being unable to care for themselves is impossible. Whether it’s to gain muscle, lose fat, feel strong in their own bodies, or feel like their own mental capacity is being stretched. I want to find and help the women that are stuck in the mundane, and there’s nothing else that excites them. The women who feel there’s nothing about themselves that can break free, have silence, have peace, or have nourishment.
I want to find every single one of them, and tell them that there is a simple home management system that you can put into place. It automates things for you. You just plug and play it and then you get to do the things that you’re dreaming of and do those things really well instead of feeling like you’re not doing anything or a really crappy job at what you’re doing.
Reaching Overwhelmed Moms Everywhere
I want to speak on a few more stages. I’m definitely limiting my time away from my family. I had five trips last year, and trips away that did not include flying was just a lot for my family. I missed my kids, and I missed being at home. Plus we’re moving this year so that’s going to take a lot of my time away. However, I want to do what it takes to grow this blog and my podcast. We are already over 1.1 million downloads and climbing. We should definitely hit 2 to 3 million this year which is really exciting!
I want you to share this blog. I am just really excited to have another year of 100% growth. I’ve been growing 100% over and over and over for the last three years. I want to continue to pour in and use my time really wisely when I share this with you. My girls are beginning to see what it’s like to have a mom to run a successful business. I don’t know if I’ve been so proud of my individual accomplishment.
I’m just really proud that the time that I spend pouring into this business has been fruitful for my soul, and it has been fruitful for so many women. It’s also fruitful for my family in so many different ways. I want to continue to do what I’m doing.
#5 Motherhood
For motherhood, I have a positive parenting course that we purchased at the very end of last year, knowing that we probably wouldn’t get into it until this year. I also want to want to finish all my photo books. I’m really excited about finishing those because I am dreaming of a beautiful space where we will display them and our new home!
We’ve already touched on the nourishment piece in my Health category. There’s just been a few things that have happened with Bailey (between cavities and eczema) that let me know that I’m not stewarding the food that comes into this house and into my children’s mouths the way that I want to. It’s bad enough when it’s yourself because you have a choice, but they don’t have a choice. I feel very responsible that what I’m feeding my kids is nourishing. It’s going to challenge me deeply! That child challenges me deeply, but every kid is different.
Setting Goals as a Mom
Within motherhood, it’s definitely one of my goals to see my children for who they are and meet them where they are. What an intense and insane privilege, honor, responsibility, and undertaking it is! My children could not be more polar opposites. Even though they’re both girls they’re so different, and I’m sure yours are like that too.
One of them I have to work really hard to pull information out of. The other one I’m like “can you stop talking?” I don’t want to stifle either child. I want to see my children for who and what they are. A lot of my positive parenting (the course that I picked up from Ralphie Jacobs) is going to help Blaine and I do that on the same page.
#6 Finances
Last but not least is our finances. We have an incredible hybrid budgeting system that we use. You actually get complete access to it when you become a student in the Systemize Your Life Academy. All the formulas are set up, there is a video tutorial on how to use this system. We saved $800 the first month that we implemented this budgeting system. After that, we got out of credit card debt, and we’ve never been back. That’s something that we’re still continuing this year.
Our biggest goal is to have a fully vested emergency fund that meets where we’re going and growing. We want an emergency fund to cover all the things, and is all-encompassing. So we just recently went and assessed if in fact we did not have any income coming in how much money will we need to set aside to be able to sustain ourselves for three to six months. We want to keep growing and keep building that to make sure that we have that fund available in case of emergency
So those are my big goals, and that’s what I’m focused on this year. I hope that you know that this is the right place for you. My Systemize Your Life Academy will give you hope and solutions! I love that you’re in my community and I’m really really excited to grow with you this year. If you want to dig deeper into more motherhood, productivity, business, and more jump into my free Facebook Group!
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm overwhelmed by the thought of setting goals. How can I make time in my schedule for matters to me?
I have so many resources for managing your schedule to make sure the systems in place are serving you. The best place to start is my FREE Time Blocking Workbook. In the Time Blocking workbook, you can learn the basics of time blocking for work-from-home moms, build the right time blocks for your schedule, and practice your first try at time blocking on paper! Stay strong mama, we’re all rooting for you!
