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It’s a new year. Time for those New Year’s resolutions – you know, the ones about losing weight, getting out of debt, etc. Maybe you made some last year; how did that work out?
For most of us, New Year’s resolutions fail. They fail for several reasons – they’re based on other people’s priorities for us rather than our own sense of what’s important; they’re not realistic given our circumstances; they’re not agreed on between spouses, and so on. So sometimes, we give up. But the problem isn’t with the idea of setting goals; in fact, it’s been said that if we aim at nothing, we’re sure to hit it!
One key reason that resolutions fail is that they tend to be destinational without any directional habits supporting them. So we determine to lose 30 pounds but we don’t put in place the habits required to do that. We decide to get out of debt but we don’t change our spending patterns (and maybe we don’t even know what we’re spending!).
Podcast host James Lenhoff leads us through a workable and grace-filled process for setting stewardship goals for the coming year. Key elements include a realistic assessment of our current financial patterns and a focus on directional goals for the coming year.
Last week, we talked about reviewing the past year with a stewardship lens. If you haven’t yet listened to that episode, check it out on last week’s episode blog entry. There, you’ll also find a link to download the Good Sense Spending Record to help you track your finances.