How to Set Goals if You Are Barely Surviving

It was my second 5K that I had run in the past year, but it turned out to be my worst. All throughout the race I felt tired and weary. It was not a fun race. By the time I reached the finished line I had hurt my ankle and I was limping. Crossing the line felt like a relief and tears welled up in my eyes. It was not a joyous finish, it was barely making it to the bench to sit down.

If you find yourself limping into the new year, what if you focused on just God this coming year? What if instead of setting goals, which I’m not against, just before we make tangible plans to change, we evaluate why we want to change? And ask ourselves what we want to change?

Here are a few examples:

Do you want to change your health?

Or do you want to change how you spend money?

Do you want to change your spiritual relationship with God?

Maybe you want to change how you interact with people.

Do you want to change how you spend your time?

Soul Care

I think those are pretty broad categories and sometimes we look at a list like that and say: “YES! I want to change all of that!” The problem is sometimes life is hard and you are barely surviving. How do you set goals if you are barely surviving? If life feels hard just pick ONE thing to focus on. Can I ask you to maybe choose this:

How can I grow closer to God this year? When we find ourselves tired and worn out, a new eating plan or exercise routine might help, but what we really need is soul care. How can you get soul care in the coming year?

When we find ourselves tired and worn out, what we really need is soul care.

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Let me suggest a few things, and also extend an invitation. Because as we set goals, we can’t achieve them on our own. That is one thing I’ve learned over the many years of setting goals. I need help and you do too.

How to Set Goals When You Are Barely Surviving

Do some reflection, but not too much. You can look back and see where there have been gaps in your spiritual life, but most importantly you can just take note of the hard things in your life.
As you reflect, give yourself some grace. You don’t have to fix everything in your life. Goal setting doesn’t need to be about adding a bunch of new things to your life. This is a time to really decide what is important and give yourself grace to say no to some things, even things that might have worked the previous year.
Pick one thing to change. Don’t complicate it. Don’t try to add a new exercise routine, plus try to get up earlier, or add a new class after work. Choose one thing and just do that.

Here are my suggestions when it comes to your spiritual life:

Add prayer to your routine. This gratitude journal is a great place to start.
Attend church regularly. If you have gotten away from attending church, I invite you to join a church. If you do attend church, maybe seek one way to be involved. If you feel like you are overcommitted, maybe you need to step back and just do one thing instead of 10 things at church.
Get a plan for Bible reading. Just get a plan. I have a ton of free plans! You can find one here and here.

Find Accountability

One of the best things you can do is find accountability. Adding accountability to your Bible reading doesn’t have to be hard. I’ll be offering one-on-one coaching in 2024 and would love to help you with this! I only have a few spots. If you want to know more, email me at [email protected] .

Whether you join me one-on-one, you are always welcome to join our Let’s Read the Bible community here. In this community you will find new Bible studies, teaching videos, and live zoom meetings – but more than that you will find a place you are welcome.

You are welcome to come and just join us.

Join Our Community

My membership, “Let’s Read the Bible” is perfect for you if you:

Are you tired of doing it yourself? You want to finally start seeing results when it comes to reading your Bible more consistently
Know you need accountability and support to read your Bible and understand it
Have bought all the new Bible studies but still need practical advice from someone that has been there and done that
Can invest 2-3 hours each week to spend with God and His Word.

This is not for you if you are:

X Just looking for a quick fix (Sorry, no one can give you that.)
X Aren’t ready to put in the work (This is a team effort.)
X You aren’t even sure if reading your Bible is what you actually want

If you feel like you are a good fit, then here is what I can offer you in this course:

Regular (new!) Bible studies to download
Teaching videos for each of the studies
A community of like-minded Christian women who want the same thing you do: consistency and accountability
Monthly Zoom meetings to help learn and grow in our knowledge of the Bible and provide accountability.
Tools you can use (all free) to help enhance your Bible reading
Launching in 2024: One-on-one mentorship to help you really maintain consistency in your Bible reading

Please join us!

How to Set Goals if You Are Barely Surviving