Emily Martin Cochran

With the first month of 2022 almost in the books, I wanted to share my goals for the year. I’ve used a goal-setting workbook called Powersheets since 2013 (I think), and they’ve been instrumental in helping me set and make progress on my goals every year. 

The best part of my Powersheets is the goal-setting prep work pages. Some prompts help me reflect on how things are going in different areas of life, what were good things and challenges in the past year and keeping the big picture of life in view. The prep work then allows me to take my bigger-picture plans and break them into manageable action items like habits and weekly or monthly goals.

When I began working through the goal-setting prep pages back in December, I decided that I liked the goals I had set for 2021, so I kept them!

My Yearly Goals for 2022:

• Cultivate physical, emotional, and mental wellness.
• Put down roots and grow our community.
• Strengthen and enjoy our marriage.
• Practice spiritual formation.
• Keep work in its proper place.
• Steward our resources and finances well.

In my Powersheets, there are pages for creating goal action plans, and these pages are the most useful in making these goals attainable. There are also “tending lists” for each month, so you can work on little chunks of your goals each month. So below are some of the mini-goals and action steps I’m taking for each yearly goal.

Cultivate physical, emotional, and mental wellness.

This goal has been a priority because two years of the pandemic and dissertation writing took a toll on my body. I was too sedentary and not managing stress well. This resulted in increased muscle tension, a lack of functional strength in my core, unnecessary weight gain, and other health issues. I made some progress on this goal in the second half of last year, but I want to make even more progress in 2022.

• Grow consistency in exercise
  • Close my rings on my Apple Watch.
  • Do morning yoga and take an afternoon walk.
• Be mindful of what I’m eating.
• Practice conscious stress management.
  • Use the massager on tight muscles.
  • Paint and draw.
  • Say no to extra things to do right now.
• Develop consistent morning and evening routines.

Put down roots and grow our community.

This goal was the one I was most surprised that we accomplished last year, but we found our home, found a church we liked and began making connections with people in Rome. I want that to continue and grow those connections more this year.

• Practice minimalism in our home.
  • Make our home welcoming, not full of clutter.
• Practice hospitality – invite friends (work & non-work) into our home.
• Meet more of our neighbors.
• Maintain and cultivate friendships without social media.
  • Check-in on friends by text once a week.

Strengthen and enjoy our marriage.

We’re still in the early years of marriage and still in the honeymoon phase, so we should enjoy it while it lasts!

• Schedule a date night once a week.
• Plan and enjoy vacations.

Practice spiritual formation.

I’ve been reading more about John Wesley (the founder of Methodism), and I’ve been intrigued by the concept “means of grace,” which Wesley defines as the spiritual practices of Christians. Thinking of the spiritual disciplines as a form of God’s grace to us makes it easier for me to do them and not feel they are just a checklist of items.

• Be intentional in quiet time and prayer.
• “Quit” social media. Create a plan for social media use and blogging.
• Incorporate service into our lives.

Keep work in its proper place.

While in graduate school, it was so easy to feel that the work was never done. Thankfully that’s not the case anymore. I can separate work from the rest of my life, but I do need routines and structures to help me do that.

• Create good workday routines and a schedule for the semester.

Steward our resources and finances well.

We have a house now, we’re both out of graduate school, and we’re both working, so we need to make sure that our money is working for us. I want to be wise with our money, but I also want to be generous with it, too.

• Faithfully use YNAB (You Need a Budget).
• Review and cut out unnecessary subscriptions.
• Create savings targets for various projects and recreation.

I feel excited now with these goals, so no matter what 2022 brings, I know that I can be brave, which happens to be my word of the year. I am already seeing some progress on these goals, too!