It’s time to change up how I set goals.
My husband and I began setting goals together the very first year we were married. Every year since, we’ve had a standing New Year’s date on January 1st—unless it falls on a Sunday, in which case we go the next day. We head to our favorite Mexican restaurant and talk through our plans for the year ahead.
For 48 years, we’ve set goals in six key areas of life:
- Literacy and Education
- Financial and Resource Management
- Home Production and Storage
- Career Development
- Physical Health
- Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Development
About a year ago, my daughter shared a fun idea with me: place goals and bucket-list items onto a Bingo card. Each time you get five in a row, you celebrate. If you get a blackout? You plan something big.
I loved the idea—but I didn’t follow through last year.
This year, I’m all in.
Here’s what made it onto my Bingo card—and why this approach feels so life-giving.
My Core Goals
- Literacy and Education – Read six books.
- Financial and Resource Management – Re-establish my Seven Habits and complete all seven zones.
- Home Production and Storage – Preserve 12 items. (Herbs, Unsweetened Applesauce, Loofas, Tomatoes, Peppers, Green Beans, Peas, and more)
- Career Development– Complete and upgrade all four years of The Power of an Hour.
- Physical Health – Walk 1,100 miles. I average about five miles a day, so I should reach this goal by the end of summer!
- Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Development – Read the Old Testament. Again!
Bucket-List Goals
- Complete six months of consistent gym workouts (4–6 times per week). I just finished six months on January 14th—and I’m repeating it. Consistency is my focus.
- Create 50 sketches and write 50 poems (three minutes each). I completed the sketches a few years ago and want to do them again—this time adding poetry. Writing poetry feeds my soul. This will be 50 consecutive days.
- Host 30 gatherings. I’ve already recorded five this month.
- Reach and minister to every Young Single Adult (YSA) in our neighborhood. We live in a college town and are surrounded by young adults—some the age of our children, some the age of our grandchildren. We’re a bit like “college grandparents.” Tools, meals, prayers, encouragement, garden produce—I want to meet them all.
- Learn sourdough baking. My daughter-in-law gifted me a lightweight enameled Dutch oven and promised to get me started when I’m ready.
- Worship in His House 50 times. I gave myself margin in case of illness. Worship recenters me and brings peace in this big, wild world.
- Plant a spring garden. Cool-weather crops are calling!
- Grow a summer garden. Seeds will be started indoors in February.
- Handwrite and mail 18 letters. Everyone loves receiving good things in the mailbox.
- Minister to D & M. A sweet widow across the street and a longtime friend down the road.
- Make 12 breads and four pastas. I have a running list—and once something is completed, it gets recorded in my Bingo journal.
- Participate in the Provo 5K. I’ve done it every year since 2018!
- Publish two books. One is written and ready for editing. The second revealed itself as necessary and needs to be written, too.
- Hike Y Mountain. Twelve steep switchbacks, a 1,000-foot climb in just over a mile. I want to complete it before my birthday—and I’m training for it.
- Sew a new outfit. A skirt and top.
- Plant a fall garden.
- Design and sew two Santa hats. I already have the velvet and fur—they’re wonderfully warm.
- Provo-to-Orem 10K. I designed it myself in 2020 when races were canceled and have done it every year since.
Some goals take months. Others take a day. I love the mix. No matter what, progress is happening—and every square counts
The Tools I Used:
- Post-it notes for brainstorming and rearranging ideas.
- Canva to design my Bingo card and add visual elements.
- A composition notebook for tracking progress. Some goals needed space to grow—and I left room for that.
Every time I reach a goal, I mark off a Bingo square. Simple. Visible. Encouraging.
My Word for the Year
Have you chosen a word for the year?
For the second year in a row, my word is BINGO, an acronym for:
Be
Inspired
Nurturing
Gracious
Optimistic
The word and the goal-setting method felt perfectly aligned.
I love this approach—it brings joy, flexibility, and celebration into the process.
What would you put on your Bingo card?
I will post a free Bingo card file in our facebook group here, for you to create your own. Please email me if you want one and are not on Facebook.
