(Listen to the article above or read down below)!

Last week, Jason and I sat down for our annual planning and goal-setting meeting. This has become a long-standing tradition for us, and it has made such a difference in keeping us on the same page and making sure our top priorities truly stay our top priorities.

If you’d like to peek behind the scenes, you can read about how we do our annual planning session here — and how we do a year-end review (which is honestly one of the most important steps in the whole process).

Today, though, I wanted to share a few encouragements for those of you who are newer to planning or goal setting and then I’ll share our family’s goals for 2026.

Start Small (Really Small)

If you’re just getting started, I highly recommend choosing only a couple of small goals. When we try to pile on too much at once, it quickly becomes overwhelming, and overwhelm almost always leads to quitting.

Big change rarely happens all at once. It happens through small, steady habits built over time.

For example, rebuilding my reading habit has been more than a decade in the making. I was always a big reader as a kid, but something about college knocked reading right out of my everyday rhythms. Years later, Jason and I decided to intentionally pick it back up again, and I was thrilled when I managed to read 20 books that first year.

Eventually, that became 45 books… then 60… and now my slightly insane goal of 104 books (which breaks down to two books a week). That goal feels challenging but realistic for me now, because the habit has been built slowly over many years. And just to keep things honest: in 2025, I absolutely did not hit that goal. And that’s okay.

But exercise? That’s a completely different story for me.

That’s a habit I’m still actively trying to cultivate. I’m working on rebuilding strength, finding workouts I actually enjoy, protecting my body from injury, and strengthening my pelvic floor again. Some days it feels like a victory just to fit in a short walk or stretch. This is not the season for me to sign up for a marathon. This is the season for small, steady consistency.

And that’s exactly how goal setting should work.

There’s No One “Right” Way to Set Goals

If you’re a goal-setting olympian who loves mapping out big dreams across lots of areas, have fun and go for it.

If you’re brand new to planning, maybe start with just one or two small goals this month and gently build from there as the year allows.

There truly is no one right way to do this. In fact, one of my friends, Crystal (who is an absolute mega-planner), isn’t setting any formal goals at all this year. Her season simply calls for margin and flexibility instead of targets and benchmarks. And that’s wise.

Honor the Season You’re In

The most important thing is this: do what is right for your family in the season you’re currently in.

Some seasons are for building and stretching.
Some seasons are for healing and stabilizing.
Some seasons are for dreaming big.
Some seasons are for simplifying and catching your breath.

All of them are valuable. Planning isn’t about pressure or performance, it’s about stewardship, clarity, and making small intentional choices that support the life God has placed in front of you. Start where you are. Take the next small step. And trust that steady faithfulness adds up more than you realize.

Our Family Goals for 2026:

READING:

• Jason and Jami both set the goal of reading 104 books this year
• J&J both set an additional goal of reading 35,000 pages overall
• Jami wants to read both The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as The Wheel of Time series this year
• Jason has set a goal of reading 50% fiction and 50% non-fiction this year

BIBLE READING:

• Jason is doing the Bible in a Year via the Bible App
• Jason has timers set throughout his day that remind him to stop and pray for various things
• Jami is reading the Bible in a Year by reading through the ESV Reader’s Bible. A special version of the Bible that contains no chapter or verse titles or references. So it looks and reads like a regular book.
• Jami does her devotional time after Bible reading by praying through the Psalms and writing in her prayer journal.
• For family worship, Jason’s goal is 5 nights a week. He reads a chapter of his current devotional book, reads a Proverb per day, practices catechisms, and sings a hymn.

HEALTH:

• Jami’s goal is to lose 30lbs
• Jami will be starting off the year following the Trim Healthy Mama diet and will reevaluate as needed
• Jami’s exercise plan is to do the Nourish Move Love 30 Day Beginner Workout plan in January. Then to repeat it in February with heavier weights.
• Jami’s goal is to start weight lifting at some point this year.
• Jason’s health goals include losing weight, eating Carnivore diet, and weight lifting at the gym 3 times per week.
• Jami’s goal is for the whole family to eat 3-5 probitoic rich foods a day like yogurt, kefir, kombucha, fermented veggies, etc.

FAMILY GOALS:

• Restart monthly date nights with individual kids
• Weekly family worship
• Better schedules for kids bedtimes
• No sugar January to reset after sickness

MORNING ROUTINES:

• Jami’s goal is up by 6am during weekdays: coffee, Bible reading & prayer, workout, shower and dress
• Jason’s goal is out the door by 5am, 3 times per week to do the gym. Otherwise out the door by 6:15am
• Kids up by 7:30am, school starts by 8:10am!

JAMI’S PERSONAL GOALS:

• Start a garden at their new house
• Grow 3 new things
• Start beekeeping by catching a wild swarm
• Start meat rabbits
• Finish setting up her office/craft room
• Finish the punch needle stockings
• Make a rug for the little kids room

If this list feels inspiring — wonderful.
If it feels overwhelming — please hear this with grace: these are our goals for our season, not a template for anyone else to copy.

Your season, your capacity, your family rhythms, and your energy levels may look completely different, and that’s exactly as it should be.

The point of sharing this isn’t comparison. It’s simply to show what intentionality can look like when two people sit down, dream together, and commit to small faithful steps over time.

You don’t need a perfect plan or a packed goal list to move forward. You just need one small step in the right direction.

So maybe today that looks like jotting down one thing you’d love to grow in this year. Maybe it’s having a simple conversation with your spouse over coffee. Maybe it’s choosing one tiny habit to practice consistently for the next month.

Start where you are. Stay faithful in the small things. And trust that God will multiply your steady obedience in ways you can’t yet see.

Want more hands-on help planning this year?

If you’d like hands-on help with planning and goal setting, I’m hosting live trainings January 12–16 inside our Planning & Goal Setting course.

Each day we’ll meet live, I’ll teach you how to:

• set realistic goals

• break them into action steps

• plan in a way that works with your life (not against it)

You’ll also receive all of my planning worksheets so you can take immediate action.

If you’ve struggled to make goals that stick—and you want 2026 to be different—join me for our 3rd annual planning retreat. We’ll do it together.

Sign up here!