New Year’s Goals For Your Marriage
By Michael & Marlene Griffith, Contributing Writers
Most of us start the New Year with a huge list of goals to tackle in the New Year. Usually, they are based on ideas of things you would like to do differently this year, comparatively to last year. Some of the most popular New Year resolutions are getting into shape, quitting smoking, getting a promotion at work, or making more money this year than the last.
Often times, resolutions are made based on one’s self, and rarely made with your spouse. We want to encourage you to setting up at least a handful of resolutions/goals to tackle this year that you and your spouse will tackle together – to grow within your marriage together.
We know coming up with ideas to jot down on your resolution list can leave you at a blank, so today we’re sharing with you some ideas.
Setting Goals for Your Marriage
First and foremost, take a look back at the past year. Take this as an opportunity to celebrate your accomplished achievements – the ones you tackled together.
Next, jot down goals you had hoped to achieve, but didn’t. Maybe these were goals you both had set out to tackle this past year, or maybe they were goals you individually had hoped that you would both tackle together – yet never did.
Finally, determine why these goals weren’t achieved, and resolve to tackle them this year.
The key to doing this first is to not forget to bring to light what you have accomplished together thorough the past year. Don’t just look at the un-achieved things. Look at what you did do, and celebrate them! Did you manage to communicate better? Even if just a little bit? Well that’s a huge accomplishment!! Especially if this was a huge struggle before. Did you make date night (even if it was just at home curled up on the couch watching a movie) more of a priority that before?
Some ideas for resolutions that you and your spouse can shoot for this New Year:
1) Resolve to make Date Nights a priority.
Remember this doesn’t have to be going out of the house, it can be a few nights a month that the kids go to bed a bit earlier (or you let them camp out on their floor watching a movie), so that you and your spouse can have some alone time.
2) Resolve to plan a budget for the year.
Money is one of the biggest stress factors in marriages. Let’s face it – it pays the bills. When you don’t have it, you become stressed, and it puts pressure on both you and your spouse. Take the time to plan out a budget. Maybe start small, and make quarterly goals. We love quarterly goals because they feel like bite size pieces. Plus, we can “regroup” at the end of each quarter and see what works and what doesn’t work.
3) Resolve to read through at least 4 marriage books this year.
Again, we like to go with quarterly goals. Pick one for each quarter of the year. This way, there isn’t a huge pressure to read a book in a week or two. You can really dive into it and gobble up the encouragement.
Here are some of our favorites, and hopefully a great starting point for you and your spouse:
- When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey
- Tying the Knot Tighter by Martha Peace & John Crotts
- The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
- The Exemplary Husband by Stuart Scott (forward by John MacArthur)
What are some of the goals that you and your spouse have set for the New Year?
5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day
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