Another year is almost gone. How did you do? Are you happy with how this year went? This is a good time to sit down and evaluate how much you’ve accomplished so you can go in to the new year with a better idea of what you want to improve and build upon.
Time to Evaluate
Sit down with the goals you wrote out last January and ask yourself:
- How close did I come to reaching my goals?
- Are there any gaps in my Preparedness plan that I would like to fill in the next year?
- How much did I spend? How much did I save?
Hopefully you’ve kept a record (at least a rough idea in your head) of how well you’ve done and what you have stored up.
More than wheat and beans
A good preparedness plan is more than just storing wheat and beans. So let’s ask some questions that have more intangible answers and implications:
- How have preparedness principles helped improve my family’s finances? The purpose of provident living is not just to stockpile for some disaster but to focus our priorities on living more self-reliantly and with less consumerism.
- What new skills have I learned or improved? Even if you have a truckload of food, it will be of little use to you if you don’t know how to use it. The single most important component of your preparedness plan is the self-reliant skills.
- How have preparedness principles affected my and my family’s nutrition? When we incorporate more of the basic foods into our diet, we eat less refined and processed foods. We are also eating foods higher in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients.
- How has living providently affected me and my family spiritually? The goal in provident living is to be more mindful daily of God’s abundance in our lives and become wise stewards of His providence.
- And finally, what was your biggest success? Can you replicate it next year?
At the close of each day, at the end of each year, we should be able to close our eyes in contentment, knowing we’ve made some improvement, some small positive change for us or those around us.
