January is the month of new beginnings and fresh perspective. This is the month to evaluate how well you did last year and map out what you want to accomplish in the year to come. In other words, let’s set some goals for this year.
Personalize Your Goals
I’ve made a list of goals for each month, tailored to the season. Hopefully you will find one or two that you can work on each month.
But don’t be a slave to these monthly goals. You have to find what works for you and your family. As you set goals for your Preparedness Plan, you’ll want to consider:
- your budget
- the size of your house
- your skills
- your family size
- any special needs or considerations for family members
- how in depth or complete you want to be prepared and
- how urgent you feel it is to achieve these goals.
Be Smart
I’m sure that you already know that effective goals are SMART Goals:
Specific—What specifically do you want to achieve?
Measurable—Frame your goal in measurable terms (i.e. get 400 lbs of wheat and store 100 gallons of water)
Attainable—Is this something you can reasonably achieve? You can make it more achievable if you break it down into smaller, more manageable intermediate goals.
Relevant—Choose goals that will positively impact you and your family.
Timely—Set a deadline for completing the goal.
Start with a notebook
I would add one more requirement: Your goals should be written down. This is where a family binder comes in handy. A binder is a good place to write your goals, break them down into manageable segments, track your progress and refer to the next year when you want to evaluate and set new goals next year. Our family Preparedness Binder has been indispensable for helping organize our plans and keep on track.
Just for you
So, I’ve taken all the pages that I’ve used in our binder and developed some charts to help with inventory and emergency plans and combined them all into a booklet to help you get started. Check the Store for the Getting Started Booklet that you can personalize for your family’s needs. This 31-page booklet is just the thing to get you started. It will take you step-by-step, helping you plan and organize your goals, establish an inventory and keep you on track as you work to become better prepared.
Best of all, it’s FREE for the month of January. Just download it, print it out and put it into a 3-ring binder. You’re all set!
Ensure your chances of success
There is one other thing you can do that will almost guarantee you success with your goals: being accountable to someone. Studies show that if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person that you’ve committed to, it will increase your chance of success by up to 95%. Being accountable to someone engages you with your goals and makes achieving them more rewarding. When you make your goals public, you receive a combination of responses you can use to fuel your desire to succeed.
You can find accountability and encouragement when you join the Provident Home Companion’s Discussion Group on Facebook. Every week I will have information and articles to help you reach that months’ goals. And this is a good place to share your goals and successes with others. If you make yourself accountable to members of the PHC Facebook page, you will get lots of help and be more successful achieving this year’s preparedness goals.
There’s an app for that
Apps can be very useful for keeping us on target and making the most of our efforts. This website points you to other websites and apps that will help you with your goals.
