For many people, family is everything. However, most of us don’t create family goals to enhance our relationships with our children and partners. This might mean you fall into the same old routine and miss the opportunity to grow and learn together through shared experiences.
Family goals can help you break this cycle. They can bring you and your loved ones closer together, and they can help make dreams a reality.
In this article, we are going to dive into:
- What Are Family Goals?
- What’s the Importance of Setting Up Goals as a Family?
- Examples of Family Goals
- The Main Reasons Why Families Have Difficulties Achieving Their Goals
- How To Set Up Family Goals
- Final Tips
So, let’s get straight to it.
What Are Family Goals?
Family goals are goals created by you, your partner, and your kids. These goals may involve family relationship goals, such as spending quality time together, improving the organization of household chores, or saving up for that big dream vacation.
When setting family goals, you will want to discuss ideas with everyone. What can you all be doing better as a family unit? What aspirations or dreams do you all have for the next year or the next six months? These goals might fall into short-term goals, long-term goals, or even seasonal goals. The key here is that all family members must agree on the goals set.
What’s the Importance of Setting Up Goals as a Family?
Setting family goals fosters close relationships and connections, as well as helps to teach your kids valuable lessons.
On top of this, individuals who make goals are more driven, accountable, and accomplished than those who don’t.
By creating a list of family goals, you teach your kids how to create goals, that goals can be fun, that there are different types of goals, how to participate in team activities, responsibility, and so much more.
With future family goals, you also create something to look forward to and help boost feelings of accomplishment for your entire family, contributing to improved mental wellbeing.
Examples of Family Goals
Maybe you and your family are struggling to come up with fun family goals. Here are a few family goals examples to get you started:
Daily Family Goals
- Wake up at a certain time.
- Go to bed at a certain time.
- Move once a day.
- Get outside once a day.
- Meditate.
- Eat dinner or breakfast together.
- Treat each other with respect.
- Follow house or family rules.
- Practice gratitude together.
- Allow everyone to have their own time or space.
- Schedule family nights or date nights.
Long-Term Family Goals
- Plan a vacation.
- Plan to visit extended family.
- Declutter your home.
- Try a new hobby or activity together.
- Volunteer together.
- Start a new annual or monthly tradition.
Your family goals may vary depending on you and your family’s situation. Try to come up with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals.
Below, we will look at exactly how you can set these goals up for success.
Main Reasons Why Families Have Difficulties Achieving Their Goals
When family goals fail, it’s often due to unrealistic goals or not creating a plan to stick to them. Every goal must include smaller goals underneath, helping you see a clear path towards achieving it. It’s also a good idea to write down your goals. If they aren’t written down, they are merely a dream or a fantasy, not a goal.
Additionally, family goals require the right mindset. This means pushing aside limiting beliefs and building each others’ confidence up. Cheer your other family members on. Celebrate small achievements. Measure your goals and look at exactly where you are and what you need to do to get there.
How To Set Up Family Goals
Setting up family goals doesn’t have to be overly complex. In fact, it can be quite simple.
Follow the steps below to set up your family goals:
Step 1: Brainstorm
The first step of setting family goals involves sitting down with your entire family unit and brainstorming ideas regarding what you want to accomplish or what fun memories you want to create together.
Ensure everyone has a chance to speak so that everyone feels included in the decisions and goals. This can provide an incentive for your family to work towards them.
Step 2: Write Them Down
Once you have a good brainstorming session going, write down the ones that you all agree on. Remember, if you don’t write it down, these goals will always be just dreams.
As you write them down, put each goal in the present tense. This is because our minds work in the present tense, and by catering to this line of thinking, you are more likely to achieve what you and your family set out to do.
Step 3: Make a Plan
Create a detailed plan and image of what each goal looks or feels like. Use the acronym “S.M.A.R.T.” to ensure a plan of action for each goal. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-oriented. This means each goal should have as much detail as possible, have a way to measure it, be achievable, and also have a timeframe for its completion.
Some bigger family goals may also require smaller goals underneath. Also, use the S.M.A.R.T. acronym for each smaller goal to guide exactly how it will be achieved and when.
Step 4: Celebrate Small Wins
Along the way, make sure you take moments to enjoy the process. If one of your family goals was to eat dinner together each night, celebrate each time this happens, whether it is the first time or the fifth time in a row.
Doing so can motivate you and your family to continue working toward bigger goals and accomplish smaller daily goals. It can also offer an opportunity to bond with your family and recognize each others’ accomplishments.
Step 5: Achieve Them!
Before you know it, you will find yourself and your family reaching your goals more often than not. When you get into a good rhythm, it’s important to also plan regular family meetings to assess how the goals are going. Are you on track? Do adjustments need to be made? What can you do together to foster success?
Final Tips
What else can you and your family do to ensure you accomplish your goals and more? Here are a few last tips:
- For each goal, identify and list the rewards or consequences of completing or not completing the set goal.
- List the possible obstacles and ways to overcome them.
- Plan weekly or monthly check-ins, depending on your goals.
- Help set each other up for success by maintaining a positive and respectful atmosphere.
- Track your goals.
- Celebrate small achievements along the way and enjoy the journey.
- Learn to say no to things that do not fall in line with you or your family’s goals.
Closing Thoughts
Family goals can provide a wonderful way to help you and your family bond, have fun, and learn lessons together. However, goals can also be a hassle to navigate and nail down. Use the above info to help you set family goals and achieve them.
If you are still struggling to stick to your family goals or personal goals, Marisa Peer’s Stick To Your Goals self-hypnosis audio can help you refocus and help you finally achieve your goals and more. Transform your mind, and your life will become that much better.
