One of my PowerSheets goals over the past two years is some iteration of loving others well, and while this is something I like to think comes naturally to me, in reality I know I have a long way to go! One of the hardest parts of an ambiguous goal like “love others well”? Figuring out tangible action steps for you to make little by little progress on that goal!
When we were working on creating the Fruitful Friendships Workbook, I was pretty adamant about having a section with Tending List ideas so that you could easily transfer them to your PowerSheets Tending List each month. We didn’t want the Workbook to be just a pretty magazine you flipped through; we wanted it to be practical and encouraging as you cultivated friendship in your life.
I’ll share a few of the ideas below based on where it could fall on your Tending List (monthly, weekly or daily goals). I’d love to hear how you incorporate friendship tending into your goal-setting routine, too!
Monthly Tending List Ideas
Make a list of things your friends love. I keep a running note on my phone of things my friends love or things I need to know about them. A few ideas: their favorite candy, shirt size, any significant holidays or milestones, their Starbucks or Chipotle order. The possibilities are endless here! The times I feel the most loved are often because someone is recalling a detail about me that seems insignificant, but shows that they listen to me.
Plan a summer meet-up to bring together friends in your community! We created an entire meet-up packet to make this easier for you! Send a text, post it on Facebook, or email a group, and start making new friends in your neighborhood.
Weekly Tending List Ideas
Call a friend. I’ve oftentimes said I am a terrible long-distance friend, but here’s the thing, picking up the phone for a catch-up call or Facetime isn’t that hard! Adding this to your monthly PowerSheets is a great way to stay accountable while showing your faraway friends that the distance isn’t keeping you from caring about their life.
Send a gratitude note. My best tip for gratitude notes? Keep stamps and notes together and in a place where you are often sitting. For me, it’s my top desk drawer or my car (in case I have a few minutes to spare). It’ll make it so much easier to write a quick note of thanks or encouragement to someone.
Daily Tending List Ideas
Respond to your text messages. How often do you get a text message, read it, and then wait to respond at a “better time”? No one else? Just me? I might be preaching to myself here since I’m the worst at responding to texts (I have 5 currently sitting unread on my phone). Here’s the thing: if your friend were to ask you a question to your face, would you turn away and not respond? Absolutely not! So don’t treat them that way with your electronic device. I’m working hard on this, and I’ve added it to my PowerSheets daily goals for a few months now.
Make eye contact. Commit to looking your friend in the eyes when she is talking to you. Nothing is more distracting and hurtful than watching a friend look around or worse, check their phone when you are spending time together.
Encourage someone. Smile, and offer a genuine compliment to someone today.
There are more Tending tips in our Fruitful Friendships Workbook as well as worksheets to help you set friendship goals. We created each of our companion guides to be used in conjunction with PowerSheets, so if you’re not a PowerSheets user, now’s the perfect time to join us!
Our Fruitful Summer Bundle is available to help you set meaningful summer goals and grow meaningful friendships this season. It includes a set of Six-Month Undated PowerSheets Workbook in White, Fruitful Friendship Workbook, Fruitful Summer Postcard Set, and Take the Leap Mini Print.
Save the date for Wednesday, May 31st when Lara and I are going to work through the Fruitful Friendship Workbook LIVE alongside each of you on Facebook! We can’t wait to spend some time together chatting about our friendships. Grab your copy today so you can have it in time for our hang-out!
This is His Year: our first-of-its-kind workbook to let your faith inform the goals you set for the New Year.
Set, plan, and track progress toward the goals that matter most, big or small, the things you’ve always wanted to do—with PowerSheets!
2 comments
Why aren’t the links working for the products in this bundle?
I love this! However the links aren’t working. It says page not found for the workbook and bundle. This is something so needed in our lives!