What It Looks Like to Finish a Goal

We often say that cultivated goals are about growing what you already have, and it's true. We believe in amplifying and building on the good that's already in your life, even if it seems small!

Because of this, many people in our community set big-picture and long-term goals that don't have a concrete finish line — but still, it's really important to stop and notice the progress you've made, even if you hope to make more in the future! 

On that note, we're pausing to celebrate some of the progress (even if it's a bit imperfect) that's been made in the past twelve months together. Whether you checked things off entirely or slowly in your progress bar, our team wants to celebrate your little-by-little progress, too!

Team Cultivate is kicking things off by sharing some of our personal PowerSheets® goal progress below!



JULIE: Our one family goal was to live a year of intentional and spontaneous adventure—and wow! what great progress we made on this goal over the year.

What did progress look like on this goal? It looked like: planned weekly adventures as a family (bike rides, donut dates, spontaneous trips to get frozen yogurt, park visits, trips to the local pool, our son's first movie theatre experience to Toy Story 4, exploring the UNC football stadium, tons of trips to water the flowers together, and so much more!), a few fun family trips—to the Appalachian mountains, Tweetsie Railroad, home to Texas, and to the beach—creating and completing 15 items on our first annual Summer Bucket List, and some magical celebrations (like an extra special day for my son's 2nd birthday, and brunch with Santa as a family!).

What a FUN year of adventure! So much fun, in fact, that we plan to carry this goal into 2020!

IRENE: This year, I finished a goal that had been several years in the making—reading the Bible from start to finish! I loved using the Read Scripture app to keep track of my progress, and their videos were a huge help in understanding the more challenging books. While it took me longer than I had planned—my one year plan turned into almost three—it was so worth it to focus on little-by-little progress on a huge project, rather than getting caught up in the need to do it exactly on schedule!

MACKENZIE: One of my goals this year was to learn to enjoy cooking and make yummy food (not just subpar food that I didn't want to eat!). To make progress, I had to begin with the basics. I don't enjoy going to the grocery store, so I started a habit of ordering groceries online with free pick up. It saved so much time and helped eliminate unnecessary purchases I would make when in the store!

I didn't have a ton of recipes I loved, so each weekend I would sit down and research what I wanted to make the following week—which made it very easy to place my grocery order. Preparing before the week has made cooking more attainable and delicious! And the best part, to celebrate each week, I would let myself choose a meal out for dinner on Friday!



EMILY: When I set the goal of "become a bike riding family and complete the MS 125 ride," it seemed wildly improbable even to me that I would be ready to bike 125 miles in two days by September. Over many months, however, I broke this big goal down into many pieces. Some of my PowerSheets monthly goals included bringing our bikes in for a tune-up, buying a bike trailer so our kiddos could train with us, and sending fundraising emails. As the race approached, I set weekly goals with the number of training rides we wanted to hit. 

Though Hurricane Dorian canceled our original ride, causing us to transfer to a one-day, 70-mile ride instead, I'm so proud of my growth this year. Crossing the finish line with my husband John will always be a sweet memory from 2019!

MARISSA: As I sit looking at our home decorated for the holidays, I can't believe that "completely unpack our home" was a goal on my 2019 PowerSheets. My husband and I had moved across the country with our two small children and unpacking beyond the necessities felt like it was taking forever. The literal mountain of boxes seemed to be on my Tending List for months before being complete. Breaking it down to "unpack 2 boxes" and being able to see the progress helped me see how far we had come each month. 

We'd love to hear from you! As we dig into our 2020 PowerSheets Prep Work and set goals for the year ahead, we don't want to lose sight of all we've accomplished this year! Share one of your 2019 goals and the progress you made in the comments below, if you'd like!

Ready to make progress on your own goals? Order your 2020 PowerSheets today! This time next year, we'll be so excited to hear about all the progress you've made on the things that really matter to you :)