Goal Setting with Hubby

As a busy mom and wife, it’s easy to get stuck in the motions of life. Getup, get kids ready and out the door, work, housework, cook dinner, bedtime, and then it all starts over again. Have you been there?

Don’t get me wrong, routine is great, but getting stuck in this rut of just going through the daily motions can be a drag on your mental health and your marital health.

Setting Goals with Hubby

One of my favorite past times is to dream with my husband. We sit down together and talk about our future. We think about what we want our life to look like a year from now, five years from now, or even 10 years from now. We dream about what vacations we want to go on. We think about home projects we’d like to take on. We think about where our relationship is and where we want it to be. We talk about our kids, our personal endeavors, our careers, and everything in between.

We didn’t always do this. I think as we started having kids, we got stuck in the daily motions rut. We started to feel like roommates instead of husband and wife. But when I was pregnant with our third, we were starting a couple businesses and listening to several podcasts about business. Many of the podcasts talked about how it’s a good idea to create a vision board or goal list for your company so you know the plan of action to get your business where you want it to go. So, we took that advice and created goals for our businesses. Then, my husband, being the smart man that he is, said why don’t we create goals for our life too. So, 5 years later and this is still one of my favorite things to do together.

Having goals in place, whether monthly or yearly, really helps us see where we want our life and marriage to go. It helps us to feel united, like a team striving for the same thing. We are able to be on the same page, work together, encourage each other, and achieve something together. With clear goals, we know what actions to take so we can achieve a goal, together.

How to Create Goals

If you’ve never created goals with your husband, don’t stress, it’s super easy and super fun! First, set aside some time together—no kids! Then, start dreaming.

If you’re a visual person, you can create a vision board with pictures glued to poster board representing your goals. Hang it up in your bedroom as a reminder. We did that for our first goal date.

Now, we like to write our goals in a list format so we can add extra bullet points and stuff. We divide our goals into short-term and long-term goals. For us, short-term goals are to be achieved within a year, but you might choose for short-term goals to be achieved within a month (it’s up to you). Long-term goals are things we would like to achieve in 5-10 years.

Some examples of short-term goals:

• go on a date once a month

• pay X amount down on the mortgage

• read 6 books

• go on 2 family vacations

• redo the front flower beds

Some examples of long-term goals:

• pay off the house

• build a dream backyard

• buy a new car

• have a baby

• get a promotion

• fly first class on one trip

Where do you want your marriage to be a year from now? How about 5 years from now? Sit down with your husband, talk about it, and create goals together to help you achieve the marriage you want!

What’s one short-term or long-term goal you have for your marriage/life? Comment below to share.

Next week, we will talk about how to resolve conflict.