New Year Goal Setting
WELCOME to Issue #275 of The Seedhead from Alex and Hannah at Dandelion Resourcing
- a weekly confidence booster to help you step into naturally supernatural discipleship and mission!
How we set annual goals and keep accountable with 90 plans and weekly reviews.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” (Colossians 3:23)
Let’s make the most of 2026 for the sake of Jesus!
There will be so much opportunity ahead of each one of us in the months to come. Some will arrive via favor and fruitfulness, others will flow through our response to trial and difficulty. While we much prefer the former, the Lord can use both to supercharge our witness, to extend His Kingdom, and to help spur believers towards greater maturity in Christ.
As Paul puts it further on in the same book, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” (Colossians 4:5)
There will be situations that happen to us, for which we can’t specifically prepare, and to which we primarily react. Those are moments where the fruit of years of general preparation in Christ must be relied on.
However, most of life has elements for which we can plan and to which we primarily can be proactive. This is what we want you to focus on today.
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” (Proverbs 16:3)
One of the joys of starting a new year is the ability to take out our pens, draw a line underneath the previous year, and make some fresh plans and dreams for the next run of time.
A little like a good sleep enables us to face the new day afresh, marking off the close of one season and setting goals for the new phase ahead is often a welcome experience.
Of course, there will hopefully be areas in our lives that are going well, where our prayer is, “More of the same, please Lord!” It’s good to take stock of those, give thanks, and allow that to stir faith in our hearts for areas that are more challenging right now.
To help move forward, for the past decade or so, we have used annual goals and 90-day plans.
These actually fit within a bigger set of life goals that we have written out, and occasionally tweak.
We reflect on how life is going - the good, the bad, the joys, the hurts, the successes, the struggles. And we lift all of it before King Jesus, giving it all back to Him, seeking His perspective on it all.
It’s important to do the reflection part first, so that what we plan going forward is not unmoored from our current reality. Thus, we make space to allow the Holy Spirit to speak into us words of comfort, affirmation, invitation, and challenge.
Don’t forget: when Jesus speaks challenge, His voice will do so through conviction and not condemnation (Romans 8:1). His word to us might be a stretch, but it will always carry embedded within it the grace to see that change birthed and grow.
After review, we prayerfully look into the new year!
We use 6 to 8 categories to help break up our lives, but you can use fewer (or more) if you prefer. If in doubt, we’d suggest starting with fewer, so as not to overcomplicate things - 27 different areas of growth will be hard to keep on top of!
In the video, we list some example headings to help you think about what would be most useful for you. Don’t use them all! And, of course, we can create your own.
Spiritual
Marriage
Kids
Extended family
Job/ career
Ministry
Skills
Local Mission
Church
Experiences (bucket list!)
Finances
Health, Fitness, and Rest
Growth
As you watch this video, consider how you can become more intentional (and accountable) for prayerfully setting goals in 2026 for different aspects of your life.
Next Steps
Set aside some time (at least 1 hour) this week to plan for 2026. Put this on your calendar now!
Pray that the Lord will guide you - both in what you can foresee, and to position you well for the things you can’t.
Dream about what you’d like to be popping champagne corks over when we reach Christmas 2026. Don’t water it down - go after that thrilling and compelling dream!
As you look at the different buckets of your life (e.g. spiritual, family, work, missional living, experiences, health, finances, etc), try to set goals that are specific to those areas.
What resources will you need to reallocate in order to attempt, and hopefully fulfill, your goals?
Who will you discuss your annual plan with? See if they’d like to do their own annual plan, so that you can help each other.
When will the review points be during 2026 (e.g. every 90 days)? Put actual dates in your calendar now, and ask your accountability partner to do the same.
If you’ve never done something like this before/ for a long time, we suggest that you follow our model fairly closely. That way you spend your energy on the prayerful planning and review, rather than the focus.
If you regularly do this sort of thing, then take our ideas and customize it for you.
The goal is to make intentional space for Jesus and you to dream and plot together, and then keep that under regular review throughout the weeks and months to come.
With love,
Alex + Hannah
ALEX AND HANNAH ABSALOM
P.S. As you launch into 2026, a great daily discipline is to read the Bible and pray. Check out our FREE plans on YouVersion’s Bible App - here’s how.
