Every year I work on goals for myself. I also ask my family to work on goals too. We are a very goal oriented family so I really don’t need to ask any of them to have goals. It is a given that my family tends to always have goals that we are working towards.
The first step to success is to write it down. Writing things down helps them to manifest and puts them out into the universe.
We want our goals to be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable (attainable), relevant and time based. We can get as specific as we want and that helps us to have successful outcomes. However, I don’t want this to overwhelm you. While this is not as hard as it may sound, I just want you to have some sort of goals. No goal is too small. If your goal is to tidy up every night for 15 minutes before bed, then that is a great new goal for you and will make a big impact on your home.
I tend to have a word of the year. Words I have had in the past are calm and grace. Learning to be calmer and learning to give myself grace are both great themes for past years. I do think I made a big impact on myself with these words and will continue to make improvements and advances in those two areas. Just yesterday my mom told me to remember to give myself grace and I needed to hear that. I tend to be very hard on myself. I am a true first born overachiever who has mellowed over the years. When my children focus on getting 100’s on everything I am taken back to that college student aiming for a 4.0 every semester. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree so please always remember that. Our kids model us and learn how to live life from us.
My word / phrase of 2026 is, “going with the flow.” Flow being the theme for 2026. As many of you know, my son Max started his freshman year of college away from home. I tend to resist change. Some people love change and some people do not at all. I know that I have come a long way, and I also know that focusing on this word this year is really going to help me. Instead of resisting, I am going to learn to flow better with everything. From Max going away to school to Tanner limping to my day not going as planned – all examples of opportunities for me to practice my big word of the year.
Today is a great example:
Instead of resisting going back to school, flow with the fact that the girls start back to school and Seth goes back to work. Embrace and flow with it and feel more relaxed with the whole process. Focus on the positives of enjoying a routine. By the end of 2026 I am hoping to feel more flowy!
This also pertains to my dog Tanner. I have taken Tanner to many vets to try to get him help over this last year. Tanner has been limping for almost a year now. From medicine, to steroid shots, to acupuncture, chiropractic, PT, laser therapy, xrays and more trying to help my dog this last year. My goals for this year with Tanner to try to help him: I have started making his food to give his body better ingredients. Giving him supplements for his health. Booked him a MRI for this month. I am going to do what is within my power to help him. I have made changes for him. I have taken him to many doctors. I will continue on this path to help my dog. I have specific, measurable, achievable and time specific goals in regards to Tanner. Hopefully next year when I am writing this, I can tell you that I have helped/fixed my dog. It’s been a long year with him.
I read 134 books in the year 2025. My goal was 100. I am really not focused on a number of books. I read every day and I enjoy it. I just want to enjoy reading and I am not pushing myself for a number of books. What I would
like to do in 2026 is read less books and write more. I have three book ideas that I want to work on. My goal is to publish at least one book this year. Again, this is specific, measurable, achievable and time specific. My goal is to write at least fifteen minutes every day. I have already achieved that goal today as I write this. I love writing my blogs. It is a wonderful outlet for me, and it seems to be helping people too which is the added bonus that I was hoping for. I see a lot of reading and writing in the year 2026.
I have written this goal before and writing it down is helpful to me. I am really good at appointments for my kids and my pets. I do have to remember to make appointments for myself. I have had one facial my whole life and that seems to me to not be a good thing. From facials to doctor appointments, I would like to remember to make appointments for myself too. I have specific goals that I will privately write down for myself. I just want to remind you wonderful moms to make your appointments too. I would like at least one facial in 2026.
I want to encourage you to share your goals with your partner. I am going to tell you why this is. When we were at Wegmans the other day, I found myself rushing at the self checkout because my husband was with me. I didn’t know that one of his goals for himself is not to rush me. If he had told me that, I wouldn’t have rushed. If we share our goals with each other then we know things like this example. We can also support each other in those goals. If Seth knows that my goal is to go with the flow, then he can gently remind me of that when he sees me resisting.
I hope that you find this helpful and inspiring. I hope that you will write down at least one goal for this year. I don’t recommend writing more than three goals at a time. This makes it more realistic to achieve your goals. If you achieve those three goals or are in a good pattern towards achieving them, then you can always add more.
You can also just choose a word of the year. Compassion and grace are two great words for moms. Enough is another great word for you to embrace for the year. The more compassion and grace that you give to yourself, the more that your kids will see you do this and learn from you.
I would love to hear your goals. I hope everyone has had a good start to 2026.
Laughing, Learning, Loving,
Rebecca Greene, LCSW-R
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Seth goal of not rushing me – tell your partner cause I was still rushing myself at Wegmans checkout
