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Story time.

When I was seven months pregnant with my first, I decided I wanted to be a work-at-home mom. My husband and I had been discussing all of our options, and I had been dabbling in the family business for a few months. While I'd always imagined that I wouldn't take on any serious income-earning projects until my kids were totally self-sufficient (like in high school, or something), certain life events combining with my studies of Scripture had me looking at things from another angle. My husband and I started charting out financial goals for our family. I looked over them with excitement because I was starting to believe that I would be able to help us reach our goals through grit, determination, and good old fashioned hard work.

At the time, designing my own planner was nowhere on my radar. I had a complex system of todo lists and digital calendars that honestly makes my head spin to think back on. But what was worse than my lack of a cohesive system of organization, was my total lack of understanding about the concept of trade-offs.

That's why, at seven months pregnant...

Tired of goal setting systems that pump you up, introduce massive tension between your goal and your daily responsibilities, and then leave you feeling like a failure?

We were too. So we created a system that is mercifully realistic, embraces everyday responsibilities as valid, and helps us become more deeply rooted in our broader life callings. We believe that the best goals are the ones that fuel a great way of life, and that a great way of life will fuel great goals. If you want more than a mountain top experience—if you're ready to actually translate your goals into action—then The ROOTED Goals workbook was created for you. 

But we didn't stop at creating the workbook! Below is a recap of the podcast season we recorded to do a deeper dive into each step of the ROOTED Goals system. Listen to the season as a standalone, or as a companion to the workbook—no matter how you approach it, the ROOTED podcast season is sure to renew your goal-setting drive!

In this episode, we talk about the sixth and final letter in the ROOTED acronym: Developed by Providence. The ROOTED Goal-Setting System reminds you that the Kingdom of God does not rise and fall by your efforts—but that you do have the responsibility to do your part, exercise your influence, and steward your resources.

Having a Christian growth-mindset allows you to set goals with an "amen" posture towards God's unknown plans for the future, knowing that when you give your goals back to God, you can trust Him to develop them in the best of ways.

Join us as we talk about how this Christian growth-mindset has played out in our real lives and goals over the last quarter (including our goal of recording this podcast)! We chat about goals that have had to change, how we stay motivated in the messy middle of goal development, and how our planner enables us to pivot effectively into new or changing goals as we follow the Lord’s leading.

In this episode, we talk about the fifth letter in the ROOTED acronym: Etched Into Your Memory. For a goal to be sustained in the long-run, it has to stay top of mind. Enabling your brain to think about your goal often and easily will ensure you can make progress on your goal even in the most chaotic of seasons.

Join us as we talk about the exact process we take to make sure our goals aren’t forgotten in the busyness of everyday life and responsibilities! We talk about how we use our planners to support our goals and to train our working memories to take action whenever possible, enabling us to make steady progress until a goal is accomplished. 

In this episode, we talk about the fourth letter in the ROOTED acronym: Tailored to Your Lifestyle. If you want to craft compelling goals that are grounded in your unique calling, then you’ll have to give yourself permission to develop creative solutions that make sense for your particular circumstances. Sometimes this means tailoring your goal to match your lifestyle, and other times this means tailoring your lifestyle to match your goal.

Join us as we chat about how taking time to tailor your goal and your lifestyle will prevent unnecessary tension between the two, and enable you to actually follow through even on the most challenging goals you set! 

In this episode, we talk about the third letter in the ROOTED acronym: Outlined for Clarity. Clarity is key when it comes to giving your brain an objective that it can actually process, prioritize, and tackle in the day-to-day.

When you break down a goal into tangible action-steps, you are equipped to move past your vague theories about what it will take to make your goal happen. You’re able to see the gaps in your knowledge about the process, which compels you to research until you have concrete and actionable understanding.

Listen in as we talk about exactly how to take a vague goal and break it down into actionable and compelling steps!

In this episode, we talk about the second letter in the ROOTED acronym: Organically Growing Out of Your Context. You need goals that take your real life context seriously and embrace it. You need goals that connect with where you are right now, and that respect that you’re here for a reason. Recognizing the season you’re in and identifying the contours of your priorities can empower you to identify the next right step—the one that can realistically begin to build the lasting change you want to see.

Join us as we talk about why this is one of the most critical steps in setting ROOTED goals, a step that most other goal-setting systems completely ignore. We talk all about what this looks like in our lives and how embracing our context has empowered us to craft and execute meaningful goals year after year!

In this episode, we talk about the first letter in the ROOTED acronym: Rooted in Your Core Calling. Grasping the unique calling of God for your individual life is a life-long process! But leaning into your core calling is an essential part of creating goals that fully resonate over the long-haul, compel you to follow-through, and produce a lot of satisfying fruit along the way. 

Join us as we talk through discovering how your core calling is playing out in your life today, and how that should impact how you set goals! We also talk a lot about how this part of the ROOTED Goal Setting System is not meant to weigh you down, but give you freedom to lean into your God-given strengths, passions and responsibilities!

Tired of goal setting systems that pump you up, introduce massive tension between your goal and your daily responsibilities, and then leave you feeling like a failure?

We were too. So we created a system that is mercifully realistic, embraces everyday responsibilities as valid, and helps us become more deeply rooted in our broader life callings. We believe that the best goals are the ones that fuel a great way of life, and that a great way of life will fuel great goals. If you want more than a mountain top experience—if you're ready to actually translate your goals into action—then The ROOTED Goals workbook was created for you.

This is such a delightful post, because it was written by Meeka Malone, mother of the sister-founders of Evergreen Planner, McCauley and Shelby.

Mama has always challenged us to reach for excellence, and to never settle with making excuses for ourselves. It's been so fun to watch our Mama embrace this planner system that we created and gain a whole host of brand new skills in time-management and goal-setting for herself.

She's been a behind-the-scenes secret weapon for the success of our business, from staying up late into the night helping us field test and work out the last kinks on our ROOTED Goals Workbook to watching her very large gaggle of grandkids so we can record the Make Space to Thrive Podcast.

Recap:

Last week, we talked about the secret sauce for making progress on your important goals— even when things change —by writing your goals down frequently, even daily, so you train your brain to care about your goal. This week, we're wrapping up the entire ROOTED goals system by talking about the most critical mindset you can have when setting and executing your goals.

Your goals must be Developed by Providence, the final step in the ROOTED goal setting system.

Last week, we talked about how to create a symbiotic relationship between your goals and your lifestyle so they mutually support each other over the long-haul. This week we're going to talk about the secret sauce for making progress on your important goals— even when things change. When you train your brain to care about your goals, your subconscious joins the team and starts looking for every reasonable opportunity for you to make progress.

We call this "etching" your goals into your memory, and it's step 5 in the ROOTED goals process.