2024 Goals Recap
A look back on progress made in my goals this year
Welcome to my annual goal series! I’m releasing a new goals-related blog post each day. Here’s what’s included!
2024 Answered Prayers (12/27)
2024 Goals Recap (12/28)
2024 Life-Changers (12/30)
20+ Books I Read in 2024 (12/31)
2025 Word of the Year (1/1)
2025 Goals (1/2)
40 Books to Read in 2025 (1/3)
What’s Next? (1/6)
If you desire more focus and consistency and less distractions and distance from the Lord, now is the perfect time to grab our yearly prayer journal for 2025. Grab one here. And don’t miss my Instagram live on how to use our prayer journals and overcome common obstacles Monday at 7 pm here.
Before I recap how my goals for 2024 went, I’m just giggling to myself reading last year’s post about picking my 2024 goals. So many things I mentioned here or here proved true a year ago without me remembering.
Here’s a refresher.
It’s Monday night at 8:32 pm. I’m supposed to have my 2024 goals ready to publish in the morning. And after more than 11 years of goal setting (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023) I find myself in a bit of a pickle. You see, it’s not a stretch to say I normally have my goals locked and loaded by Thanksgiving. But this year has felt so strange. I’ve been procrastinating like crazy and not totally sure why…until today.
As I hopped on Instagram today enjoying all of your journal posts, I couldn’t help but notice all the In for 2024 / Out for 2024 posts.
In: Sleeping in, Intentional Family Time, Baking bread. All the things we know are good.
Out: Mindless scrolling, negative self-talk, comparison. All the things we know aren’t good.
As I read them, annoyance crept in. Not because they were wrong. But because I was tired of seeing the same things on our lists. Aren’t these items kind of obvious? I felt like I was echoing Paul in Romans 7:15
“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Am I really going to put less screen time as a goal AGAIN? (I’d like to go on record that I did make major strides in early January 2020 and then Covid hit and a presidential election and all bets were off. I digress. And the phone is still an issue.
So as I’ve wrestled with goals for 2024, nothing feels right. I feel a little bored with the whole thing. Like it’s been drained of it’s power. And I think I know why. No matter how hard we try to focus on God-centered goals, it’s still very easy to give goals a God-spin while still attempting to do it in our own strength. So before I share where I landed with my goals, here’s what I’m wrestling with:
Random Realizations
1. SAYING I CAN’T CHANGE DENIES OUR SANCTIFICATION.
As believers, we are being transformed. A set of badly executed goals doesn’t need to be our metric for eternal transformation. If you assume you can’t change, you’re essentially saying God is wrong. It’s not that we can’t change, it’s just that we can’t change in our own power and in our own timing. Philippians 1:6 says “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Tuck that in for the next time someone mentions that goal you’ve been making repeatedly for the last 5 years.
2. I DON’T WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING I WILL DO THIS YEAR.
I want to be surprised by God. I want to live with enough space that my precious plans can be interrupted with things only God could dream up. I want to wait in expectation at the things that He will do in my life as I seek Him. Matthew 6:33 says “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”