I love the new year! I love reflecting on the previous year, looking at how far I’ve come, and looking ahead to the clean slate of a new year. I’m one of those people that loves lists, planners, checking things off, reading personal development books, and making goals.

I think there’s a lot of value in making goals. It pushes us to be better. To do things that maybe we wouldn’t think to do otherwise; to focus in on the things that are truly important, our priorities. Otherwise life just slips by too fast and we can easily lose sight of who we actually want to become. Goals help us to realign our priorities, to reflect on how we spend our time, to see the bigger picture.

I know not everyone likes to make goals, but I think they’re highly valuable. While I have always been a goal-setter, I really love that my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) has recently come out with little goal books for children and youth. There are 4 areas of focus: physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual. There are so many food/kitchen goals you can make in these four areas. Here are some ideas for goals you can use (whether you focus in on these four areas or not!):

Physical

• Learn to pipe buttercream flowers, trees, decorations, etc.
• Roast a chicken, a duck, a turkey- or whatever bird you’ve never roasted before!
• Become a more efficient slicer and dicer with a knife.
• Practice decorating cookies with royal icing
• Learn to make something from scratch (pie crust, brownies, chicken stock, etc).
• Do a total makeover on your pantry or kitchen organization. Pull it all out, throw things away, and put it all back in nice containers and a new organization system!
• Do the dishes every night! Make it a goal to never go to bed with a dirty kitchen.

Intellectual

• I think it would be so cool to learn about different cultures and how they view food!
Food traditions around the world.
• Favorite dishes around the world- and then learn to make them!
• I knew a family in my previous neighborhood that made it a goal to make a meal from each country! They learned about the country and then prepared traditional dishes from that country- EVERY WEEK! I think that’s just the coolest thing.
• Learn about the benefits of particular foods.
• Learn about how to cook healthier- more veggies and whole grains, less processed foods.
• Learn how to grow herbs indoors.
• Learn about healthier cleaning options that use less chemicals.

Social

• Host a different family from your neighborhood for dinner each week!
• Take someone to a nice dinner once a month or every quarter.
• Make it a goal to try a new dessert recipe every week - and take some to a different neighbor each week!
• This could be a spiritual goal as well, but serve someone in your household. If your spouse always does the dishes, make it a goal to help out more often! Maybe you take over the breakfast dishes, or the Sunday night dishes. If your spouse always does the meal planning, maybe you help out by switching off every other week. Do what you can to ease the load!

Spiritual

• Fasting has many physical and spiritual benefits. I definitely feel closer to God when I humbly fast. It can still be a struggle though! Goal ideas could be to just start fasting. Maybe it’s to increase the time you fast. Two meals, instead of one, for example. Maybe it’s to include more things in your fast (e.g. maybe you only fast from soda, but maybe you decide to fast from all sugary treats).
• Pray and study to find if there are certain foods that you should avoid for your particular body.

I think the most important thing about goals is to make them individual to YOU. Goals should be working for you, not the other way around. They should push you, stretch you, make you have to work a little harder, but they shouldn’t be overwhelming! They need to be doable and attainable or you won’t even try.

What goals do you have for the new year? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

    Camille Hoffmann
    Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com