Summer Goals And Projects

It’s summer and we all like to take it easy with work, schedules, and projects. I know it’s sometimes difficult to get things done during the summer months, especially with kids out of school, vacations, and long, fun, summer days. The problem is that we actually use these summer months as a reason to procrastinate on things we’re trying to accomplish. When we do that, we’re losing three months of our year. That’s 1/4th of the year slacking off of our routines, projects, and goals. Instead of slacking off your routines during this summer, think of how much you could accomplish by the end of August if you keep working on your goals, even in the summer months.
Now that it’s the middle of summer, it’s the perfect time to stop and think about your life goals, family goals, and this summer, and think about what you’d like to accomplish by the end of August. This isn’t meant to be a long list of dreaded work to do while everyone else is at the beach. I always include fun things in my plans. We all want to be productive, but we want our summer to be fun too. So, the following is how I plan my summer goals and projects.

Before you continue with this, you might want to go back and read one of my earlier posts for how to make meaningful goals for your life. You can read it here.

Even though we like to have goals for the year, they sometimes need to be a little different for the summer because of a more relaxed routine, kids out of school, and family vacations. So for the summer, I like to take a blank sheet of paper. Draw a line down the middle. On the left side, write your goals for the summer for each area in your life. On the right side, for each area of your life, write down things that you will do in the fall. This is what I call “planned procrastination”. You’re just planning things to do this summer and things to wait on till fall. I actually did this and then put it in the front of my planner.

The following is an example of how you might want to plan goals and projects in different areas of your life:

Spiritual – Plan any special spiritual reading. What church activities or ministry activities would you like to do this summer?
Family – Make plans for special events going on with your family and anything you need to do to prepare for it. Make a list of fun activities to do with your family before school starts again. This doesn’t have to be a major vacation. It could be fun things to do in your hometown or even in your own yard. If you have small kids, summer is a great time to show them things you used to do in your childhood such as catching lightning bugs, building a fort in the yard, or playing an old-fashioned boardgame. Also, make plans to help your kids with educational activities in areas that they might be behind in, such as reading or math. You can read with them, buy educational workbooks, or take them to the library for additional learning. Just remember to make it fun!
Personal – Make plans to accomplish some things for yourself. Summer is a great time to get outdoors for exercise and healthier eating with fresh produce. You can try a new hobby or do some summer reading. I usually like reading nonfiction books, but I usually read a few fiction books in the summertime just for fun. If you have a bucket list of fun summer activities, add them to your list.
Finances – Summertime activities can get expensive, but you can still set a couple of goals for the summer. Think about how nice it will be to start the school year and Christmas season with a clean bank account and savings plan. A good goal to have is to get credit card balances at zero before fall. Then you can, at least, start the fall with a clean “financial” slate.
Work – Depending on the field you’re in, the work you do in the summer may be slightly different from the fall. With vacation time, you may feel like you aren’t getting much done. Try to set some goals to accomplish, even if it’s just learning more about how to do your job better. Then in the fall, you’ll be motivated to “up” your productivity.
Home/House – With no school routines, homework, after-school activities, and longer days, this could be the perfect time for some house projects. You could plan on redecorating one room or area of your house. You might want to work on some outside projects. If you didn’t have time for spring cleaning, it’s not too late. Summer is a good time for cleaning windows, cleaning the garage, or working more on your yard. Summer is the best time for organizing your kids’ closets, especially before school starts. Go through their clothes and see what they’ll need in the fall. Help them clean out and organize toys.

These are just some ideas to get you thinking. You may have more or less areas to plan. The point is to have a fun summer and still be productive. Just remember a few things when making plans for your summer:

Be flexible. It is summertime.
Do your best. Go for progress, not perfection.
Re-evaluate at the beginning of August. Use August 1st as a checkpoint to look at your summer goals and projects and see what you still have left to do.
Make time to do the fun activities you’ve been wanting to do, before the summer comes to an end.