Have You and Your Spouse Set Goals?

Whether you've just come from your honeymoon, or you've been married many years, a key ingredient to a successful marriage is setting goals.

As a couple, where do you want to be in five years? Ten years? Thirty years?

Those are of course long term goals, but you can also sit down and discuss what you'd like to accomplish in the next month or by your next wedding anniversary.

There are a few things to consider when setting goals:

1. You want to discuss mutual goals, those things that the two of you together can accomplish as a team.
2. You want to include individual goals, what each of you personally wants to achieve in the desired time period.
3. Look at the mutual goals and the individual goals and work them over so they are in alignment with each other.
4. List out real and doable steps that will move each of you and the marriage in the direction of attaining each goal.
5. Review your goals regularly. Discuss ways to improve progress. Talk about eliminating things that get in the way of achieving short and long term goals.
6. Set goals that are attainable.
7. When you achieve a goal, no matter how short term or seemingly insignificant, reward yourselves. Do something to acknowledge the achievement. Enjoy the win of having set a goal and attained it. This actually makes it easier to achieve the next one!

Setting and achieving goals can very definitely help a marriage succeed!