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Achieve Your Best Year Yet: Setting and Reviewing Personal, Home, and Business Goals for 2021

A reflective look back at the goals set for 2020, followed by an exciting reveal of 12 new, clearly defined objectives for 2021 across personal development, home and financial management, and business growth. This comprehensive guide aims to inspire and equip you for your most successful year yet.

The annual tradition of reviewing past goals and meticulously charting a course for the year ahead is a cornerstone of intentional living. This year, the process took a little longer than usual. The week typically reserved for this deep reflection, nestled between Christmas and New Year’s, was unexpectedly filled with other commitments. However, much like many of us navigated the unpredictable currents of 2020, I’m simply rolling with the flow.

The precise timing of when these aspirations are laid out isn’t the most critical factor; what truly matters is the act of articulating them. Whether you call them goals, dreams, or plans, getting them down on paper transforms vague hopes into concrete intentions. This practice isn’t just about planning; it’s about claiming agency in your life, moving beyond mere reaction to actively shaping your future.

Before diving into the detailed recap of 2020 and unveiling the fresh set of goals for 2021, I want to share the core reason I commit to this public declaration each year. My deepest hope is that by transparently sharing my personal journey of goal-setting, I can spark inspiration within you. Perhaps it will encourage you to identify just one, two, or even more significant objectives that you aspire to bring to fruition in the coming twelve months. I am profoundly convinced that consciously defining a few key focus areas is absolutely essential. It’s what empowers you to transcend a life where events merely happen *to* you, and instead, enables you to proactively move forward, continually evolving into the person you truly wish to become.

Crafting Your Future: A Strategic Approach to Goal Setting

The methodology I employ for recording and tracking my aspirations is a structured, yet flexible, system integrated into The Flexible Planner. It functions much like a funnel, where each level of planning logically connects and contributes to the next, creating a cohesive roadmap for success. This tiered approach ensures that every daily action aligns with your broader vision.

5-Year Big Goals → Yearly Goals → Goal Action Steps

Over the past few years, adopting this framework, particularly starting with the expansive 5-Year Big Goals, has been incredibly transformative. It provides a clear, long-term perspective, allowing my husband and me to vividly picture the major milestones we want to achieve over half a decade. This forward-thinking strategy has significantly streamlined our decision-making process. We’ve found it much easier to confidently decline opportunities that don’t propel us closer to our overarching objectives, while simultaneously embracing those that do with greater clarity and enthusiasm.

Our foundational 5-year goals remain consistent with the previous year, reflecting deeply held values and ambitions that guide our every step:

Fix Up Farmhouse & Move In: This encompasses the comprehensive renovation and eventual inhabitation of our dream home, a project that is both a labor of love and a significant investment of time and resources.
Travel: Cultivating experiences through exploration, seeing new places, and connecting with different cultures remains a high priority, enriching our lives and broadening our perspectives.
More Predictable Income & Increasing Retirement: A focus on financial stability and growth, ensuring both present security and a comfortable future through strategic income generation and robust retirement planning.
Invest in Relationships: Nurturing and strengthening connections with family, friends, and community, recognizing that meaningful relationships are the bedrock of a fulfilling life.

Throughout the upcoming sections, you’ll notice that I’ll continue to link my specific yearly goals back to these larger, overarching 5-year objectives. This connection will be highlighted in purple text after each goal, serving as a constant reminder of how individual efforts contribute to the grander vision. I sincerely hope this integration illuminates the interconnectedness of our plans, helping you visualize how seemingly disparate goals can synergistically work together to manifest your biggest dreams.

2020 Goals Recap: Lessons from a Challenging Year

Looking back at 2020, it was a year that challenged perceptions, tested resilience, and reshaped priorities for many across the globe. For us, it was no different. Despite the unprecedented circumstances, we made significant strides in several areas, while others naturally shifted or were put on hold. This reflection isn’t about judgment, but about honest assessment and learning, recognizing that even partial successes or outright failures offer invaluable insights.

Home & Financial Goals (2020)

Farmhouse Fixer: The ambitious plan included walls, floors, finishing the exterior, kitchen, new stairs, and completing the living/dining room. PROGRESS. While not every item on this extensive list was checked off, 2020 saw immense progress that wasn’t even initially budgeted for, like the complete renovation of a bathroom and extensive shower tiling. The pandemic presented unique challenges with material sourcing and contractor availability, but we adapted and kept moving forward. It’s clear this is a multi-year endeavor, but we’re thrilled with the foundational work accomplished. #1 big goal (Farmhouse).
Three Trips: Our grand travel plans included Australia (March), Yellowstone (August), and Arizona (November). PARTIAL. In an incredible twist of timing, we managed to visit Australia just before the global shutdowns, almost getting stuck and having to make a hasty return! We then visited Yellowstone as planned, a trip booked a year in advance, finding ourselves among a multitude of other domestic travelers seeking solace in nature during the pandemic. However, the November trip to Arizona was wisely postponed due to ongoing travel uncertainties, now rescheduled for spring of the following year. Flexibility proved key here. #2 big goal (Travel).
Sunken Garden Next to Farmhouse: The intention was to lay out, complete initial planting, and mulch this new garden space. NOT AT ALL. This goal, unfortunately, fell by the wayside. With the unexpected demands of the farmhouse renovation, combined with the crucial task of completing the vegetable garden (which took clear precedence for immediate sustenance and enjoyment), the sunken garden project simply didn’t receive any attention. It’s a good reminder that priorities can shift unexpectedly, and sometimes, less urgent projects must yield. #1 big goal (Farmhouse).
Adjust Finances (Self-Employment Income Change) to Tighten Budget but Keep Retirement: A critical financial restructuring was needed. DONE! This was a significant success. We worked diligently with our CPA, meticulously reviewed our income streams, and successfully refined our budget to ensure that despite changes in our self-employment income, our retirement contributions remained intact and prioritized. This proactive financial planning provided a strong sense of security amidst global economic uncertainty. #3 big goal (Retirement & Business).

Personal Goals (2020)

Maintain Weight and Visit Doctor Regularly: A commitment to health check-ups, often postponed. DONE! I successfully prioritized my health, meeting with my doctor once in person and once via Zoom, adapting to the new reality of healthcare. Maintaining a healthy weight and staying on top of check-ups is fundamental for overall well-being and energy. Good health = ability to travel (#2) & DIY projects (#1).
Move 6 Days/Week: Continue Barre3 videos 3x/week, walk & garden in spring, summer, fall, and add more movement on bad weather days (using a Pomodoro timer). PARTIAL. My dedication to Barre3 videos three times a week remained strong, and getting outside for walks and gardening when the weather permitted was never an issue. However, the Pomodoro timer for integrating movement into bad weather days didn’t stick for me. I did, however, experiment with setting a regular timer for focused work blocks, which helped somewhat. The core objective of consistent movement was largely achieved. Again, health = ability to travel & DIY projects.
Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge: An exciting new reading endeavor. MOST. I completed all but two books. While it was a fun experiment and introduced me to new genres and authors, I realized by year-end that this particular challenge format didn’t fully align with my reading preferences. Nonetheless, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and expanded my literary horizons. Expand my world to better relate to others -#4 big goal.
Relationships: Start New Sunday Small Group and Meet with Friends Regularly: Intentional connection building. DONE! Despite the challenges of 2020, being intentional about relationships proved paramount. We successfully started a new Sunday small group, adapting to virtual meetings when necessary, and I made a concerted effort to connect with friends a couple of times each month, sometimes virtually, sometimes in socially distanced settings. This reinforced my belief that intentionality is truly the key to nurturing meaningful connections. #4 big goal (Relationships).

Business Goals (2020)

(All the following are related to #3 – retirement, business, & passive income.)

Create 1-2 New Products: Expansion of product offerings. NOPE. This was a clear miss. The sheer volume of work involved in the SEO and website audit, coupled with the unexpected demands of the year, meant that product creation had to be shelved. It’s a testament to the fact that sometimes, even well-intentioned goals must yield to higher-priority, foundational tasks.
Update Newsletter: Changing provider, format, and creating more funnels. WORKING. While I didn’t change my email provider, I successfully updated the newsletter format to be more engaging and added a couple of new funnels designed to direct new readers more effectively to my existing content. This ongoing optimization is crucial for audience engagement and business growth.
SEO & Audit: A comprehensive website audit to improve search engine optimization. YEP! This goal became the absolute main focus of my business time in 2020. Overhauling and cleaning up a website after 11 years of blogging is a monumental task, demanding meticulous attention to Google’s ever-evolving requirements for search engine optimization. While it’s an ongoing process, we made HUGE, foundational progress in 2020, which is critical for long-term visibility and traffic.
More Video: Consistent video production, 1-2 videos per month. DONE! This was a fantastic success! Brian and I consistently produced our “Simple Homemade Life” videos twice a month, and I managed to sprinkle in additional “how-to” videos in between. This allowed us to explore new content formats, engage with our audience in a different way, and fulfill a goal of expanding our reach through video content.

What About Those Habits You Talked About?

Ah, the best-laid plans for habit formation often go awry, and mine certainly did in 2020. I had intended to cultivate three specific habits:

Write gratitude daily.
Keep Friday afternoons for a creative block and stop work at 5 pm.
Do the big things for the day first.

Reflecting on why the gratitude practice faltered, the answer is undeniably tied to the pandemic and the cascade of challenges and anxieties it brought. You might logically think that in such times, focusing on gratitude would be more essential than ever. However, my mental and emotional energy simply wasn’t available for consistent reflection when I look back. It became an overwhelming task rather than a comforting one, leading to its eventual abandonment.

The goal of stopping work at 5 pm on Fridays, and for the most part, throughout the week, was surprisingly successful. I’d confidently claim that as a win for work-life balance. However, the dedicated creative block on Friday afternoons? That vanished after January! I believe the primary reason for this failure was the lack of a dedicated space. Once my studio is set up in the farmhouse, I anticipate this becoming a viable and much-desired goal once again.

And to be completely honest about tackling “big things first” each day – this is profoundly challenging for me. I am definitively not a morning person; my sleep is often disrupted, leaving me less than sharp in the early hours. The idea of immediately diving into something profoundly important or complex just doesn’t align with my natural rhythms. Instead, I find myself checking emails and responding to comments with my morning coffee, gradually easing into the day. My peak productivity for tackling bigger, more demanding tasks typically arrives later in the morning or early afternoon, a routine that works much better with my chronotype.

Lesson Learned: Embrace Your Unique Rhythm

The entire process of setting goals, diligently working towards them, and then honestly evaluating the outcomes is an incredible learning experience. Sometimes, the most valuable insight gained isn’t whether a goal was perfectly achieved, but what the journey revealed about your own working style, preferences, and limitations. My experiment with daily habits unequivocally taught me that conventional advice, such as “doing the big things first thing in the morning,” doesn’t apply universally.

I now understand that my energy peaks later in the day, and attempting to force myself into a “morning person” routine is counterproductive. This realization is liberating! It means I don’t have to feel guilt or inadequacy for not conforming to everyone else’s idealized morning routines. Instead, I can design my days and my goal-setting strategies around what genuinely works for *me*, capitalizing on my natural rhythms rather than fighting against them. This understanding is itself a significant victory, paving the way for more effective and sustainable goal achievement in the future.

Looking Ahead: Inspiring Goals for 2021

With the lessons of 2020 firmly in hand, I approach 2021 with renewed clarity, flexibility, and a deep sense of purpose. The challenges of the past year have only strengthened my resolve to live intentionally and pursue what truly matters. These goals are not just tasks to be completed, but stepping stones toward a more fulfilling, creative, and joyful life, all aligned with our enduring 5-year vision. Here’s what’s on the horizon for the new year:

Personal Goals (2021)

Cultivate Daily Gratitude in a Dedicated Journal: Following the struggle of last year, I feel an even stronger imperative to establish this as a firm goal. It’s crucial to actively seek and record the good, no matter how small or challenging the circumstances. This practice is about intentionally retraining my focus towards positivity and appreciation. Sort of #4 big goal (Relationships) – a positive mindset profoundly affects all my interactions and connections.
Maintain Physical Activity and Embrace Meatless Meals: I plan to consistently keep up with Barre3 three times a week and maximize seasonal outdoor activities like walking and gardening. Additionally, I’m introducing a new health component: incorporating 1-2 meatless meals into our weekly routine, exploring new recipes and benefiting from plant-based nutrition. Good Health = ability to DIY, garden, & travel. This directly supports all our major life projects and experiences.
Continue Community Food Outreach with My Church: Building on a rewarding initiative started at the end of 2020, I am committed to continuing my work with our church to provide food to those in need within our community. This has been an incredibly humbling and enriching experience, fostering a deep sense of connection and purpose. #4 big goal (Relationships) – investing in community and service.
Embark on the Cookbook Challenge: This year, I’m challenging myself to cook through the “Modern Comfort Food” cookbook throughout the year. This isn’t just about cooking; it’s a culinary adventure that promises new skills and delicious discoveries. I’m especially excited that others can join in! Click the link to see how you can participate and share the experience. #4 big goal (Relationships) – enhanced by the shared experience with others in the challenge!

Home & Financial Goals (2021)

Intensify Farmhouse Remodel Efforts for Move-In: This is the year for a major push! Our focus is sharply set on completing the floors, kitchen, installing doors and moldings, applying all final finishes, and finally, making the joyous move into our farmhouse. This monumental task will require concerted effort and strategic planning. #1 big goal (Farmhouse) – the culmination of years of hard work.
Implement Two Key Garden Projects: Building on last year’s deferred sunken garden, this year it’s a priority. We plan to create a beautiful sunken herb garden, bringing fresh flavors closer to home. Additionally, we will plant an evergreen hedge border to gracefully diffuse the headlights from passing cars into the farmhouse, enhancing privacy and aesthetics. #1 big goal (Farmhouse) – enhancing the outdoor living space and overall property.
Strategically Increase Retirement Investments: As our financial situation allows and opportunities arise, we aim to incrementally increase our retirement investments. This continuous focus on long-term financial health is paramount to achieving security and peace of mind. #3 big goal (Financial) – securing our future.
Plan and Execute Two Travel Experiences: We are firmly committed to traveling to Arizona in April, a trip postponed from last year. Beyond that, we would love to embark on another significant journey, though the destination and feasibility will depend on global circumstances and our schedule. We’re keeping our options open and remaining flexible! #2 big goal (Travel) – embracing new experiences and creating lasting memories.

Business Goals (2021)

(All the following are related to big goal #3 – retirement, business & passive income, ensuring the long-term sustainability and growth of An Oregon Cottage.)

Complete a 13-Week Products and Business Course: I’ve enrolled in a comprehensive course specifically designed to enhance product development and refine business strategies. My goal is to diligently work through all modules, applying the learned insights to elevate An Oregon Cottage’s offerings and operational efficiency.
Execute Four Major Quarterly Projects: To ensure focused progress and prevent overwhelm, I’m dedicating one significant project to each quarter of the year. This structured approach will ensure that key initiatives receive the necessary time and attention to be completed effectively, rather than being spread thin.
Transform the Website’s Homepage into a Resource Hub: The vision for the homepage is to evolve it from a static entry point into a dynamic, user-friendly resource page. This will involve reorganizing content to make it easier for visitors to find exactly what they need, enhancing user experience and engagement.
Finalize the Content Audit: Building on the substantial SEO work of 2020, this year’s objective is to complete the comprehensive content audit. This involves meticulously reviewing, updating, and optimizing all existing content to ensure it is fresh, relevant, and performing optimally for search engines and readers alike.

There you have it! A transparent overview of our ambitions for 2021. As you can see from the 2020 recap, not all goals are met perfectly, some are intelligently carried forward, and others are simply (and wisely) abandoned. This fluidity is not a sign of failure but a crucial part of the learning process and continuous movement towards our bigger picture, our overarching 5-year dreams. In essence, every step, every adjustment, every lesson learned is a victory in itself.

I sincerely hope that reading through my journey encourages you to engage in your own goal-setting process. Even if it’s just one significant goal for the entire year, a single objective for each quarter, or a more extensive list, the act of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!) is profoundly powerful. Make the process work for you, adapting it to your unique life and aspirations, so that you are continually moving towards the simple, homemade life you truly desire.

Thank you so much for walking with me on this journey. I absolutely LOVE being a part of the vibrant community we’ve built here at An Oregon Cottage. I never take for granted that without each one of you, this dream job wouldn’t be possible. Your support and engagement mean the world to me, and I appreciate every single one of you.

xo, Jami

Interested in exploring my past goal-setting journeys? You can see them all here, offering a continuous record of reflection and growth.