How to Make Goals with Your Spouse

It’s that time of year where lots of you will be making New Year’s Resolution goals for the coming year! However, you probably have in the back of your mind some doubts about whether you’ll actually achieve those goals. Well, I’ve got a solution for you: make these goals with your spouse!

When you try to achieve goals on your own, it can be very challenging. However, making goals with someone else increases your chances of succeeding! And what better person to make goals with than your spouse? You will be able to keep each other accountable while growing your marriage. It’s a win-win! 

Four Categories of Couple Goals

To avoid losing track of your goals by making too many, I want to offer 4 categories of goals. These categories are separate enough that goals you guys make won’t overlap. 4 is also a small enough number that you can still keep track of all your goals without feeling overwhelmed. 

These four categories are contained within this scripture from the Bible: 

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

What better example to follow than Jesus when making goals? Just like our Savior, we can choose to enhance our intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social skills. 

I’m going to share ways that you can apply these categories into your goal-making with your spouse.

Intellectual Goals

What do you want to learn about as a couple? Learning together is a great way to bond and be more involved in each other’s lives. You could also find out what your spouse wants to learn and ask them to teach you as they learn to keep them accountable. 

Need ideas? Here’s a few:

• Take a dance class together.
• Read a book together.
• Learn parenting or birthing strategies.
• Take a marriage education course. 
• Look up YouTube videos to learn a new hobby or skill. 
• Take a financing class.

Physical Goals

It’s important to stay physically active as it will lead you to have a longer life and can enhance your marriage. When couples exercise together, they can associate the good feeling that comes from endorphins being released with their spouse. I don’t see anything wrong with that!

Here’s a few ideas on physical goals you could make with your spouse:

• Go on a walk once each day together 
• Get a gym membership and go 2-3 times each week
• Sign up for a triathlon, 5k, or marathon- whatever best suits your physical abilities and goals
• Go on a new hike once each week
• Go on regular bike rides
• Play tennis or pickle ball every week
• Learn a new sport together

Spiritual Goals

Many of you may have heard of the triangle analogy: God is the top of the triangle and the husband and wife are the bottom right and left corners. When both spouses get closer to God, they also become closer to each other. 

When you work together to become closer to God, your marriage will become stronger and happier. 

Here’s a few ideas on how to increase your couple spirituality:

• Study the scriptures or other religious texts every day together, even if it is just one verse or paragraph.
• Pray together every day. My husband and I have a couple prayer every night before going to bed. We will often ask each other if there’s anything the other needs us to pray for. I believe praying together brings more joy and stability in our marriage, especially when we pray for each other. 
• Attend religious services together. This could include church, temples, mosques, synagogues, etc.
• Teach your kids your religious beliefs. This will create more unity in your marriage and strengthen your family!  

Social Goals

• Get to know other couples by going on double or group dates. These dates don’t have to be expensive or elaborate. You could get together for dinner at home, have a game night, or go on a walk. The goal is to make new friends and have fun!
• Serve others! My husband and I have found great joy in helping other people. We feel more joy in our lives and in our marriage when we serve.
• Go on a weekly date night with just the two of you.

Happy New Year!

I wish you all the best as you enter the New Year. I hope that making goals with your spouse will strengthen your marriage and enhance your personal life. 

Ideas from you can help inspire other people! Share some of your experiences making goals with your spouse in the comments below or on the Facebook Page!