Skip to Content

Set Simple Living Goals for Long Term Success

Gather steam, resources, and focus on long-term success in your intentional lifestyle by setting simple living goals with this easy and doable approach

A notebook labeled "Goals," a pen, sticky notes, and a book sit on a table. The text reads, "How to Set Simple Living Goals," showcasing practical steps toward minimalism with the "Rootsy" logo in the corner.

A new year offers us a fresh start. So does a new day, honestly, but many of us use New Year’s Day to hit a reset button for good reason. Skip the unobtainable, grand resolutions and instead set goals to lead to long-term success. Create simple living goals that encourage an intentional life made from hand and lived out at home with an approach designed to build upon dreams and achievements.

Start with a List

Dream big with a list. Write down all those simple living goals. What is that you want not only this year but long term? What does simple living mean to you, what does that look like not only this year but 5 years, 10 years from now?

Once you have your simple life at least defined, write down (actually write it down in a journal or on a piece of paper) what you’d like to accomplish this year to make that happen. It’s okay for this list to be huge and unrealistic, the next steps will pare it down. Simply dream and make the list.

Now that dreams are listed, let’s make it realistic for available time, money, and other resources.

What’s Most Important to the Long-Term Goal

Look at those lists and decide on one major step to achieve long-term success. Perhaps paying down debt is the most important thing to achieving the simple life you most desire. Maybe getting and staying organized needs to happen before anything else can. Perhaps the most important thing is physical and mental well-being. Simply decide one goal for this year that will get you closer to the long-term goal.

Accept that no one can do it all especially in one year. Pick one thing to work on and use that success to fuel the next goal. If it takes less than a year to complete this goal, add the next goal early. The most important thing to remember is to focus with intensity on achieving one major goat at a time.

Decide what resources and time are available now to make this goal happen. Make a list so that you can refer to it when you get stuck. What do you need to work on and attain this goal? Do you need education, money, time? Again, make a list of not only what is needed but where to get it. Books can be found at the library, money might mean selling something or finding a temporary side gig, time might mean giving up some kind activity, etc.

Build Upon Previous Projects

Use the new year as an incentive to grown current simple living goals. Create a goal or project that allows you to build on the momentum you built in the previous year. Have a handle the garden at its current size? Add to it in the coming season. Or perhaps use this year to get started with seed saving. Mastered water bath canning? Consider getting a pressure canner to take your home food preservation efforts to a new level.

Again, pick one project or goal that allows you to build upon current skills and gets you closer to your long-term goals.

Pick One Big New Project

It’s so easy in this handmade lifestyle to want to do all the things. Trying to do too much, especially too many new things, leads to doing very few things well. Pick one major goal and go after it aggressively.

For example, want to add beehive or 2 (keep it small not 10 in the first year)? Take this year to get set-up with the equipment, attend local beekeeping meetings, take classes, and more so that in this year you get a very good grasp on bees and hive maintenance. Next year you can move this up to build upon it by adding more hives if desired.

Use that example for anything, whether it’s herbalism, sewing, permaculture, livestock, and so on.

Moving Forward

It almost seems to simple to have just a handful of goals especially in this age where constant busyness is glorified at every turn. Still, it is the slow and steady work towards long-term goals that will allow the achievement of an intentional life that isn’t always the one seen in mainstream media.

Set those simple living goals now and work towards them every single day. Read or learn about the goal, focus on them every day and then revel in accomplishment. Use the achievement of one goal to fuel the enthusiasm for the next.

How do you create and set your simple living goals?

A notebook titled "Goals" and a pen rest on the table, while a calendar featuring a chicken and the quote "Never look back unless you are planning to go that way" hangs behind. At the top, the text reads "How to Set Simple Living Goals" to guide your journey into simplicity.

Thanks for sharing!