Goal Setting For Couples

When juggling hectic schedules and children, it can be tough to stay fully in sync with your partner. On top of that, when it comes to goal setting, we often focus solely on our individual goals, overlooking the goals we share with our partner. By aligning your aspirations and working towards common objectives, you can strengthen your bond and enhance teamwork within your marriage. Another added benefit - it's quick, easy, and fun!

Setting goals can feel overwhelming, making it difficult to know how to begin. Look no further - this article offers a range of categories and goal suggestions to assist you and your partner in crafting your own couple's goals list!

Yall... this is super simple, don't overcomplicate it! I broke it down into 4 easy steps, and this article will guide you through each, making your couple's goal-setting process as easy as possible.

Step 1: Come up with 6-8 categories of life (more detail on this below)

Step 2: Together, write down a handful of goals you want to accomplish in each category

Step 3: Organize your list based on which ones are weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual

Step 4: Create a way to track your progress (more on this below)

One thing to note: try to make your goals SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely - click here to learn how to set SMART goals. This will make your couple's goals much easier to track and achieve!

When creating your couple's goal list, the first step is to choose a handful of categories of your life that you want to focus your goals around. Establishing these categories allows you to set more precise goals that encompass all aspects of your life. Pick out a handful of these categories below for your couple's goal list - my spouse and I chose 10 but if that is too many, start with 6 or 8!

This part is super flexible - you an play around with this list - make them more specific, combine some together, and add ones that are not on here!

Here is a list of category ideas:

Health (Nutrition and Exercise)

Marriage

Kids

Spirituality

Friends and Family

Personal Development/Hobbies

Finances

CareeR

Organization/House

This will NOT be an exhaustive list, this is just to give you some ideas to help with your couple's goal list. Remember, try to make your couple's goal list using the SMART goal framework.

Find the right amount of goals for you and your partner - there is no magic number. Some couples like to set a long list of goals, which is fine as long as you don't get discouraged if you don't achieve ALL of them. If you are the type of person who gets overwhelmed with a long list, make your couple's goal list short and sweet - focus on only a small few in the categories you chose. Have fun with this part!

Here are some goal ideas for each category:

Health (Nutrition & Exercise)

Cook ____ nights a week
Only go out to eat ____ nights per month
Avoid eating meat/dairy/gluten/etc. ___ times per week
Workout together ___ times a week
Go for ____ walks together every week
Do ___ outdoor activities each month
Do a cold plunge together

Marriage

Go on ___ date(s) per month
Spend time together with no devices after the kids go to bed (play games, talk, etc.) __ times per week
Check-in with each other every quarter on how we are doing as a couple
Take a ____ vacation(s) this year with no kids
Review each other's love language and do things for each other that align with the other person's language
Spice it up - make some goals for your s*x life
Every night, thank each other for something they did that day

Kids

Get kids to bed by ____ pm each night
Explore a new park/playground once a month
Take ____ vacations this year
Game night once a week - no devices
Movie night once a week
At the table, each person says something great that happened that day

Spirituality

Go to church ___ times per month
Mediate together every ____ week/month/quarter
Discuss passages from the bible ___ times a month
Attend a couple's bible study group __ times per quarter

Friends and Family

Take ___ vacation(s) with friends this year
Hang out with friends ___ times per week or month
Attend family dinners (or breakfast/lunch) ___ times per month

Personal Development/Hobbies

Take a class together (dance, first aid, cooking, etc.) twice a year
Volunteer quarterly
Read 2 books together over the year - read separately but have discussions every few chapters
Pay it forward once a month
Get ____ couples massages within a year

Finances

Create a financial plan and budget together
Review our financial plan and goals once a quarter
At the end of every month, check our monthly spending and whether we stayed within our budget
Diversify - add ____ new streams of revenue this year
Invest ___ amount/percentage each month

Career

Map out each of our 1-year career goals and how we can support each other
Map out each of our 3 year career goals and how we can support each other

Organization/House

Every Sunday - wash and put away laundry every Sunday
Every Sunday - get the kid's stuff ready for school
Every Sunday - meal plan and pre-order groceries
Clean out junk drawers/closets ____ a quarter
Balance the chore list - Assess your chore list and make sure one person isn't doing too much

Once you've picked out your categories and chosen a handful of couple's goals for each, the final 2 steps are to organize them and create a way to track your progress. For organizing - I grouped our goals based on which ones were weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual - this will make it easier when creating your tracking system. Lastly, create a way to hold your selves accountable and track your progress. For me, I took the easiest route which was to just add boxes that corresponded with the frequency. For example - for the monthly goals, I added 12 boxes next to each, for the quarterly goals, I added 4 boxes to each, etc.

Here is how I organized our couple's goal list:

And that's it - super simple and a fun activity that can help strengthen your relationship. Don't forget to keep checking in with each other - you can use your date night to review your progress as a couple. I hope this helps bring alignment into your relationship and helps you achieve more together as a couple!

I would love to HEAR FROM YOU - Drop in the comments some additional goal ideas that you use when goal planning with your partner!