I have tried for a couple of years to get my homestead up and running but never made it. Several years ago I found in a Mother Earth News magazine where one of the writers explained how to create and work towards your homestead goals. Guess what, I right away got busy and created monthly goals, then weekly goals and I also did daily to do’s. No matter how I worked on my goals I never got my homestead. I have done this for the last 2 years and I still haven’t been successful.
My main 2 goals have ALWAYS been to be a fully self sufficient homestead and create a living without leaving the property. I have always thought having goals would let me get there but fact of the matter is you NEED the RIGHT goals. Goals are the MOST important thing in homesteading. Why? Because if you don’t create goals you really won’t be able to accomplish what’s really needed. Imagine wanting to be a homesteader and you want chickens. So you get chickens, feed them and then move on to mowing the field and other things. Now it’s close to winter and you’re wondering how to keep your chickens warm and panic sets in. If you had created and planned goals you would have built a chicken coop around the time you got the chickens. Right? This is WHY goals are so important, they allow you to plan and focus on the needs first then wants.
Today I was thinking about how to fix my situation and how can I improve what I’m doing towards becoming a fully self sufficient, off grid homesteader. I reread this article on creating goals and really took my time reading. I looked at my current goals for the month and I laughed at myself. My goals did NOT represent where I wanted to go with this homestead. I was so busy working at home but literally I was doing nothing towards homesteading and I never saw this until today.
Below you will see my “old” goals that made me laugh.
If your homesteading plans aren’t working then take another look at where you want to end up, meaning your dream life. Create a list of what you truly want to accomplish within 1 year.
Once you know what you want to accomplish within that 1 year then you can start creating your monthly goals based on those wants. I also, on the same page, created ways I want to able to create an income from home. These ideas were also incorporated into the monthly goals.
So why did I create this blog post? I hope it will help others who haven’t been able to get there homestead off and running. Please remember to never give up but take a look at your plans and how to fix them properly.
Duhaime Homestead 