Soft Start: A 2025 Goal Setting Guide
You don’t have to do it all. But you can start, softly.
2024 was nothing like I planned. It was harder and more holy than I could have ever dreamed. And if someone had told me everything all that would happen last year on the first day of the year, I’m not sure I would have gotten out of bed.
Every other year of my adult life - I’ve been a gung-ho goals gal, but I can’t fling myself forward the way I used to. I still want to start the year with intention. I still want to hear from the Lord about what’s to come. I still want to take inventory of my life, I still want to pick a word of the year, but I’m craving a soft start rather than running into January at a full-blown sprint.
This is for all the women who know that the calendar flipping won’t change everything. This is for all the gals who are too honest to have blind confidence about what’s coming - but they can’t help but grab hold of the hope in front of them. This goal guide is for all the women who reject the notion that this new year calls for a new “you”, since you are being made new everyday by the God of the universe.
If you’re burnt out, heartbroken, tired, tender, or have just learned you need a softer start - this guide is for you.
This isn’t another checklist or a high-pressure blueprint for your best year ever. This is a space for you to breathe. To pause. To hear your own desires and the insight your Father longs to give you. It’s for women like you and me—women who want to move forward but need to do it in a way that feels honest, life-giving, and sustainable.
With A Soft Start, you’ll find simple, grace-filled tools to:
Reflect on the past year without judgment or shame.
Set goals that agree with who God has made you to be, not who you feel like you *should* be.
Take small, meaningful steps toward hope and purpose, no matter what your season looks like.
So if the new year feels heavy on your shoulders, or you’re just craving a gentler approach to growth, I invite you to start here. Let’s step into this next season together—with courage, curiosity, and grace for every part of the journey.
You don’t have to do it all. But you can start, softly.
— Jess
When you become a Paid Subscriber, you’ll receive automatic download access to the SOFT START: A GOALS GUIDE FOR 2025 in this post! And join me for a deeper dive webinar on January 8, 2025