Lessening your family's footprint: goal setting

Back when I worked for a big corporation and my compensation was tied to performance objectives and goals, our bosses tasked us with writing "SMART" goals. I don't remember exactly what all those letters stood for, but I think A was actionable, and T had something to do with timeline. So you couldn't get away with something vague like: I promise to work really hard and do a good job this year. You had to say: I will increase sales by 50% in my region by end of the fiscal year. Whatever.

Now I am in a job with little feedback and zero compensation. Oh wait. Yes, I guess I do get feedback occasionally: "You are the meanest mom in the whole world! And I hate you." Or, "You are the best mom in the whole world and I love you very much." So goals haven't really been a major component of my life in recent years. Although, that may be about to change.

One of the great ideas I got from the Big Green Purse book is to set a goal to walk or bike for trips that are within a 1 mile radius from your home. We have always tended to walk a fair amount in our neighborhood. Despite what WalkScore says, I think we live in an exceptionally walkable neighborhood. Thinking about this goal led us to print out a Google map of our neighborhood, with our home as the center point. My 6-year-old drew a circle using the one-mile radius. I was actually surprised at how many things fall inside the circle, than out. I think this will push us to walk to more places that somehow seem far, but really aren't. Realistically for us, we'll work on this goal more as the weather dries up. I hope to get it ingrained fairly well this spring, summer and going into fall. Once the walking goal is established, and the kids also work on their biking skills this summer, I think we'll revisit our map and draw a ring around our house at 3-5 miles out, and make that our circle of biking.

Do you set goals to decrease your family's carbon footprint? What goals do you set, and how does that work for your family?