Goals For 2013

Resolutions.  Do you believe in them?

My unscientific data, gathered from casually talking with people, is that generally people who have "tried" them have failed and therefore deemed them to be a silly notion and colossal waste of time.

Goals to me are different.  Over the years I've watched my very competitive, goal-orientated husband use goals to his full advantage.  I wish I could get him to do a guest post on them...he is the master.  He sets goals for the year, for a project, for his day and then goes after them with a fiery, focused passion.

There is not even a tiny shred of competitiveness in me (one of the reasons we've lived in such wedded bliss these 18 years :) so I go at things a little differently, but I've certainly experienced the value of setting goals.

Without goals, you have nothing that you are aiming for.  Instead of complacency and wandering, goals give purpose, motivation and passion.  Every day is a little more intentional, with a direction in mind.  I've definitely experienced that with half-marathon training.

In the past I've always considered goals a fairly personal matter, certainly nothing I would ever post in any sort of a public place like, um...a blog.  But...in giving it quite a bit of thought, I think the benefits of posting my goals here on the interwebs will outweigh my shyness about sharing them.

Some of them may not seem terribly ambitious, but they are mine and they've been long thought out.  I don't pretend to know what the future holds, but I just want to be a good steward and doing my best.

*Read Through the Bible in a Year.  I cannot remember the last time I read through the entire bible...it wasn't in my adulthood, and I would really like to check out everything that's in there.  I found a great reading plan that is chronological.

*Memorize 24 scriptures this year, broken down to 2/month.

*Declutter one room each month.  The older I get (the more kids I have?) the more I detest "stuff".  I was once ok with the charm of Victorian "clutter", now...I'm not.  Plus, there was talk of us maybe moving and the thought of packing up this house is downright frightening to me.

*Answer my family with a smile.  Too often I answer with the what-do-you-want-now look.  These are the most important people in the world to me and I don't like giving them the impression that they are bothering me.  Its not a perfect goal because its difficult to measure, but I'm leaving it in.

*Read Two Books Each Month.  I think its essential to growth in lots of areas, plus I love to read, plus its a great example to my kids.

*Run a Half-Marathon and a Full-Marathon.  Along with this, is regular strength training so my knees stay healthy.  For me, this looks like 5-6 days a week at the gym.

*Write 52 notes of encouragement, thanks, thinking of you.  Ideally this would be spaced out one per week.  I think God has given me a gift in this area and I need to be using it.

*Clear off my desk each evening.  This is an ongoing battle for me.  My office is a dumping ground for the whole family, and I'm the worst culprit.  I've found a clean desk doesn't attract as much "stuff" and it also makes me feel less frazzled.  And that's always a good thing.

*Spend 15 minutes a day working on a project.  Among them: keyword photos, clean 3rd floor "storage", organize videos I've taken over the past seven years, complete online photography courses I've purchased, etc, etc!

*At least two date nights/month.  Too often, "us" gets lost in the shuffle and its easy to make excuses.  I just want to make it happen.

I've got lots more, but these are good ones to have here for accountability.  My plan is to update my progress here at the end of each month.  While I might not end up as far along as I'm hoping, I really believe if I work at them a little each day, each week, each month, by the end of the year I'll be farther along than if I had done nothing.