It’s hard to believe that a full month of 2013 has already passed. That means it is time to share with you how I’m doing on the goals I set at the beginning of the year. In a post on January 1, I shared 11 goals divided into the categories of body, mind and spirit. It helps hold me accountable to update publicly how I’m doing, so here goes…
Goals related to body:
1. Keep my weight at or below 150 pounds. So far, so good on this one. I continue to weigh in each morning, and if I’m at the max of 150 I know I have to be very careful that day, eating a little less or being more active or both. If I’m a couple of pounds below my goal, I allow myself a little splurge.
2. Walk/jog/run a total of 10,000 steps per day three days per week. I’m a little ahead of schedule on this one.
3. Average at least six hours of sleep per night. I don’t keep a record of this, and I know I’ve had a few stretches of too little sleep, but I also know I’ve gone to bed earlier than what was previously normal many nights and have had more evening naps than in the past. I may not be at six hours on the average, but I don’t think I’m far from it including the naps in my cozy recliner.
Goals related to mind:
1. Read a book every other week. I’m a little behind on this one since I’m in the middle of my second book. I have to pick up the pace on this one to get back on schedule. I should finish book #2 this weekend which will put me back on track.
2. Blog every other day (at least). I’m only one post behind this schedule, so that will be easy to make up. Having blogged all 366 days of 2012, it feels like I’m hardly ever blogging by dropping last year’s frequency in half, but I’ll stay with this goal for 2013.
3. Continue to follow My 3 Words: Ground, Stretch, Reflect. It’s easy to miss some days on this goal because of not blogging every day and, therefore, not ending with that intentional time of reflection that accompanied last year’s daily lessons learned posts. Still, the regular task of deciding what to blog about brings this goal to mind frequently.
4. Double the blog’s readership from 10,000 views in 2012 to 20,000. I’m pleased to say that I am well ahead of schedule on this goal. Through January, the average number of daily visits to this blog is up 179% from last year’s daily average. January’s 2,403 visits more than doubled by previous best month ever, and January 25 saw the greatest number of hits in a single day ever. The biggest difference is that I’ve done more promotion of particular posts on our internal social network where I work, and that has helped increase readership. Onward and upward!
5. Continue to write hand-written letters to my sons. This is only done a couple of times a year, so having done it last in December, it will be several months before I do this again.
Goals related to spirit:
1. Finish reading the ESV Study Bible and read half of The Apologetics Study Bible. This is on schedule. I read a little more daily than required in January to get a good jump start on the year, so I’ve backed off the daily quantity a bit now, but am still at a pace to reach the goal.
2. Review 100 Bible memory verses weekly. This is not a time-consuming goal (less than an hour a week), so it is fairly easy to stay on track with this one. So far, so good.
3. Come to some resolution to an unsettled situation where I worship. I won’t share details, but this matter is thankfully resolved and the goal can be marked as complete.
To be honest, there were some times during January when I wish I hadn’t set as many goals – times when I would have preferred to just rest and relax and do something for the fun of it in the evening or on the weekend. That was going on when I wrote “When does busy become too busy?” For the second weekend in a row, however, I will be able to rest a reasonable amount and have a relaxing schedule, so I’ll keep plugging away at all of the goals above. It helped that I took a few days of vacation in early January, and I will do so again one week per month for at least the next several months, staying home and resting a little while focusing on my goals the remainder of the days off.
As a side note, would you like to know the secret to me keeping up on my goals daily? I keep a tiny little Post-It note with a checklist on the stand beside my recliner so that it’s near me nightly. How is that for high tech and for this guy who is constantly online and connected to technology? Hey, it works.
Overall, then, it looks like I made it through January very close to the goals – either right on target or slightly ahead or behind, depending on the goal. February, here we go!
How are you doing on your goals for the year?
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