Next Practices

With the year half over, it’s time again for a monthly status update on how I’m coming with my goals for the year.  I first published them here on January 1 – eleven goals divided into the categories of body, mind and spirit.  I share my updates here monthly as a public way of holding myself accountable.  With this month’s report, I’ll start color-coding the goals with green indicating that I am on or ahead of schedule, orange signifying being slightly behind schedule, and red meaning I am dangerously behind schedule.

The fact that I am on the back side of 2013 now will light a fire under me where needed.  I admit that I too frequently procrastinate on some kinds of tasks, rushing near a deadline to finish the job.  The good news is that I almost always finish the job and do it well.  The bad news is that I get away with the procrastination since it all turns out well in the end (albeit unnecessarily stressful as the deadline nears).  My procrastination ends up being rewarded with good results rather than causing unwanted consequences.  In fact, I recall many times where I have intentionally added little tasks and diversions not originally planned because I knew that I could still produce the desired results in the time allotted and squeeze in some additional activity along the way.  I welcome any free psychoanalysis my readers wish to offer to explain that all-too-common behavior.

Regardless, back to the update… Here is where I stand at the midyear point for each of my goals.

Goals related to body:

1. Keep my weight at or below 150 pounds.  No worries.  My weigh-ins have been at or below my target weight every day since last July 26.  I look forward to my 1-year anniversary in a few weeks of maintaining this goal.

2. Walk/jog/run a total of 10,000 steps per day three days per week. I’m still way ahead of schedule on this one.  With our company’s annual 100 Day Dash underway and me averaging about 17,000 steps per day for the past month, I’m on pace to pass the goal of 153 10,000-steps days for the year by sometime in August.  Of course, you can’t build up exercise and then goof off for long periods, so I’ll still continue the 3-day-per-week goal for the remainder of the year even after I have accomplished the total days goal.

3. Average at least six hours of sleep per night.  I still don’t record numbers here, but more nights than not when I set my alarm and lay down, it’s for more than six hours from the time I’m going to bed.  I’m also taking many more evening naps in my favorite man cave recliner than in years past.  I’ve started going in a little later to work than previously, not always being the first one on the team to arrive.  I’m considering getting a Fitbit device to wear in a couple of months that will measure my actual sleep.  That would be a far more accurate measure.

Goals related to mind:

1. Read a book every other week.  I have only completed six books this year.  I should have thirteen completed by now.  Yikes!  This goal is in serious jeopardy of not being achieved unless Dr. Seuss comes to the rescue (just kidding).

2. Blog every other day (at least).  I’ve posted 83 blog posts this year, but an every-other-day schedule would have me at 93 already, so I need some consistent daily posts to catch up – very doable, especially in light of last year’s successful lesson learned post for each of the 366 leap year days.

3. Continue to follow My 3 Words: Ground, Stretch, Reflect.  I don’t think I go a day without doing all three things to some extent, but unless I’m blogging, I don’t spend as much intentional time on the end-of-day reflection as I otherwise do – all the more reason to blog more frequently.

4. Double the blog’s readership from 10,000 views in 2012 to 20,000.  With over 12,000 views just past the midpoint of the year, I am gladly running almost 20% ahead of my goal, thanks to you, dear readers!

5. Continue to write hand-written letters to my sons.  For this twice-per-year goal, July is the month I need to do this since the other time will be at Christimas.  I’ve decided on the topic and will take my time crafting these in the coming weeks.

Goals related to spirit:

1. Finish reading the ESV Study Bible and read half of The Apologetics Study Bible.  Why is it that my two seriously delinquent goals are the reading ones?  In addition to getting my act together on this, I definitely need another “monk week” where I spend a week reading at a nearby monastery once or twice a year.  I can get the equivalent of two months of reading done in one of those weeks.  I need to do this by the end of the summer.

2. Review 100 Bible memory verses weekly.  This is one of the easiest goals I maintain, requiring less than an hour per week.

3. Come to some resolution regarding an unsettled situation where I worship.  Completed in January.

An interesting observation that comes to me as I look at the above goals is this: even though I feel like I am overall woefully behind in my goals for the year due to the ones appearing above in orange and red, the greater number of green ones tells me that I’m not doing too bad, after all.  Why do we have a tendency to bemoan what we aren’t doing well instead of celebrating what we are doing well?  Of course, I’d like to see nothing but green above, but there is a bit of comfort in seeing far more green than any other color, especially when I know that it is still possible to achieve them all.

I’ve also had one other insight this week as I pondered my goals.  I think I set too many of them for 2013.  I’m not leaving myself enough time to relax and play and, in the words of late humorist Grady Nutt, “do nothing slowly.”  I need to remember that issue when setting goals for 2014.  Maybe some of you can make it a point to remind me of that in late December.  Of course, I’m too stubborn to change any for this year.  I set them, so I will continue to strive to achieve them.

That’s where I am halfway through the year on my goals for body, mind and spirit.  What about you?  How are you doing on your goals for the year?