Posts Tagged ‘Goals’

2020 Goal Results & 2021 Plans

Posted: January 4, 2021 in Goals
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In spite of the weirdness and loss which was a significant part of 2020, I’m glad to say that I did fairly well on meeting the goals I published here a year ago. Of course, 2020 will mostly be remembered for the havoc that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought on the entire world population. I will remember it, in addition, for the sad loss of my dear 94-year-old mother-in-law and for being laid off from work after 17+ years with the company that I hoped to retire from in 2027. I’ll remember it for being the year we decided to sell our home in Louisville and return to my small hometown of Winchester, Kentucky to be near my parents (although the house hasn’t sold yet, so we’re still in Louisville for now). I’ll remember it for being the year we couldn’t hug our grandkids for over nine months and for being the year I worked from home for over nine months.

Some things you can control; some things you can’t. Either way, you move on.

I set three personal goals in January 2020. Here is how they turned out and what I plan to do related to them in 2021:

  1. I wanted to average at least 10,000 steps per day with an ideal of having no day with less than 10,000. I’m glad to say that I never went to bed without hitting 10,000 steps any of the 366 days of the year, although it took me until a few minutes past midnight 4-5 nights along the way to hit the mark. On those few days I’d be working at my desk and glance at my watch only to realize that I was a couple thousand steps shy with only a few minutes before midnight. So I’d jump up, jog in place like an idiot until I hit the goal, then get back to work. My final total according to Garmin was 4,060,482 steps for the year, an average of 338,373 per month or 11,094 per day. That’s about 2032 miles for the year and 169 per month if I assume 2,000 steps per mile. I plan to back off that just a tad for 2021 with a goal of 9000 per day average.
  2. I wanted to spend a minimum of one hour per day in personal devotional Bible study and prayer. I hit that average, but I missed too many days to suit me here and there that I had to make up. This isn’t a goal you want to make up. It’s a discipline you want to ingrain into your life without exception. That amount of time allowed me to finish reading the Reformation Study Bible and to read about 90% of the Spurgeon Study Bible as well, plus to be far more regular in prayer than I had been in some years. I’m also using part of that time to jot down devotional thoughts along the way for the book I’ll start writing this week. If I could devote an hour a day to the practice while working 40-50 hours per week, there’s no excuse for not giving at least that much time now that I’m laid off from work, so I’ll continue this goal in 2021.
  3. The goal I didn’t achieve was writing two blog posts per month – a personal article on this blog and a professional one on LinkedIn. I wrote eight personal and five professional articles, but I’ll admit that the news in May 2020 that I’d be losing my job in a matter of months took the wind out of my sails for writing, especially on professional topics. I’ll write a few blog posts in 2021, but my major focus will be writing at least one devotional book.

All in all, I count 2020 as a good year in terms of personal discipline and goals I had control over such as the ones above. There is much more that could be said regarding the life changes wrought by the pandemic and the domino effect of decisions made by others, but that is probably best left to a different post or private conversations.

I hope that in spite of the disruption 2020 brought that you also can find several bright successes to celebrate as you look back. I bet there were some silver linings there if you look.

It’s time to take on 2021.

My 2020 Goals for Body, Mind and Spirit

Posted: January 25, 2020 in Goals
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It’s been a few years since I’ve spelled out on this blog specific goals for a new year. I always have goals, of course, both for my professional and personal life, but I don’t always write about them publicly. Like many of you, I’ve had years of achieving some goals while falling short on others. Occasionally, I’ve been too ambitious and found myself burdened by trying to tackle too many personal goals. That ends up being discouraging and counterproductive.

For 2020 I’m trying to be balanced and simple in my goals. My professional goals will be documented at work in the system of record for that. For my personal goals I’ll document here, I like the categories of body, mind and spirit, so I’m coming back to that framework this year. I’m also going to keep it simple by only having one specific goal in each category.

Here they are:

My goal for my body this year is to average at least 10,000 steps per day for all 366 days of this leap year. Ideally, I won’t go any day this year with less than 10,000 steps, but injury and illness can play a part over which I have no control, so I’ll be content with averaging that for a total of 3.66 million steps this year. How I get them doesn’t matter – walking, jogging, treadmill, walking the dog – whatever. I’m writing this on January 25 and so far I haven’t had a day with less than 10,000 steps, so I’m off to a good start.

My goal for my mind this year is to write two blog posts per month – one personal on this blog site and one professional on either LinkedIn or another site. With nearly 700 blog posts under my belt between this site and elsewhere, it should be evident I enjoy writing, but I’ve gotten out of the habit the last few years and haven’t been consistent. I can do better. Writing helps me clarify things in my own mind and reflect on various topics in a way that’s also hopefully of value to a few others. This post counts as the personal post for January, so I have one more to do in the next week on LinkedIn to be on track. I already know what it’ll be about, so I just have to set aside the time to do it.

My goal for my spirit is to spend one hour per day in private Bible study and prayer. For more years than not throughout my teen and adult life I’ve been pretty consistent in my reading and devotional times. Last year was probably my worst, though, in many years and I felt it. I’m in the middle of reading and praying my way through the Reformation Study Bible, so I should be able to complete that this year and start on another study Bible I haven’t yet read when I’m through with this one. There is nothing in my life any more important than spending time with the Lord, learning His Word, and becoming more like Him. If other things on my schedule have to go to make time for this, then it’ll be a good trade. So far I’ve only missed one day in January and that was a Sunday where several hours were spent in study and worship at church and when guests in the home took the remainder of the day and evening, so I won’t feel too bad about that. Still, private time is needed on Sundays as well because the nature of private devotions is very different than public study and worship.

Sharing goals with others helps one be accountable, so I invite any of you to check in with me from time to time and ask how I’m coming on the goals.

What about you? What are your goals for 2020? Leave me a comment.

My Big Lesson from 2014

Posted: January 7, 2015 in Goals
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Dont-Suck-the-Life-Out-of-LifeFor the last couple of years I’ve been very public with my annual personal goals, including progress reports along the way as to how successful (or not) I am in achieving them. I’m not going to run down item by item the goal list from last year. Suffice it to say that I met or exceeded some and didn’t achieve others. If you’re curious about what they were, you’ll find posts about them here, here, here, and here. Instead, I want to write today about the overall lesson learned from 2014 that relates significantly to the goal effort. Here it is:

Don’t be so goal oriented that you suck the life out of life.

My first time for setting a long list of personal goals related to body, mind and spirit was in 2013. It went really well, so it’s no surprise I did it again in 2014. But we weren’t many months into the year before I felt overwhelmed. All of the goals were in addition to my work and volunteer efforts, and it was simply exhausting to try to stay up with all of them. I needed more rest, more sleep, more down time not focused on a never-ending to-do list.

While I made a mid-year correction and lowered the bar on some goals, that still wasn’t enough to put me at ease. I still wasn’t getting enough sleep. I ended the last few months of the year choosing a couple of the goals most meaningful and worked on them while letting the others go. My body, mind and spirit needed the break. It was the right thing to do. I had put so much emphasis on a long, ambitious list of what I wanted to get done that I had succeeded in sucking the life out of life. Surely that wasn’t good for me or anyone else around me.

So I’m determined in 2015 to take a different approach to goals for the year. There will be no long list of goals for body, mind and spirit. I’ll still continue the personal behaviors that have by now become important regular habits (getting in 10,000 steps per day 3 days per week, reading through the Bible in a version or study edition different than one I’ve read before, and spending time weekly on 100 Bible memory verses). But the only other goals will be very simple – getting more sleep daily than I averaged in 2014 (trying for 7.5 instead of 6.5 hours nightly), finishing the books I intended to read last year but didn’t complete, and being more intentional about serving my church and others rather than setting self-focused goals.

I recall a sermon by my former Associate Pastor Kris Billiter from January 2014 when he suggested we set other-oriented goals rather than self-focused ones. That message stuck with me throughout 2014, so I’m taking it to heart. I want to be a better person – not just someone who does a lot of stuff. Drastically reducing self-focused goals and saying “yes” to opportunities to serve others while still reserving enough time for adequate rest will be my basic plan.

I’ve always been a task-oriented person. Plans and goals and checklists fit me well. That isn’t the case with all people. But there is a point where too many to-do items just suck the life out of life. I reached that point in 2014 and have no intention of doing so this year. In fact, I’ve already scheduled one day per week for vacation every week from January through March, plus a full week off in February for the heck of it. I’m writing this post on the first of those restful, stay-at-home days where I slept late, read, played with the dog, spent a couple hours at church helping with our youth program, and now am finishing a blog post.

2015 is off to a good start. You’re welcome to hold me accountable if you like. I hope your year is both productive and meaningful at a deeper, personal, more satisfying level than mere checklists can guarantee.

Don’t suck the life out of life. It’s too precious.

A Year of Distinct Thirds

Posted: September 13, 2014 in Goals
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keep-calm-and-finish-strongI’ve been very goal oriented the past two years in publishing on this blog very specific goals in the categories of body, mind and spirit. The goals for 2013 were many and I was glad to accomplish nearly all of them. I started down a similar path at the beginning of 2014, but soon felt burdened by so many time-consuming goals outside of work and volunteer endeavors. By my March update I had reduced the goals a little bit, and by May I had decided to take a few months off from a couple of them entirely. My brain and my spirit needed a rest from the physical activity goals more than my body did. I still continued work on most of the goals, but filed a couple under “not gonna happen” and went on with life.

Now that we’re in the final third of the year and the end is in sight, I’m back in gear and ready to finish out the year completing those goals that are most important and putting aside officially those that aren’t. I’m already looking forward to a very different approach in 2015 which will not  have me listing all kinds of goals for body, mind and spirit. I’ll talk more about what it will include when the time comes.

With that background, here is where I stand with the original goals for 2014 and what my plan is to close out the year with each:

BODY

  • Average at least 10,000 steps per day every week. After taking the second quarter off from this, I’m back on track. My company has a 100 Day Dash going on right now until late November where we’re on teams recording and tracking steps daily. My goal for these 100 days is to never get less than 11,000 steps per day and so far I’ve done that. I’ll end the year strong and will keep at this pace until I reach our company’s top rewards program level which should happen around the end of the year.
  • Do a stretching routine daily. I started the year doing this faithfully but took a break after hurting my back. I never got back into the routine and don’t intend to for now. I’ll stretch before and after running, but not otherwise.
  • Run 365 miles for the year. I haven’t run 10 miles this year. I walk 5-6 miles a day between work and walking the dog, but I just haven’t gotten back into running. This goal will not be met. Walking will have to be good enough.
  • Average 7.5 hours of sleep a night. My average is more like 6.5 hours per night year to date. That isn’t enough. My body is calling for more and I have to find a way to make it happen. Of course, the 6.5 is more than years past, but I need more than years past.
  • Average no more than 45 hours per week for work. For the first year in the 11+ I’ve had with my company where I’ve tracked hours, I’m actually staying within the 45 per week limit. I’ve learned to adjust some things and manage my days differently to get to this point.

MIND

  • Author or co-author a book related to enterprise social networks. Now that we just completed the first year of the weekly Twitter chat I lead on enterprise social networks – #ESNchat – I’m planning on putting together a free e-book PDF that contains the first year’s chat archives plus a little background info on the experience. It’s the one and only book I’ll be responsible for this year, but I’m pretty proud of what it should be.
  • Write 100 blog posts. Earlier in the year I changed this goal to average one post per week instead of 100 for the year. Making that goal should not be a problem.
  • Set up Pinterest boards and pins to coincide with my blog categories and posts. In the interest of time, I abandoned this goal earlier in the year.
  • Reserve at least one hour per day for unstructured, unplanned time not related to any tasks or goals. I don’t track this and I know I don’t always accomplish it either, but I’m certain I’ve been better about allowing myself guilt-free free time this year. There is still room for improvement here, though.

SPIRIT

  • Finish reading The Apologetics Study Bible. I should be able to do this just fine. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve read Genesis – Isaiah so far, taking this one in order cover to cover.
  • Read these three major theology books: (1) Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem, (2) Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Gregg Allison, and (3) Theology of the Reformers by Timothy George. To date I’ve completed the third book and am about 2/3 through the first one. I should be able to complete this goal as planned. I have to say that Grudem’s book is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. I’ve love to take part in or lead a one-year study of the contents of this book with a group of people.
  • Have a daily Bible reading and devotional time. I’ve missed days from time to time which is disappointing. Nothing should crowd this from my schedule. There is really no excuse for that. I must do better.

So there you have my goal update for mid-September 2014 – on track with some things, abandoned a few and modified others. At least I’m in that mode now of seeing the finish line for the year ahead of me and I’m working hard at a number of the goals to finish strong those that are most important.

What about you? How are you coming on what you set out to accomplish this year?

 

Time for a Mid-Course Correction

Posted: May 2, 2014 in Goals
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detourAny regular reader of this blog will know how goal-focused I am. I’ve written a lot about them throughout 2013 and early in 2014. I honestly thought that I was lightening my load a little for 2014 with my goals, but it turns out I was waaaaaaaaay off in that estimate! By the time of my March 1 goals update, I was already backing off a little. Now that it’s May 1, I’ve made even more reductions in the original plan for the year.

Why? Because being so goal-oriented above and beyond what is happening at work was simply making life too hectic and unsatisfying. I have yet to get the number of hours of sleep I want to average this year. I’ve failed far too many days reserving a single hour to relax and do as I please. I’ve felt an unnecessary weight on my shoulders and self-induced guilt for not being as up-to-date on my personal to-do list as I wish.

Frankly, I’m tired of all that. As the months have progressed in 2014, a few priorities have risen to the top that take precedence, while others will be reduced or eliminated if need be in order to preserve such simple things as sleep and a little unstructured time.

So here is what has changed recently and what stands out to me related to my goals going forward:

  • I have put aside the daily step goal of 10,000 steps at least through June. I averaged 18,000 steps a day for several months last year and hadn’t had any day with less than 10,000 steps since sometime last September until I recently decided to not care about my steps daily for a few months. That has been liberating. When my employer’s annual incentive program for steps kicks in again in July, I’ll make sure I do what it takes to maintain my current top rewards level, but I won’t commit to more than that going forward.
  • Previously I announced that I would reduce my blogging from the original goal of 100 posts for the year to one per week on average. I’m behind that adjusted goal since I only posted once in April, but I have a series of them planned that will easily catch me up to the one per week average. That’s still doable, but it was nice to take a break for a month.
  • I’m proud of myself for keeping my work hours to an average of under 45 per week this year. That saves me 8-10 per week compared to the past many years, so I’ll keep doing that.
  • The dream of writing or co-authoring a book on enterprise social networking is coming to fruition. May will be an important month for finalizing some plans with other co-authors who have agreed to participate. I’m very excited about that, but it’s going to be time consuming until it’s done. I’d like to wrap it up by late summer or early fall.
  • I’m behind somewhat on my reading goal, but not so much that some planned vacation times in May – July won’t catch me up.
  • I’m spending a lot more time managing my church’s Facebook and Twitter accounts than I ever dreamed I would – things not really taken into account in the year’s goals on January 1. This is incredibly important to me, however, so it is a high priority. It’s actually going very, very well which is encouraging. This is something I’m doing for others and not myself which is another reason it’s near the top of my priorities.
  • I love the weekly Twitter chat #ESNchat that I founded in September, 2013, but it is more time-consuming than I thought it would be. I’ll keep doing it, but it consumes on average an hour per day to pull off that one-hour-per-week chat. I’ll re-evaluate around the one year anniversary mark this fall following publication of the book mentioned above and another e-book publishing the first year’s chat archives.

This is the first of two planned vacation weeks in May (although only about half will really be vacation due to preparing for and speaking at a work-related conference next week in Philadelphia.) Two more weeks of time off are scheduled for June – one of which will be my periodic getaway to a monastery for a quiet time of reading and relaxation. It is apparent that I need to schedule two-week blocks off in order to actually take enough time off for other things. I’ll keep doing so until I’ve used up a majority of my bank of days off available.

While having a number of goals in the areas of body, mind and spirit was a nice approach in 2013, the goals for this year should have been fewer and more balanced between those that benefit me versus goals that benefit others. That’s the biggest takeaway so far for me as I ponder what changes to make in this mid-course correction. Deciding on the top few priorities for me (down time, sleep) while making sure that major goals also benefit others (my church, my profession) is the focus of this correction. And if this correction doesn’t balance things out, then more course corrections will happen in the months ahead.

Life shouldn’t be all fun and games, but neither should it all be work. This year – unlike last year – I’m not hell-bent on pursuing the original goals no matter what. I have adjusted and will continue to adjust as needed to find the sweet spot of how I spend my time. That’s hard for a goal-oriented person to do, but it seems best and most sensible.

I’m tired of chasing so many goals that I end up feeling daily like I’m missing out on life.

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