goals for 2006

Everyone in the blogosphere (yes it’s a dorky word) seems to put up their predictions or their goals for 2006, and I can’t really help but do my own version here. I figure by putting them out in public, I’ll have to live up to them. A fantastic blog I read pretty much daily (and I’ve mentioned on her before) is Steve Pavlina’s personal development blog. He really has found his unique ability constantly working on improving himself, his life, and his reader’s lives. He had a great post about how to use New Years resolutions. Basically the idea is to make simple steps instead of grand changes. For example, if you want to “get in shape,” he argues that with a resolution like that a positive outcome is unlikely. How could you know each day that you moved closer to “getting in shape,” and even more importantly, how would you know you ever got there? Instead of saying I’d like to “Get in shape,” say, “I’d like to do aerobic exercise 25 minutes a day.” That way, there is never a grey area on your resolution, never a question of whether or not you did it, and no way of talking yourself out of it. This goes along with David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, which talks a lot about microchunking goals and projects, into actionable items. Which sounds more daunting, I need to clean the garage or I need to get rid of old golf clubs from the garage. Sure, removing golf clubs from the garage isn’t cleaning it, but it is a step in the right direction and is something you’re likely to do because it seems easy. I know so many times I’ve put something like clean the garage on my to do list and skipped over it because I didn’t have time or desire to tackle the task. Anyway with those thoughts in mind, here are my goals for 2006.
Personal:

• health
• strength train at least 3 times a week
• work with an experienced physical trainer to develop a routine that fits my schedule and
• run 2 miles daily (to start, should update)
• look at a few martial arts in january
• travel at least twice a month-it’s ridiculous to live on this earth, and not enjoy it
• go to India (if my friend Jason goes again)
• never worry about money in my life ever again-worrying about money is like worrying about being hungry. Does worrying about hunger ever feed you?
• Connect with friends
• communicate monthly with friends from high school, grade school, college, and present
• travel to spend time with friends at least 6 times this year to see where they live, how they live, and who they spend their time with
• make new friends, we’re here to learn and meet people-do it
• Financial
• organize everything through quicken
• track spending, take advantage of high interest savings
• invest in 5 companies (leave the rest to the professionals)
• consolidate accounts (close old bank accounts, paypal accounts, etc)
• Writing
• write in this blog at least once a day
• write in the journal once a day (already said)
• photo journal (posted here)

Spiritual:

• meditate 2-3 times a week
• experiment and read about different meditation techniques once a month
• attend Buddhist guided meditation at least once a month
• read and learn more about Buddhism in February
• listen to one abraham cd a month
• listen more music (vague I know, not sure how to quantify)
• rediscover my journal by writing daily
• talk with a grief counselor in February
• connect with my mom through pictures, journals, and memories daily
• volunteer by either tutoring, becoming a big brother, or working at midohio food bank once a month or so starting in march
• take piano lessons (yes, music is spiritual) again, starting in march
• photojournal

Professional

• focus, find, and discover my unique ability by reading, writing, and attending learning seminars
• relax and allow instead of worry and force
• Not have a job, but instead have fun
• find complementing employees instead of trying to do it all myself
• always enjoy a day for what it is, never beat myself for not getting enough done
• make 5 phone calls a day
• have 5 meetings/conference calls a week (keep communicating)
• listen to my gut
• Financial
• get everything organized and streamlined, and then hand it off to a pro
• never leave money to sit…it’s always at work or it’s earning interest
• cut out all expenses from previous endeavors
• organizational
• reorganize company under new name and tax ID

Most importantly, ride the pony (not in a sexual way, as I always teased my mom). My mom had this great theme for life she was working in her last few years called, Ride the Pony. The idea is we spend way too much time of our lives in the barn, cleaning up after, feeding, and caring for the pony. We worry too much about making sure it is healthy and OK and we often forget why we got the pony in the first place: to ride it.

I plan on updating more over the next week….