Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Goals for 2004

Personal

I don’t do resolutions. Most resolutions tend to be too vague and, therefore, too easy to break or ignore. I set goals, trying to make them as specific as possible in terms of outcomes. I’ve been doing it for several years now. Around mid-year, I look over the list and cross off any that have been met. At year-end, I do the same. For things that did not get met, I try to look at how close I got and why I didn’t make it. Unmet goals usually go on the next year’s list, if they’re still applicable. If a goal seems like it’s not being met after a couple of years, I revise it or re-examine it. Is it really that important? Why am I not working on this?

My goals are organized by several categories: physical health, house, financial, emotional, family, spiritual, work. A goal may be relatively simple, like the several jobs that need to be done around the house or the new stove we desperately need to get. Having a few of those kinds of goals seems like cheating, but crossing them off the list gives me a boost towards working on things that will take more work and time, like getting my weight down under 200 pounds. (Again, specificity is important. I can’t for the life of me keep a resolution to “lose weight,” but I can work towards hitting a target number.)

This is an important year in terms of goals, because I’m hitting 40. (Fucking 40, as John Eddie would say.) There are some things I would really like to accomplish before that birthday. Will I make it? We’ll see, I guess.

Anyway, here is a glimpse at some of my goals for the year:

  • Get weight under 200.
  • Walk 2-3 days a week.
  • Open a savings account.
  • Save $500 by end of year.
  • Get new stove and refrigerator.
  • Have gutter, foundation and attic work done on the house.
  • Take a photography class.

There are some more, but you get the idea. Some of them I’m not up to sharing just yet.

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