“Time sure flies when you don’t know where you are on the
map.”
Derek Webb, “Eye of the Hurricane”
As 2013 flipped to 2014, I had many conversations with
friends about resolutions and goals. I
shared some devotional thoughts at our company staff meeting about the horrible
follow-through percentages when it comes to resolutions. And I challenged our employees to set goals
instead of making resolutions.
Resolutions make for good January conversation fodder; goals are more
concrete and come with a plan, ideally.
I take our 1-1/2 year old son to school most every
morning. Our ritual includes listening
to Derek Webb’s CD “I Was Wrong, I’m Sorry, and I Love You.” (Please withhold your judgment regarding what
I am doing theologically to my son. I’m
hoping to nurture a thinking child.) We
do tracks 5 & 6, then go back to track 2.
Webb is a master of the thought-provoking line (“If you’re the only one
who runs a race, it might be to get away” and “On that day, we’ll run out of
time for death and tears” come immediately to mind.) and one that hits me every
time I hear it is the quote above – “Time sure flies when you don’t know where
you are on the map.”
I am NOT a planner.
I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-and-hope-it-works kind of guy. Usually that leads to a lot of activity and
very little productivity. So I am trying
to change – at least a little bit. My
wife (who IS a planner/preparer) and I are trying some new things to get things
done – a weekly staff meeting, an allocated spending plan, a monthly menu,
etc. So far, it’s proving helpful. But it’s still January.
I have broken our 2014 goals down into six categories:
personal, financial, family, 8th Day Collective (our church),
reading, and work (Accolade & Yahwear).
Each month I am writing out specific things that I hope to accomplish in
that month, as well as stretch goals and “on the horizon” goals. In January, I accomplished about 50% of my
goals, and 11% of my stretch goals.
While that’s not anything earth-shattering, it sure is better than
having no idea where I am on the map.
One of the goals that I didn’t accomplish in January was
to blog weekly. (I DID, however, blog
weakly.) So this is the first attempt to
make that goal happen in February. I
have a plan for blogging as well, so look for thoughts on hospice and friends,
train rides and books.
Two questions as I wrap this up:
1) What are YOUR goals for 2014 and what kind of plan to
you have to make that happen?
2) What topics would you love to have me start a
discussion about here on the blog?
