Friday, December 30, 2011

2012 Goals


2011 was a pretty good year for me.  I have made some baby steps in several directions that I am proud of.  I have maintained a good sense of moderation in all aspects of my life as well.  One of my shortcomings was my spiritual well being, where I did not make any progress.

I heard a quote recently, “If you are not getting better, then you are getting worse, you never stay the same.”  This really hit home.  Although it was based on swim training, it can apply to being a husband, a parent, an employee, an athlete or in broad terms a human being.

Unclutterer.com recently posed having a resolution of the month to increase focus, rather than coming out of the gate trying to improve/change a half dozen aspects of your life.  To this end, I am listing:

Financial discipline - January
Casino gaming - February
Diet and weight loss - March
Training - April
Better husband - May
Watching television - June
Home improvement -July
Getting organized - August
Taking vitamins - September
Spiritual health - October
Mental health - November
Better parent – December

I will be building action plans around each item.  Starting with January, I am approaching financial discipline with having a budget and sticking to it.  That includes household expenses, dining out, and hobbies expenses.  I will review our financial portfolio and have an action plan to rebalance if necessary throughout the year.  Other nice to have items will be reviewing our assets and insurance.

February will be casino gaming and I will stay on budget of time and hours and will cut trips short or cancel trips.

This does not mean that I have to wait on anything.  If I want to read more to my kids in January, that is a bonus.  However, first in my mind needs to be financial discipline.

After reading Parenting with Love & Logic, I have come to appreciate that I let a lot of resolutions slip because I don’t face any immediate consequences.  Overeating, overspending, being disorganized have consequences that are hard to estimate and are often far in the future.  This year, I will work harder to have a carrot and stick with immediate consequences.

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