Update on Goals and PD

I haven’t written a blog in what seems like forever.  So, for the two people who actually read this thing, I apologize  :)

I wanted to share about two things in my life that are interrelated.  Those two things are my yearly goals and my personal development plan.  Earlier this year I learned about the benefits of having something called a personal development plan.  It basically means what you do to develop yourself in whichever area you want to improve.  The important thing is that you do whatever it is consistently, otherwise your progress in those areas will be minimal at best.

My personal development plan (pd plan) is fairly simple.  I try to spend a half hour doing the following activities: engaging with God, reading professionally and exercising.  When I first started these habits I made it 45 days before I broke my streak.  That’s roughly 44 days longer than I’ve stuck with anything else in my life.  Maybe it’s because I read a couple books on habit or because it’s so simple to remember.  My streak was broken at day 45 but they are well established in spite of that, meaning I typically do at least 2 of those every day.  Exercise is the one that gets neglected most often.

Now, for the update on my annual goals.  I didn’t share these at the beginning of the year as there are conflicting ideas on whether you should share your goals or not; this year I decided not to.  Now that we’re about halfway through the year though, I feel like I can share them and not blow it.  Every year I try and make goals in different areas of my life.  The key is to have 1 or maybe 2 max per area of your life.  The areas I’ve tried to focus on the past few years are spiritual, financial, career, family, intellectual, social and physical.

I’ve listed my goals below and shared how I’m doing on each of them thus far.

1. Debt free by 12/31/16  -  on track
2. Fully funded by 7/1/16 - really close, matter of fact made it to 100% of our monthly but only momentarily.  Regardless, it gives me confidence that God will provide for us in order to go overseas
3. Weigh 200 pounds by 12/31/16  -  not even close on this one
4. 2 dates per month  -  on track; sometimes it’s dinner out, sometimes something as simple as a picnic, other times just going to the beach
5. Babysit for supporters 1-2 times per month - haven’t kept track, certainly tried to earlier on and had a couple of responses to our offers but not as much as we were hoping to.  Won’t be able to for the rest of the summer due to travel and probably not in the fall as we will hopefully and prayerfully be in Spain this fall.
6. Read 1 book per month  -  miles ahead since I started reading a half hour a day, my reading has skyrocketed since I implemented that daily habit.  
1. 21 books so far this year, I’ve started keeping track just so I can remember which books I’ve read over the year.  I’ve been amazed at what a half hour of focus has done for my reading.  I’m a super slow reader too which makes it all the more amazing.  I say this not to brag but simply to attest to what a daily habit can help one accomplish.
2. Best books so far are The Happiness Advantage, The Power of Habit, Better than Before, Mindset, and Infidel.  While all those are great for various reasons, Infidel is by far the most engaging book I’ve read in I don’t know how long, I highly recommend it.
3. I meant to write review of all these books but blogging has been put on the back burner, perhaps because I didn’t make it a yearly goal.
7. Lead 1 person to Christ  -  not yet