Parsing My World: The long-awaited post about my resolutions/goals

I don't make resolutions. See, the trouble with resolutions are that they're so ... oh, I don't know ... resolute. And that immediately dooms them. For instance, you might say: "I resolve to eat healthier." And then you can't pass up a good Sonic burger for lunch (not that I'm saying their burgers aren't healthy ... forgive me, Sonic, I'll make it up to you tomorrow with your Sonic burger, mustard, no pickles or onions, with tater tots and a Dr. Pepper -- oh, and a hot fudge sundae with nuts). But you know what I mean -- you start to slide and before you know it, you figure the resolution was too hard to keep and you just forget it. And it's only January 3rd.

So I make a list of goals, which involves aiming toward the bullseye, and as long as I hit somewhere on the dartboard, I'm still in the game.

The goals have to be measurable, though. None of this "My goal is to exercise" stuff, but rather something like a Curves-3-times-a-week commitment. And they're reviewed periodically to make sure I'm still on track.

Also -- I did pare down after contemplating Leo Babauta's "7 Essential Tips." Last year I had 45 goals (why 45? because that was my age and I figured why not try to ... yeah, I know, doesn't make sense to me now either). I do have quite a few this year, but nothing like last year's list. (And for the record, I did manage to achieve 17 things, which I'll take as success considering some of the wacky things I'd put down.)

Last year I started sorting my goals under major categories of Physical, Spiritual, Mental/Emotional, Financial, Career and Home. And then a "challenge goal" to do something that I was afraid of but that if I did, I'd be so much better for it (last year it was to learn to swim ... and no, I didn't achieve that one, so what, this is why God invented life preservers).

This year as I was looking over my list and categorizing the goals, I realized that what I'm aiming for, big-picture-wise, is to be healthier in every respect -- physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. Making the home healthier (lots of repair and renovation projects). Approaching my livelihood (career) in a healthier way.

All of the goals are measurable (e.g., we're taking 2 cruises this year -- file those under "mental and emotional" health -- and we will have fun checking these off the list), they are focused (e.g., reading the Bible in a year, made easier by this site), and Tony and I are doing most of these together (essential for the financial goals but also good for our relationship).

I'm not going to list all of the goals (sorry, some of them are too personal), but I can promise I'll talk (read: whine, complain, brag, taunt and tease) about them from time to time. For starters, here's a shot of two that we're aiming for (neener-neener):