Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Resolutions - Revisited

At the beginning of this year I posted my resolutions, and such, for 2010.  Well, here it is, the end of the year.  Let's see if I've accomplished anything of value...

My resolutions for 2010 were as follows:

  1. Pray with both my son & my girls before they go to bed.
  2. Do coffee or breakfast with all my kids, but especially Carly. (Remember, God has engineered YOU to mesh with your family. You, not Mark, not Ryan, not Will, are the spiritual leader of your family for a REASON.)
  3. Continue with small group. It's been a while since I've been encouraged in such a way that I'm motivated to go home and lead my family in the pursuit of following God.
  4. Be diligent, honest, & committed to my spending plan. Understand that it's OK to revise the plan as long as we both agree.
  5. Join a reading plan on Youversion.com. Make reasonable attempts to stick with it. Hold laura accountable.
  6. Pick out a Bible verse with the kids to memorize. Attempt more as time permits.
  7. Pray more frequently
  8. When is God most apparent to you? Is it during worship? Driving, what?
  9. God has placed His desires in our hearts! What are YOU going to do about it?!

Ok, let's see how I did...

  1. Fail.  I don't think I did this at all.
  2. Neither fail nor success.  Although I didn't really do coffee or breakfast with any of them this year, I did make a point to take them individually out with me to do things, like errand running and such.  It's not nearly the face time I had in mind, but it was something.  And the kids & I did have had some good conversations.  I like this one though, and I think I'll keep it on the list for 2011.
  3. Fail.  Joined a small group, but dropped out.  No fault to the group; I was feeling the demand of the commitment I'd made, and I didn't like that.
  4. Success!  Although I wouldn't call it a complete success, we did stay (relatively) committed to our spending plan, and managed to come out in the black.  (considering it's post-Christmas I consider that a definite success)  So, to improve upon this goal, I plan to make some revisions, and keep better track of where my money is actually going.
  5. Fail.  Although I joined the plan, motivation was nonexistent.  I'm not really sure what the solution is here.
  6. Fail.  Completely forgot about this one once I wrote it.
  7. Neither fail nor success.  Although I feel I prayed rather frequently, I definitely didn't pray as much as I wanted to.
  8. I think this is an ongoing question.  My answer as of now: during Worship.
  9. This question fuels a complicated answer that I'm not prepared to answer now.

Although it appears that 2010 was mostly a FAIL for me, I'm not looking at it that way.  I did manage to carve out a new position at work, that I actually like.  Football this year was a success.  The hopes I have for my kids have not subsided. I have worked out at the gym a bit...

That leads me to my resolutions for 2011:

  • Continue working out at the gym, but progress toward a 5 day workout week.
  • Significantly reduce my daily sugar intake.
  • Revise budget to include 401k contributions, and better weekly expenditure tracking
  • Read a novel
  • Better refine my work duties, responsibilities
  • Create an actual schedule for one-on-one time with each of the family members - especially Laura.  (see number 2 above)
  • Find a Disciple that works with me.
  • Take more pictures, and publish them.
  • Create and develop long-term goals
  • Pray with, and for my children.
  • Learn Mandarin (a little)
  • Get another tattoo
  • Do at least 1 fun thing with my cousin, Eric
  • Visit my sisters (both of them)

It'll be interesting to see how I do this year.