Goals for 2010

It is the start of the new year, which means new year's resolutions!  Oh wait... did I hear a groan?  Come on, these goals can be the best thing ever if you learn to take baby steps.  After all "the most important thing about goals is having one" (by Geoffrey Albert)!  Right?  Are you with me?  If you are still not convinced go here for some motivating goal quotes.

This year I have decided to break down my goals into groups.  Here they are in no particular order:

Spiritual: 

• Read through Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.  Go here for a list of Bible reading plans.  Note: They are all for the ESV Bible (I'm not at all advocating for any specific version of the Bible), but you could just read out of the translation of your choice.
• Attend a Bible class at our church during the week.

Personal:

• Contact a "set" of grandparents once a week (that means contacting each grandparent at least once a month).  This is a low goal, but it is sadly realistic.  Maybe I will work my way up to twice a month later in the year.
• Have extended family over for dinner (especially grandparents).  This one scares me to death because I am about as far away from a Julia Child as they come, but I know my grandparents and aunts/uncles would love to see us more than when they or my parents host a get-together.
• Read The Millionaire Next Door.
• Exercise at least twice a week (this is a hard one, but I feel so much better when I do).

Education:

• Take a class for my Master's Degree.
• Read How the Brain Learns Mathematics.
• Try one new hands-on lesson a week.
• Over the summer work on an online Spanish course.  Go here to browse over 200 different free online classes.  Go here to browse 36 different languages that you can learn online for free.

Blog:

• Update to a 3-column format.
• Create a flavicon.
• Create a button.
• So many more things to come...

Financial:

• We are currently saving for a house.   We would love to have a 60% down payment on our home at least.  My husband is planning on building it, so that makes it a little more tricky to plan for financially (we are still looking at lots of house plans, so until we get down to specifics the costs can vary a lot).  Last year rather than set one big goal, my husband and I decided to cut it into two steps (a small goal and the big goal), so that we felt like we were moving along faster.  I know it is silly, but it works for us.
• Current Small Goal Percent Reached: 48%             
• 2010 Final Small Goal Percent Reached: 89%
• Current Big Goal Percent Reached: 32%
• 2010 Final Big Goal Percent Reached: 59.3%

Now I know some people are probably shaking their heads right now and thinking that I have high hopes (or maybe some think I'm shooting too low), but these are some of my goals for now.  I realize that things change, but it is important at least to have a plan that they are changing from. 

So my advice to you is write down your goals and discuss them with your spouse.  Our financial goals might change later this year because my husband has been driving a really old truck and thinks that he might need buy a newer one later this year.  I honestly don't pay much attention to his truck and did not realize it was in as bad shape as it is in until my husband updated me.

Do monthly, weekly, or daily goal check-ups (depending on the goal).  I will be posting at least once a month how I'm doing on some of these goals.  So choose a mountain and we'll climb up it this year together!