Some more on my goals for 2009
January 25th, 2009 | by mbhunter |I only set two goals for myself for 2009, and they’re at the heart just consistency goals: writing down whether I do something each day or not. I figure that if I can at least do that much, then I’ll be able to see how I’m doing on the goals, and I’ll be more likely to stick with them. (That’s the theory anyway.) The two goals are:
- Did I read (or listen to) my Bible that day? Yes or no, aiming for every day. (I’ll explain the “listen to” addition below.)
- Did I exercise for at least 30 minutes that day? Yes or no, aiming for three times per week.
I purposely did not set any financial goals initially and instead purposed the Bible goal to help me gain wisdom in how to proceed that way. So far this month we’ve had a lot of out-flow, but we’ve also had unexpected in-flow of funds, so I know that God is helping us through our current expenses. What’s more, I won a copy of H&R Block TaxCut Premium Federal tax preparation software from not one, but two personal finance bloggers this month! (ChristanPF was able to give his copy to someone else.)
So far I’ve kept to my goals pretty well. Tonight, after reading a post on Lifehacker I checked out a new (free) tool called Joe’s Goals that does exactly what I need.
It was a painless signup process, and I was able to put all of my hand-written data for the year thus far in the tool in about five minutes. Now that things are set up, I go to the site once a day, click a couple of boxes (if I did both things that day) and I’m done! It’s that easy. What’s more, I’ve set my account to send me an e-mail if I don’t log in within two days of my last login, so I’m less likely to forget about it. JoesGoals.com is very simple and very effective!
Oh, I was going to explain why I changed my first goal to “read or listen to the Bible each day.” A few weeks ago I was in Costco and ran across the Zondervan NIV Audio Bible. It’s a dramatized reading of the complete Old and New Testaments on sixty-four CDs. I bought it sight unseen (sound unheard?) and was pleasantly surprised. The background music isn’t annoying and the narration isn’t cheesy. I’ve already gotten a lot out of it, and it’s been very effective at helping me to get the big picture. Plus, it gives me a way to use my commute effectively. I’ll go beyond listening, but for now I’m counting it as spending time in the Word.
Incidentally, the Lifehacker post also mentions using Mint.com to track financial goals, so I may need to revisit using that. So, there you go. It may be a bit early to ask but how are your goals going for this year? How do you keep track of your progress?
4 Responses to “Some more on my goals for 2009”
By Bill on Jan 25, 2009 | Reply
On the audio bible, take a look at Max McLean’s mp3 version. Its only about $32 at amazon.com and requires just a few discs. Very conveniently divided into files for each chapter. I actually carried the whole bible on my cell phone at one point.
By MiMI on Jan 25, 2009 | Reply
Early last year I used Joe’s goals but now I use http://dontbreakthechain.com to track. The setup took seconds and I much prefer the calender view.
By mbhunter on Jan 25, 2009 | Reply
Bill: Good find. The one I have is perfect for my car CD player.
MiMI: Wow, and DBTC was in the Lifehacker article too! Guess I’ll test-drive that one too!
By Lorena Albicans on Feb 8, 2009 | Reply
Bill nice info. I’ve also promised myself to read finish the bible within the year. But with these hectic times, who has time to sit down and read? I love audio books!