My 2014 Goals

I plan to use this platform to help and inspire others to set goals and put the work in to meet those goals.  One way to do that is by modeling the practice myself.  I have set five larger goals that I will share with you today.  Throughout this month, I plan to break each of these goals down into smaller actionable steps so that I can track my progress with you on each of them.

Spiritual Goal:

My spiritual life is one that is very important to me and will be at the center of everything that I work on this year.  My spiritual goal is to connect with God each day through prayer, reading his Word and reflection.  

Financial Goal:

Anyone who has been following my life recently knows that our family is on a journey to become debt free. If you have not been around, you can read a story my wife and I put together to talk about our journey here.  For 2014, we are going to try to stretch ourselves and set a financial goal of paying off at least 60% of the debt that is remaining on our mortgage.  

Intellectual Goal:

Since I am creating a blog dedicated to setting goals and meeting them, it is probably pretty obvious that I am a strong believer in learning and improving.  One of the best ways I know how to do that is by reading books and trying to applying new principles into my life.  Last year I set a goal of reading at least 100 books, which was great for getting a lot of new ideas in my head, but left very little time to reflect on and apply the principles into my life. This year I am going to follow Chris Brogan's advice and go on a three book diet this year, but with the adjustment to do other reading I need or want to do as time allows.  My intellectual goal will be to read the three books below at least once a month and spend time reflecting on the principles and applying them into my life. I have set up affiliate links for my three books, they are:

1. The Noticer Returns: Sometimes You Find Perspective, and Sometimes Perspective Finds You
2. The 5 Love Languages Men's Edition: The Secret to Love That Lasts
3. Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money

Relational Goal:

My family is very important to me and I think it is important to not only be concerned about the short-term needs of my family, but also prepare for taking care of them in the future.  With this in mind, I have set a relational goal of getting all documents created and organized that will help take care of my family if something would happen to me by creating a legacy box this year for them. 

Physical Goal:

An area of my life that has lacked focus is my personal fitness.  I have times that I am 100% in total body fitness, times I am running, times I am biking, and other times when I am simply warming up the couch.  It is important to me that I take care of my physical body and will be working toward doing that this year.  My physical goal is to run a marathon by the end of the year.