Did you know that every year since 1978 I've had a written set of goals for each year? It all started for me when I went to a Frosh orientation camp just before I started at ULV. At that camp we were encouraged to write down things we wanted to achieve in college. These goals were only for ourselves and were not shared with anyone. We then sealed them in an envelope and turned them in to our counselors, who would return them to us in April of 1982. I actually acheived 7 out of my 10 goals. Some of the goals I achieved were Lettering by my Sophmore Season, (I hung on to the 6th spot on the Tennis Team and did it as a Freshman), graduating with at least a 3.5 GPA, and getting my Degree. Some of the goals I didn't achieve included becoming the ASB President, and becoming an Orientation Leader for the Frosh Camp I was then attending.
So for the last 29 years I've had written goals, and a plan to achieve them each year. I still have every goal sheet, (from every year) in a binder starting with that yellow lined legal paper from 1978. Yes, I've been that obsessive. Yes, every year I look forward to the process, and I am usually done by New Year's Day. I obviously have refined my process over the years since I was 18, but I still break down the goals into various categories that will sometimes vary from year to year: Financial, Spiritual, Physical, Career, Self Improvement, Miscellaneous, etc. I even talked Sandy into setting written goals, and in her first year in 1983 when we were dating, she acheived 62% of them. Now I've got the kids involved, but I sometimes think they are just humoring me so that we can get on with the New Year's fun! So how have I done? Has it been worth the time? Over the last 29 years I've averaged 52.40% of all of the annual goals I've set. It's not a very impressive number, but as Wayne Gretsky has said, "you will miss 100% of the shots you don't take!" (Carole-Lee, I put a hockey player in just for you! Happy Chinese New Year!)
So why am I sharing all of this? It's certainly not to brag about only hitting 52% of my goals; and yes I know that only 5% of the population takes the time to write their goals down. Over the years I've taken a lot of grief from friends who tease me about my goals, and the fact that I make them very public by putting them up on our refrigerator. Of course I do this for a reason, since making them public puts more pressure on me to achieve them. (Luckily, for Sandy, my magnets won't stick on our sub-zero, so my goals have been banished to the garage refrigerator!) I'm sharing all of this with you because I wasn't going to have any goals for 2008. In light of Sandy's cancer it seemed very selfish of me to even think about having any. After all, the only goal I even care about is Sandy being healed of this cancer. I couldn't get motivated to write anything down. December came and went and I didn't even think about it. Two weeks into January I still didn't have any. It helped that my close friend Randy Bartlett was in Europe for the first two weeks of January. We send each other our goals, and hold each other accountable during the year. I knew that when he came back I'd get that email asking about them. It was hard, I just didn't want to bother. Sandy's cancer was eating away at my own motivation. It's hard to plan ahead. It's hard to think beyond today, and what needs to be done.
Having a spouse with cancer is very hard on a control freak. (There, I said it. It will make some of you very happy!) I just couldn't muster up the energy.
Finally, I got out my Goals Binder on the day I knew Randy was coming back. I had to put my 2007 Goals Sheet away (I hit only 47% last year for the record.) I thumbed through it, and came across Sandy's Goal Sheet for 1989. At the top was a poem she had written down:
O Lord
Help me to live this year
Quietly, easily
To lean upon Thy great strength
Trustfully, restfully
To wait for the unfolding of thy will
Patiently, serenely
To meet others
Peacefully, joyfully
To face each tomorrow courageously
Well, needless to say, after reading that from 1989, and seeing Sandy live it in 2007 and beyond, I felt a little convicted from the Lord to get busy on my own goals. I certainly have more work to do to try and become the person God wants me to be. I immediately sat down that night and wrote out my 2008 Goals, and forwarded them to Randy before his plane touched down. So how am I doing? Check the fridge and find out for yourself..........
Jon
