@terrystorch and Shawn Wood tipped me off to a great post by Chris Brogan about goals for 2009. Last year I set very specific goals and did a very poor job of meeting them. I really like the approach of setting broader thematic goals rather than specific action oriented goals. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep these goals more easily. Most of the goals for last year are ongoing. I'm still working to blog more, I go through periods of focusing well on fitness, I'm going to take guitar lessons. So this year I thought I would take the broader approach.
Here's how Brogan describes the process:
how you want to be successful in 2009. Then, try to think in even
broader terms. Extrapolate on the broader terms, and find one word to
hang the idea on.
My three words for 2009:
Create – I've been in a rut creatively for the past several months. As a worship team we've been a lot less creative than I'd like. I've not been doing things that feed me creatively as much as I would like. So I'm taking some immediate steps. I'm getting out of my environment and working intentionally surrounded by other creative professionals. I'm taking guitar lessons. I'm starting to write without a real purpose – just to get words on paper – maybe it will develop into something. I'm going to relax, and cook, and take time off to really recharge (see word three).
Pray – Our core emphasis as a church for the next year is prayer. I believe very strongly in the power of prayer, but it currently isn't an integrated part of everything I do. Prayer has been an important part of my life, but it hasn't been as intentional as it should be of late. The staff is spending the first several weeks of the year going through Richard Foster's book Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
together. It's a great book and the first time I read it nearly 10 years ago was really when prayer became real in my life. I'm really excited to see how a focus on prayer for the year impacts both my life and the church.
Relax – I tend to be a ball of stress and a workaholic. I worry about things that aren't all that important. I obsess about quality often times about things out of my control. I neglect taking appropriate time off to recharge. My goal is to be very intentional about taking my day off and taking breaks during the work day. What that means is saying no to doing some things and more effectively delegating to others. It also means that I'm going to try to be a lot less serious. I plan on playing and having fun a lot more this year.
What would your three words be for 2009?