Goals Revisited for 1st Quarter 2008

As I expected my Fall Goals were a little too aggressive. I think I made some headway on a few of the issues I mentioned and certainly learned much about what is and isn't doable. The basic content of my goals is still on target, it just needs a little fine tuning to really work for me. Here's my updated list:

Family [Most of my bullet points here are about right. I may have fallen a little short of achieving them fully, but my aim is still correct.]

• One on one time with each of my kids: every day.
• Work on being more patient with my kids.
• A few minutes of one on one time with the Mrs. every day to connect, together time every other day for an extended time, massage, cuddling, talking, etc., full fledged date without the kids once per month.
• One family activity outside the house, every week.
• Closer contact with Mom, Dad, my brothers, and my cousins.

Social [Still need a lot of work in this category.]

• Meet new people in the area and cultivate relationships already started: monthly.
• Closer contact with several friends: Tim, John, Ethan, Abe, Pat, etc.

Gaming [Ties in closely with social category.]

• Develop friendships through boardgames.
• Begin more regular board game sessions, eventually having some sort of a weekly gaming group.
• Read more gaming blogs, listen to the dice tower.

Professional [Easy to let this category fall through the cracks, I need to work much harder on this. I did implore management at my job to allow for more creativity on my part, now I just need to follow through on my end of that deal.]

• Start a food journal, write in it several times a week, flavors, combinations, recipes, ideas, etc. This is extremely important!!
• Propose new test recipes for use at work.
• Find a couple of food blogs to read and look for as many idea sources on food as possible, read the wine bible, drink more wine and take notes!
• Do research on the possibility of opening my own bakery, restaurant--where, what, food, & financials.

Financial [I opened an account to systematically purchase a balanced mutual fund every month, made it to $10,000 (or thereabouts) in my retirement fund, but fell a little short on emergency savings.]

• Reach $10,000 in emergency fund savings by June.
• Reach $13,000 in retirement account by June.
• Achieve $0 net worth by end of 2008.
• Begin furnishing our house and doing necessary maintenance work while still achieving the above three goals.

Intellectual [I've done lots of reading lately, not sure if that is intellectual or not but it has been very positive, I'd like to keep that up. Other than that I've failed at much of this category thus far.]

• Read NYT online every day.
• Publish in my blog at least once every week.
• Read lots of good books.

Physical [This is one category where I feel I was far too aggressive in my last attempt at goals. By aiming too high in fitness goals it is far too easy to get discouraged and do nothing at all. This has been the case with me.]

• Engage in an aerobic physical activity at least 3 times per week, walking to work, going to the gym, playing tennis, etc.

Spiritual [I made basically no attempt to figure out my spiritual side over the last few months.]

• Read something each week to help me learn about spirituality and/or religion to determine if there is anything important for me to know on this topic. I have the feeling that there must be, I simply need to put in the effort to find it.

So, there you have it. Certainly a little less aggressive that my last set of goals, but perhaps still too aggressive. Only time will tell. I'll check in with this list on a weekly basis, then revise my goals again in the spring. If you have comments, your feedback is appreciated!