2010 Goal Review

2010 was a busy year for us. We had just purchased our duplex, fixed up one side and rented it out. I managed to listen to a ton of books while mowing the lawn, driving, and washing dishes. I also took a couple business trips and both of us travelled a lot during the summer. We also managed to re-grade our yard and really plug in with our church's high school group. I also trained hard in jiu jjitsu with a friend.

Back in January of 2010 I also set forth some goals. So how did I do? Let's take a look.

1) Read Bible 3x/week

I downloaded the Bible app for iPhone made by YouVersion which has a ton of daily reading plans. I went with the Life Journal since that's what our church is promoting. It made it easy to track where I was and gave me the satisfaction of checking a box saying I read it. As a result, I did really well on this goal. I don't have exact stats, but most weeks I either met or exceeded my goal. The most important thing is that I spent some quality time reading the Bible and having great discussions with Jessi. I'm looking forward to keeping this going in 2011.

2) Share the Gospel with 1 person

I remember back in August I was reviewing my goals and this was one goal I didn't feel like I had "fully" accomplished. I had talked to a couple people about my faith, but something was missing. Then God opened an opportunity literally later that day. Someone I knew was thinking about going back to church, but wasn't sure about being accepted because of past behavior. I was able to share about God's love and how he forgives us. It was a fantastic conversation.

3) Hug more people

Oh boy did I definitely hug more people. It was sweet. The best part is that sometimes someone would ask permission to hug me and I'd get to tell them it was part of my 2010 goals to hug more people. This always resulted in a long bear hug.

4) Communicate my excitement!!

I had to check with Jessi on this one, and she says I definitely have. Of course, last year was pretty exciting so that made it easy.

5) Achieve ZERO short-term debt

Done. We actually accomplished this goal during the summer time. It felt really good. I also put all my credit cards in my drawer since we have enough cash for spending. Now we get to have fun conversations like, "Should we pay off one of our student loans, or can we find an investment that has a higher return than the interest we're paying on that loan?" But first, I need to decided what I'm going to do about Chase's changes to their checking account products.

6) Find 3 business builders

Unfortunately, I did not reach this goal. Jessi and I both had a tough time with this. We really struggled with the transition from relationship building to seeking business partners. I'm not really sure what we did "wrong" but after some negative feedback we decided to back off completely. I'm not sure what the future looks like here. I know we genuinely love Univera's products and will continue to take them ourselves through the foreseeable future. We'll see.

7) Level 4 conversation 4x/week

Do you know how hard it is to reach this goal when you work from home, alone, 4 days a week? I should have said something closer to 1 or 2 times a week. Oh well. Here's what I did do: I made it a point to really get to know guys in jiu jitsu. During breaks I got to ask them questions and learn more about who they are. I found that most guys either go to OSU or are somehow involved with the police department. I also had some great conversations with people from our church and a couple people from work.

8) Find 3 customers

Part of backing off with business builders means you also back off with finding customers. I think the problem, again, is that transition from being a friend to selling something. Some people are excellent at it, and we really struggle with it. I do have a plan for this though and therefore you'll see it pop back up on next year's goals. So stay tuned.

I also had an unofficial goal of writing, on average, one post a week (or 52 posts). As you'll see on the Archive section to the left I accomplished this goal too with 54 posts. I was happy with this and thinks it's a sustainable pace. Hopefully you too find my weekly posts valuable.

So that's how I did. Overall, I'm pleased with the results. In a couple days I'll share what my 2011 goals are.