Individual 2010 New Year's Goals

Too many people these days get married and lose any sense of self and individuality, which I don't think is healthy. So, even though the wife and I have our own joint goals for 2010, I have a couple of individual goals of my own that I intend to complete. My experience has taught me that, the more measurable and simple the goal is, the more likely I am to achieve it. With that in mind, here are my individual goals for 2010:

1.) Over the course of my engagement, honeymoon, and first year of marriage, I put on some unwanted pounds that were the complete opposite of muscle and which were located in the worst possible place (stomach). At one point, I was up to 252 pounds, which is a couple of pounds more than I weighed while I was playing college football, only the distribution of weight was all wrong and didn't look nearly as nice. During my 8+ months of unemployment, I began to limit my calorie intake and really step up my workouts, and I managed to lose a total of 22 pounds, getting down to 230. 230 is much more manageable, and helped some of my clothes to fit better, but it isn't where I want to be weight-wise for the long term. Eventually, I would like to be down under 200 pounds (185-195 would be ideal). Taking into consideration that I don't have a celebrity trainer, and that I have to live in the real world, I want to set a goal that will make real progress toward my target weight, but which won't be so unreasonable that I throw up my hands and quit in disgust (which has happened before).

My minimum weight loss goal is 15 pounds for the year (slightly over 1 pound per month), which would put me at 215 pounds. That said, I would be thrilled to make it to 210 or lower.

2.) I intend to pay off all of my small debts (5 debts, all $ 2,500.00 and lower) by the end of this year, but preferably no later than June or July. Other than money that goes to vacations and recurring bills, after the smaller debts (approximately $ 5,500.00 total) are paid off, the money I was using to pay off those debts will then be directed toward my larger debts.

3.) From time to time, I look at my full bookshelves of all the books I have read and just shake my head. I know most of what I read is stored someplace deep in my brain, but sometimes I can't bring what I have read immediately to mind, especially if it has been a while since I read the book I am trying to remember. Obviously, I can't spend my entire life reading the same books over and over if I expect to learn anything new.

Therefore, going forward, I have decided to write brief summaries of all the books I read. That way, I can pull up the summary I wrote back when I read the book, read it, and hopefully jog my memory as to most of the details of the book in question. Additionally, my book reading goal for this year is to average one book per week, which would be at least 52 books for the year.

If I can complete these goals (and then some), I think this is going to be a great year...so, Happy New Year to all, and I wish you great success on your own goals in the first year of the new decade!