Ah yes, the start of a New Year, time for many to make resolutions about many things. I have never been big into new year’s resolutions, but do think it is a great time for stepping back, looking at life and goal-setting. Being unemployed for the first time in my 20-year career is also providing me with a different perspective on it this year.
Thanks to Terry Storch’s earlier post, I was encouraged to come up with 3 words that would define my goals for the coming year. I like simple and different.
If you want to try the process, it works something like this: think of 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. -Chris Brogan
So here goes for me:
Change
This year will most certainly be about change. Change has already started in my employment situation and I am using this opportunity to reconsider my career goals and my passions. I am looking forward to a new direction and the process of getting there. But I’m also looking at change in other areas besides how I earn a living. I’m looking forward to change in key relationships in my life (especially my family) and trying to deepen those. I am also changing up my outlook on life and what I prioritize.
Challenge
This year will about challenge as well as change. I am challenging myself spiritually, professionally, and personally. Spiritually, I’m looking forward to actually reading through the entire Bible in one year. I am using a new approach thanks to encouragement from a new friend, Mike Sillimen, of using a Chronological Bible in New Living Translation (NLT). Professionally, I’m going to need to develop some new skills as well as strengthen some existing ones. Personally, I’m going to be working hard to push myself to new levels, but at the same time keeping God first and realizing that I can do nothing apart from the love of Christ.
Chase
This is probably driven by the fact that I’m currently reading Mark Batterson’s book, Wild Goose Chase, but I resonate with it none the less. I have sensed in myself in the past, a willingness to settle. This year will be about pursuit. Pursuit of God, through the Holy Spirit, pursuit of life and adventure, and pursuit in my marriage. It is too easy to take many good things in life for granted and just ‘play it safe’. I don’t want to ‘play it safe’ any longer. I am desperate to chase God wherever He wants to lead me, even if it seems to be headed in risky places.
So how about you? What are your three words for 2009?