Episode 17 - How I set New Year's Resolutions and Why You Should Too

Setting goals for 2019.  How I do it, and why you should too.  Coming up on this special edition of the Hot Zone.

 

Hi everyone!  Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today…we’re going to talk about a very important tradition that gets a lot of shade thrown at it this time of year - New Year’s resolutions.  

A lot of people say it’s not worth setting goals for the new year because people never keep them.  Well if you aren’t keeping your resolutions, in my opinion that is no reason to stop setting them - it just means you need to work to find a way to get better at keeping them.  After all, getting better is the whole point of goal setting.

 

I love the week between Christmas and New Years.  It’s my time to evaluate the previous twelve months and measure myself as a human being.  Am I becoming more of the man I want to be? Or did I float through the last year and just exist?  I like to take this time to reevaluate my priorities, refocus my values. And plan.  Plan for how to be a better person by this time next year.  

 

A lot of my goal setting comes down to rooting out passivity.  If you’ve read my book Making Men, you’ll know that this is a very big part of the core precepts that define manhood.  A passive man is weak, dishonorable, useless, and unable to affect the world around him in a positive way.  And the opposite of passive is POWERFUL.  An engaged man will wield incredible power to help others, improve the world around him and ultimately reflect the glory of the God who made him.

 

So I want to be engaged in every area of life.  And like I always say, what gets measured gets managed.  So first let’s define seven key areas of life that we want to measure:

 

Those seven areas are:

 

• Spiritual
• Relational
• Physical
• Financial
• Academic
• Business
• Social

 

I take a few minutes and write a summary of how I feel I did this year in each of those areas.  I keep a sort of journal throughout the year on a spreadsheet where I track things like how many days I’m away from home, my prayer life, what I’m reading, my workouts every day, and how much content I’m producing at work.  I go back and look this over and pull out some stats on my life over the past year.  For example, in 2018 I was home 53% of the time, but was with my family (because they sometimes travel with me) a total of 319 days, So I feel pretty good about that.  I worked out 194 days last year, and achieved my goal of taking each of my non-married kids along on at least one trip.  I only finished sixteen books last year, which is a fail for me, since my goal was to read at least twenty.  But I was able to exceed the goals I set in the area of content produced for my work.  So that’s good.

 

So once I’ve gone through those seven areas and written a little summary of how I did, then I start a new goal sheet and personal progress spreadsheet for the coming year.  I then try to set clear objectives for each area.  So for example, in the area of Spiritual, I plan to finish the Old Testament, since last year I only managed to read the New Testament and about half of the old.  It probably won’t take me all year to complete, so I’ll put “Finish Old Testament, set new goal when reached.”

 

I will also set a goal for my prayer life, and consider how I can be more focused on gratitude in the coming year.

 

Under Relational I’ll set a couple of goals that will hopefully help me keep from getting my priorities out of whack - it’d be easy to just travel all the time and never see my family. But especially at this stage of my life, when I only have a couple years left with my kids in the house, I want to make it a high priority to schedule time and activities with my kids that will build those memories that last a lifetime.  Last year I got to take my youngest, Amy on a trip to Europe, and while it wasn’t cheap, I have to say that paragliding in the Swiss alps with my sweet fifteen year old daughter made it worth every penny.  

 

I also make a point to schedule a getaway with my wife once or twice a year.  It gives us something to look forward to and scheduling it now makes sure it won’t get forgotten in the craziness of our everyday life.

 

Physical goals at this point in my life have to do with function over form.  I’m not trying to look like a Greek God.  I just want to make sure everything keeps working as long as possible.  In my line of work, I need to be able to lift heavy bags and run for the chopper, so to speak, so I focus mostly on mobility and my large muscle groups.  When it comes to me personally, I’ve learned that what motivates me physically are tough but attainable short-term goals.  General objectives like “lose weight” or something don’t get me into the Gym.  So for example, on my birthday last year I decided to try and run 100 miles in 100 days.  I don’t do a lot of jogging anymore but figured I still need to be able to run five miles if the need arises.  And I accomplished that goal.  It wasn’t shooting for the moon, but just an incremental improvement that would make sure I didn’t get too busy to take care of my body.  In the month of December I decided to try and do 1000 reps of six bodyweight exercises like burpees and box jumps and pushups, six thousand reps total.  It was harder than I thought it would be, and I made it with only one day to spare.  

 

The first week of the new year I take the US Army PT test - 2 minutes of pushups, 

 

Under physical I also write down how I intend to eat - I find that when I’m on the road I often don’t have much choice and I just have to eat whatever I’m served.  But when I’m at home I try to be very regimented about my diet to keep that weight off.  I also try to fast for 24 hours at least once a month, just as a discipline exercise.  Because discipline in one area makes it easier to be disciplined in all areas.  Self-discipline is a muscle you have to keep fit.

 

My Financial goals have changed over the years.  I used to set goals for how much I want to make, but now I try to focus on how much I want to give.  I found that if I focus on generosity, the income takes care of itself.  Also in this category would be paying off debt or saving for a big purchase.

 

Under Academic, you might say well, that doesn’t apply to me because I finished school a long time ago.  But we should always keep learning, wouldn’t you agree? So whether it’s getting better at a foreign language, reading a certain number of books, or picking up a new skill, I always try to set some goals in this area.  This year, I’m going to try and learn to build iPhone apps, just for fun.

 

Business goals for me take the most time.  I own several companies, so I have to sit down with my managers and look at how last year ended up, then talk about how to make ourselves more efficient, look for places to save money, and set goals for production for the coming year.  If you aren’t a business owner, you can use this section to look for ways to save money at home - you might be surprised how much money you are actually spending on things you no longer use.  Subscriptions, insurances, etcetera.

 

And finally Social.  Take a few minutes and think about what impact you are having on the world around you.  How could you better engage with your community?  Get involved? Keep in touch with old friends?  Could you have people over for supper once a week?  Our lives are made more meaningful through the relationships we build, and so building them needs to be intentional.  

 

Once I’ve written down a couple of bullet points under each of those seven topics, I send that document to one of my most trusted friends.  That kind of accountability is the secret to actually sticking with your goals for the new year.  I also save that document on my computer and plan to look at it once a month so I don’t forget what I planned to do.  Also, since I’m setting a lot of short term - that is, 1-3 month goals, looking back at my sheet throughout the year gives me a chance to see where I need to work, and celebrate the small victories.

 

I also start a new personal progress spreadsheet and try to spend one minute every night before bed recording where I’ve been, what I’ve done, etcetera.  It makes measuring and goal setting so much easier at the end of the year.

 

So that’s my New-years’ tradition.  What’s yours?  Wherever you are, I hope 2019 finds you healthy and engaged in purposeful work that will make life better for the people around you.  That’s what the Hot Zone is all about.  I’m not just reporting the news, I’m going to places where people are hurting and letting you have a direct hand in making their lives better.  If you want to be a part of what I’m doing, head over to patreon.com/hotzone and subscribe.  It’s literally cheaper than a cup of coffee, and it's a fun way we can crowdsource loving people on their worst days.  So I hope you’ll join me!  2019 is going to be amazing. I’m Chuck Holton, and thanks for being a part of the Hot Zone.