Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Goals 2006

Posted: 1/06/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Goals 2006

By Berry D. Simpson

Well it’s no secret: I’m a goal-setter, a box-checker and a list-maker. I love making to-do lists and checking them twice, and I make a list of goals every year.

It’s not that I’m the Goal Nazi or anything like that. I’m not really that disciplined a guy. In fact, I am a gentle goal-setter. I tend to set goals I think I have a solid chance to achieve. If I stretch, it is in small moves only. I believe in lifelong incremental improvements. I want to do things that are sustainable and repeatable. Small changes over time add up to new habits and eventually to new ways of living.

Most of my goals are not new; they’re the same ones I’ve had year after year for years. Generally, I like to do whatever it is I’m already doing. Being a creature of momentum, I’ll continue moving in the same direction, doing the same things as long as I can.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here are a few of my goals for 2006:

• Pre-emptive medical care and intervention. I’ve discovered that the typical male treatment method of “walking it off” no longer works for me. In fact, that’s why I’m limping nowadays. I need to be more grown up about my own medical care.

• Drink more coffee. A recent article in US News & World Report said coffee is much healthier than we’ve been led to believe. I drink a cup or two in the mornings at my office, but I seldom make coffee at home. I just don’t want to go to the trouble to make coffee for only myself (Cyndi isn’t old enough to drink coffee), but I am happier whenever I do. I drink decaf coffee (to protect my blood pressure) with no additives—no sugar, no milk, no cream, no candy, no ice cream.

• Focus my reading. I will read a lot of books as usual, but I’d like to have more focus in what I read. Unfortunately, I don’t have a plan yet.

• Run farther. One of my goals last year was to enter an ultramarathon—a 50-mile race—before I turned 50 years old this June. But my left knee fell apart, putting that particular goal on hold. I hope to resurrect it.

• Backpack. I want to make at least two overnight backpacking trips into the Guadalupes, the first one in February. This is heart medicine for me. I’d like to do more, in new adventurous places, but this is all my imagination can handle so far.

• Weight training. I intend to work out with weights at least twice a week to prevent more goal-crippling injuries.

• Push my body weight down to at least 180 before June. If I can’t do this now, I may never get it done.

• Submit more essays for publication. I’ve given up on this for too long, and it is time to resurrect the dream.

• Buy a bigger TV, maybe even an HDTV, so we won’t have to squint while watching movies. (Cyndi reminded me that we bought our current TV back when our adult children were babies.)

• Government. I hope to have at least one more campaign in my future for local political office.

So you may be asking, “Why is goal-setting important? Why should we care about it?”

I’m not sure goal-setting is so important, but the way in which we live our lives is very important. Ephesians 5:15-16 says: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” In this postmodern 21st century, it matters more than ever that our lives honor God in every way.

So what are your goals for 2006? Here are a few suggestions you might consider:

• Read the Bible through, cover to cover.

• Read at least one book by Phillip Yancey (What’s So Amazing About Grace, The Jesus I Never Knew), C. S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, Surprised By Joy) and John Eldredge (Sacred Romance, Journey of Desire, Wild At Heart, Waking The Dead, Captivating).

• Memorize one Bible verse per month.

• Get a journal and spend ten minutes every day writing your thoughts

• Buy a CD of music that shaped your life when you were a teenager, and listen to it at full volume while driving around town.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.