The new year has officially dawned and that means it’s time to set some new goals. I decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and am going to launch my 2012 goals video project, where I will post a new video on YouTube each Friday with an update of my progress towards achieving each of my goals. Not only will this help me to gain more experience with creating video content, it will also help me to be more accountable to achieving my goals. My 2012 goals are:
- Lose 50 Pounds
- Read 100 Books
- Write 1 Book
- Produce at least 1 YouTube video and podcast per week
- Rekindle my love of Greek & Hebrew
Let me explain briefly my reasoning behind each of these goals and the tools I will be using to track my progress and work to achieve my goals. As the year progresses I will most likely modify or change some of these tools and methods. Ongoing progress and other changes will be tracked on a “static” version of this post at BibleGeekGoneWild.com/Goals.
Goal # 1 – Lose 50 Pounds
At the ripe old age of 33, I’m up to 256 pounds. I realize that this is an unhealthy weight range for me, so I am determined to lower my weight in 2012. I want to start out with reasonable expectations on the changes I will be putting in place for diet and exercise. My plan for January is to cut my my portion sizes in half (i.e. no 2nd helpings) and do 30-45 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 days per week. The iPhone app I’ve chosen to track my diet and exercise is called “Lose It!” The short of it is that you use the app to track your food intake, exercise, and weight changes. The app determines how many calories you should eat each day based on your weight loss goals (as high as 2 pounds per week). Michael Hyatt offers a great overview of the Lose It! app on his blog: LINK.
Goal # 2 – Read 100 Books
I am a lifelong learner and voracious reader. However, I realize that as life gets busy, I forget to set aside sufficient time for reading, which energizes me and is honestly something I thoroughly enjoy. I also write book reviews at Bible Geek Gone Wild and Cross Focused Reviews, so reading is more than a pastime for me. My plan is to begin filling out a list of 100 books that I intend to read in 2012. The web site / app I’ve chosen to chronicle my progress is GoodReads. I will note my completion on GoodReads as I finish each book. You can follow the books I’m currently reading here: LINK and my growing 2012 reading list here: LINK.
Goal # 3 – Write a Book
I have had it in mind to expand my writing outside of blogging and book reviews for some time. However, this was pretty much impossible from a time perspective due to a 10-13 hour a day corporate job and my responsibilities as a father and husband shepherding my growing family. My work situation has changed significantly in 2012. I now work from home and am focusing on growing my own business (Cross Focused Media, LLC), which specializes in helping publishers and authors get the word out about their books through web and social media. Working from home allows me a lot more freedom, which includes time to do writing and research. Much of the work I’ll be doing on this goal will be cataloged and tagged using Evernote. I’m excited to bring everybody along for the ride as I chronicle my experience of building a platform, research, writing, publishing some shorter form e-books, and ultimately submitting query letters to publishers.
Goal # 4 – Produce at least 1 YouTube video and Podcast per week
As I speak with friends and acquaintance who like me work with marketing and publicity for books and media, they are all on the look out for creative new platforms to highlight their products. While the written review and article certainly aren’t going away, there is a lot of room for growth in the area of audio and video. Going forward, these mediums are going to be critical for capturing that continually growing segment of your audience who will access your content via mobile devices. In light of these changes, I feel it is important that I throw my hat in the ring. You can subscribe to my videos at YouTube.com/BibleGeekGoneWild, where I will be posting my weekly 2012 goals update videos. Stay tuned for my “Books & Theology” podcast, which I will be launching in the coming weeks.
Goal # 5 – Rekindle my Love of Greek & Hebrew
During my undergraduate days I was somewhat of a whiz at New Testament Greek and “proficient” at Old Testament Hebrew. In the years since college, these skills are out of practice. Week by week, I will be re-teaching myself Greek and Hebrew. Through an ongoing series of blog posts and videos I will talk about the books, software, and other tools I am using to re-gain this knowledge.
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4 users responded in this post
Shaun,
Wow! Admirable goals! I think if they were mine I’d be sure to fail within the first month. I applaud what you’re setting out to accomplish and wish you the best.
-AR
Andrew,
Thank you for your encouraging words. My next progress update will appear on Friday.
Lose It! is a great app. I’ve been using it since August.
Read 100 books in a year? I commend you. I love reading but could only take in 10 last year.
Steve,
I appreciate the simplicity of the Lose It! app. It does exactly what I need with minimal effort and there wasn’t a learning curve. As for books, I normally read 50+ books in a year, so I want to stretch myself a bit and shoot for 100. Only 99 more to go.
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