An important part of setting goals is revisiting and reevaluating them. They don’t do any good if you just set them and forget they exist.

I posted on my Fall ’08 goals previously, but here’s the short version:

• Strengthen relationship with God through regular Bible reading and prayer.
• Be a better husband.
• Finish first draft of my book by May ’09.
• Support the men’s ministry at NCC.

So, how did I do?

Well, I have been praying and reading the Bible more than in the past, but neither of these are as regular or consistent as they need to be. This will be something that makes the list of goals for 2009.

Honestly, I failed at being a better husband. If anything, I have been getting upset more easily. Correcting this will be a big focus for Spring 2009.

First draft of my book? What’s that? I don’t think I’ve written anything on it since I blogged my Fall goals. Honestly, this one is on the back burner for now, and I’m okay with that.

As for the men’s ministry, while the group that I help lead is going quite well, I have done nothing to support the other parts of the men’s ministry at NCC. (Note that this is not to say that there is anything wrong with them, just that I haven’t done anything to support them.) This is one that I am not sure will happen in early 2009. My responsibilities at NCC have shifted, and I am not sure what effect that will have on my ability to do this.

Overall, I can’t say that I’m super-happy with my accomplishments this fall. I made only moderate progress on one of my four goals. This spring needs to be a time that I increase focus on my goals. I spend a lot of time working on things, but I have a tendency to forget the more important stuff.

One of my goals for the next year is to start blogging more. I’ve decided that one of my life goals is to write a book, and if I’m going to do that, I need to practice writing. Lots of things come to me that I want to write about, but usually I either forget about them or I sit down to write and stop writing halfway through. I think of something great to say, but when I put fingers to keyboard I lose my steam. Or I realize that I need to develop my thoughts further. As I’ve mentioned before, writing takes me a long time because I am very meticulous about it, but I’m hoping that with practice I will get not only better but faster as well.

I’m thinking of a goal of one substantive (as in lengthy and well thought out) post per week, but that may be more than I can do. So let’s leave it for now at one post (kinda like this one) a week, with one substantive post per month.