My Personal Development Plan

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on my personal growth plan for 2013.  And while I won’t share all if it, I did want to share some of it here.  For what it’s worth, this plan isn’t comprehensive and doesn’t contain everything.  Instead, I focus on a few things that I want to start doing or intentionally do better.

My plan is: 12, 4, 100, 160, 40, 3.

I’m going to read 12 books, attend 4 conferences, listen to 100 sermons, do 160 workouts, go on 40 dates with Jennie, and accomplish 3 big goals.  Here is a little more explanation:

• I’ve already selected 10 of the 12 books and shared that list here.  I’m hoping to read slower and let the content sink in more.  Instead of reading to get finished, I want to think about the insights.  I’ll post notes and reviews on the blog.
• My plan is to attend four conferences.  One focused on work, one focused on faith, one focused on skill, and one focused on marriage.  I’ll attend the marriage one with my wife (always a good idea!) and the work one with our team. I’ve picked three of the four, and I’ll post notes and share thoughts on this blog.
• To listen to 100 sermons, I’ll go to church and listen to several podcasts.  I’ll select sermons Tim Keller, Coral Ridge Presbyterian, Matt Chandler, Ravi Zacharias, Willow Creek, and The Gospel Coalition. If you have any “must listen to” sermons, please leave a comment.  I will post notes and attempt to summarize the sermon in a sentence here on the blog.
• My health goals are 160 workout sessions.  This is probably 60 more than I’ve ever done in a year.  Most of these workouts will be elliptical sessions (while watching episodes of The West Wing) or running.  To keep me motivated to run, I’ll run a 5k, 10k, 15k and half-marathon.  I’m already signed up for the half marathon in March.  Since I hate running, this is an aggressive goal.
• My plan is to go on 40 dates with my wife.  A lot of these will be breakfast dates.  With three kids, it’s often easier for us to do stuff in the morning or during the day.  We’re always up for dinner with friends or a good comedy show.
• I have three goals.  One of them is personal, one is financial and one is family related.  I have shared them with a couple of people so they can stay in my face about them.  After all, goals that aren’t shared rarely get met.

I’ve never set focused personal goals like this before, but I’m hopeful with some focus, discipline and encouragement, I can meet them in 2013.