Of the main goals I have for 2012, the first 2 are in running. Both of these take place later in the year as they are two races. While I haven't exactly failed in this goal, since I haven't had a chance to run them yet, I haven't exactly started training for them yet. I could come up with excuses, such as the fact that I was just now able to get new shoes, but the fact is that I've just been unable to make any training work out right now. I'm still getting in basic shape to run.
The next 2 goals to accomplish are for writing. In 2012, I want to have a contract with a publisher, not self-published, and that is an ongoing process. I have an invitation from the publisher that published Feeding the Dragon to submit a few chapters I've written for a sci-fi book. I hope to submit them once my current semester is done. I have to focus on that right now.
Along with being published is the desire to increase my blog traffic to a total of 7000 hits. To hit that goal, I need 584 hits a month. In January, I had 540. While that is short of my goal, it is unfortunately short of any benchmark throughout my blogging career. I had over 700 hits in January 2010 and 2011. Not too sure what it means yet. We'll see. If I keep getting around 540 a month, that will give me just shy of 6500, which is still a big uptick from previous years. As an aside, both of my blogs together generated the necessary hits, with a total of 602 hits.
After those 2 goals were made, I went back a few days into January and wrote about 2 more. One was to get a mentor. That's still in progress too. I do take things from several other more experienced Chief Petty Officers I have come to know, but as far as finding a specific mentor, I don't have one at this time. It's apparently a little different at this stage of the game than it was as a First Class Petty Officer.
The other goal was to read the Bible all the way through this year, and of all of my goals, I'm closest to making this one stick. I'm actually on track, although not ahead of schedule. Honestly, I'll take it. I've never tracked my goals by the month before, so this has been a fairly painful reality for me. I still have a long way to go!
5 comments:
What are your running goals?
Post your Bible reading schedule. We could read with you. Make point of telling us that you kept up. The embarrassment of failing may keep you on track. Make a short comment on the passage. (Even if just to say, "I found v.x stimulating/intriguing/confusing/helpful, etc). This will make your reading more than just perfunctory and will stimulate comments. Comments increase readership. I know.
Where does your rapture paper fit in your schedule?
Post a chapter of your tentative book. Mark it copyrighted to you to allay any fears of theft.
My running goals, at the more macro level, are to run two main races this year, both of which are in late summer. As I get closer to those races, I'll decide what I want from those races.
I will start posting my schedule, as well as any thoughts I have. I will at least post as I have thoughts. We'll see how it works.
As to my rapture research, I have started a little bit of the process to publish it through the same folks that published my memoir. I'm not too worried about copyright stuff. I have plenty of evidence that says I wrote this (several copies saved as backups on my computer). I'll look into the matter.
Thank you for your support. I do appreciate it.
It's a great idea to periodically reflect on your goals. This helps you stick with them, even if you have to admit that you aren't always on par with them. Remember, part of the process of reflection is admitting failure when it happens, but not letting that get you down. What plan of action do you have for getting back on track?
I thought you also had a losing weight goal, or did I misinterpret a previous blog post or two?
I like the idea of posting samples of your book ideas, as well as your thoughts/reflections on your Bible readings. After all, the point of doing a reading is not just to read. It's to gain some insight from the passage that you have not yet received. That should be posted. Even if someone disagrees with your thoughts, that's fine. That's the beauty of reflection and interpretation.
I like reading your blog. Maybe I can provide a few extra hundred hits if needed? :)
Nate,
The fact is that I do hope to lose weight, but I'm a realist. My only goal there is to pass my weigh-ins for physical readiness tests, of which I have two this year. I need that and the rest doesn't matter.
You and my Boilt Frog friend have provided an immense pick-me-up since you've both started really reading the blog. Thank you for that, and yes, the few hundred extra hits is nice. Buy something from my advertisers periodically if you feel up to it as well!
Realism is what you make it. I think you're selling yourself short of what you have the potential to achieve. Example: just last year, I would have said that, realistically, I could not run a half marathon. I still might not be able to, but I'm still going to attempt it. Why? Because I'm changing my defition of reality. You can, too, and you have plenty of people around and on the internet to help you.
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