i talked to a guy that owned his own business towards the end of the year a few years back and he was telling me about his financial goals. he said he always met them, and it kept his business growing. so that year, my wife and i made some financial goals of our own, and you know what? we achieved them, and exceeded them. it wasn't until then that we had a real handle on our finances.

i want the same effect for 2K10 but in more than just the financial arena. i feel blessed and lucky to be doing what i'm doing at southwest. i'm in a place where there is huge potential for personal and professional growth, and wanting to take full advantage of it.

so i'm setting some goals for the year, splitting it into three - four month periods to make my progress more measurable and my lack of progress more correctable. i'm working with a mentor and my boss to keep me accountable, and guide me to goals that are achievable and practical.

i won't publish all of it, but here are a few:

PERSONAL:
reading- 2 books/4 month period - big deal for me, someone who hates reading.
physical - at least one triathlon: lake havasu marathon distance; century road race: tour de palm springs; marathon: undetermined; i'm thinking about a 1/2 ironman as well.

PROFESSIONAL:
i've split my professional goals into three categories: volunteers, church, and serving my boss well. i will be working on doing one challenging goal per category per 4 month period. each goal will have measurable success and a time limit. these are still a work in progress as just about everyone is either totally spent from Christmas, or on vacation. I'll spend the next few weeks solidifying these.

what are some of your new years goals? financial, personal, professional?

overcoming the challenges of unemployment, displacement, battling anxiety and depression could be the theme of 2009, but in the midst of one of the hardest years of my life, i also experienced some pretty amazing mountain tops.

in 2009 i became a triathlete, completing in two olympic distance triathlons. i auditioned for american idol, got my first tattoo, got my first office, and played guitar in a parade for the first time. i was the best man in my best friend’s wedding, as well as in two others. i saw phil wickham, paramore, and U2 in concert (U2 being the greatest show i've EVER seen). i met jon foreman (switchfoot) and brenton brown (wrote 'everlasting God'). my wife and i went to new york city with some friends and saw our first two broadway shows (wicked & lion king). there were also several mountain bike trips and memorable road rides that were bright spots in my week.

God truly blessed us with a full, and fruitful year. Looking back, I feel blessed for getting these experiences.

2009 was filled with difficulty, challenge, and hardship. most of this is covered in other blog posts, as i've documented our journey, but i think it's important to note a few things:

first is how lucky i am to have seen what i’ve seen. through my interview process, i witnessed and interviewed with several successful mega churches and leaders. i learned their organizational structure, what worked for them, and what didn’t work. i also made a few friends and partners in ministry along the way, even if it wasn’t the right fit for us to work together.

the next, and most important thing i gained from hardship last year is that my love for my wife grew so much having gone through what we did together. she endured so much for the sake of us, and in most cases, for the sake of me. i am without words to describe what an amazing woman she is.

i’m listening to a song called copperline by james taylor right now. it articulates growing up in an old mining town with a father who was a "regular" guy who worked the mines way back in the day. listening to it gives the kind of nostalgic feeling that makes you dig up your own memories. mine never sound as good as this song, but it makes me think of my dad. we’ve never talked about it, but i’m pretty sure he likes this song too.

these moments are nice. they keep me real. keep me from becoming something i’m not. keep me true to my past. i’m the son of an electrician and a teacher, part of a family that never had a lot, but who supported each other selflessly and still do. we never lived anywhere fancy, and we still don’t. my folks still go to the church they met in, which is still pastored by the same family.

i’m glorifying and memorializing things a bit, but that’s what this song does too… talks about things falling apart in his old mining town, but that it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t mess up the memory.

i want to remember. i want to memorialize. i want a "regular" person to rise above and do something great… or maybe i want that "regular" person to be great because they are "regular." more often than not, the extraordinary comes out of the simple, and celebrating the journey and remembering the past ends up being part of what makes something extraordinary.

i like that idea... that anyone can be something. it's good for me to remember when i'm feeling insignificant, that just being alive and on this journey is a gift worth celebrating, and that this ordinary road leads to what will (hopefully) amount to an extraordinary life.