2010 resolutions – personal

This section of resolutions is kind of a catch-all for everything that’s not physical or professional. There was one resolution in this section last year that I felt was huge (saving up for a down payment on a house) and I’m hoping to repeat that effort again this year. These are just general improvements that I would like to see happen.

1. save up for a new (used) car
2. get braces
3. improve conversational skills
4. read New Testament
5. start doing things early in the morning again

As you can see, the first goal on the list is the one that is similar to the goal last year of saving up enough for a down payment on a house. However, this one will be more difficult than the house down payment was just because our mortgage is much more than our rent was last year. However, I’m very motivated to pay cash for our next car. Since both of our cars have over 100,000 miles this is a very important goal to hit this year.

When I was in high school I had braces for about 7 months and had straight teeth for the first time in my life. When I was done with the braces I had a permanent retainer put in. As it turned out, this retainer has really caused quite a bit of harm. It came undone from one of my teeth and has been causing general confusion ever since. I want to get this corrected again. Unfortunately this one will slow down progress on the 1st resolution, but that’s something I’m willing to live with.

I really want to improve my ability to carry out a meaningful conversation. I tend to shy away from conversation, especially around people that I don’t know very well, and this just isn’t a good habit. It’s hard to measure improvement in this area, but I’m going to try to find a book or two on the subject and make a concerted effort to get better.

I did poorly in my Bible reading goal last year, so I figured I should make it a little easier this year to ensure that I complete it. I think I got a little overwhelmed last year with all of the reading that I was trying to do and it burned me out. As a result I’m going to take a slightly different approach in 2010.

Lastly, I just want to start doing things in the morning again. I used to play basketball a couple of times a week at 6AM and, while training for the half-marathon, I would run with a group most mornings at 5:30AM. Also, there was a men’s bible study breakfast on Fridays at 6:30 that I used to go to. Basically, I just want to start doing these things again. It feels so much better to get up and around before work in the morning.