Goals

In what is going to be a first for me, I will cross over into the new year aboard an airplane, albeit one headed homeward. It certainly is a far cry from how 2011 started, but perhaps this unconventional start will afford me the chance to pause and ponder a few days early, and agree on 12 things for 2012 all aligned with my seven priorities for life. Here goes: Develop a daily practice of meditation, prayer and journaling: Taking time out to examine life, capture things as they happen and improve daily has to be a key component of my daily routine going forward. The seven priorities are great on paper, but unless progress on the continuum towards achieving them is measured and recorded, I suspect the end of the year will come, and I will still be where I am as of today, stuck in a rut. Target: 4 of 5 days a week of reading the identified text in the Our Daily Bread app. Lose 20kg: I am overweight – no amount of faffing around can gloss over that simple fact. I tried for a month, before slipping back into my my routine of Nandos, large potions and baguettes at work. Losing weight has to be a focus in 2012, the target is to lose 20kg for a return to c. 80kg weight and a healthy BMI. Target: Walk to and from work daily, take 2 days in the week to eat only fruits (seedless grapes, bananas and apples only), stay off coffee, eat half of what I would normally eat. Read (and review) 25 books in 2012. Call parents and siblings once a week: Quick phone call to Dad/Mum every two weeks; hopefully I can catch the siblings weekly for a quick chat. Save £1,000 a month: The YE spend data for 2011 was abysmal. For a net (ex. taxes) increase in pay of c. 600 pounds, I ended up doubling my expenditure versus 2010. Some of it was unavoidable – the house move in late 2010, increased bills and rents hit for the full year 2011 versus the one quarter in 2010, but large swathes of cash remained unaccounted for. The plan is to move 1,000 each month from my net pay prior to any expenses coming through, as well as refuse to get involved in providing soft loans to the lads. Get chartered engineer status: I didn’t make a lot of progress professionally in 2011. There were no conferences attended or certifications gained. This is a focus area for 2012 – I am looking to get at least one of either the C.Eng designation or complete my NACE certifications before YE 2012. Get a driver’s license: I have had a provisional drivers license for over a year already. The focus in 2012 will be to use the 1st quarter to write and pass the theory test, and the summer months to practice for and pass the practical test for a full drivers’ license. Given my traumatic car crash from 2008, and the fact that I haven ‘t driven since then, I suspect this will not be a trivial pursuit. Resolve long term settlement options: 2012 will be crucial for me as I decide where I will lay down my long term routes. TheBZ would be a good place, but the increasingly louder anti-immigrant rhetoric is a niggling issue at the bottom of my mind. Canada seems to be a longer term option – one that I will explore to a greater extent in 2012. Resolve my dating and meeting issues: I am at a stage where I can truly say that I have let got of my EJ issues. Having said that there remain pockets of memories I need to ditch finally. The target through 2012 is to bring myself to the place where I can truly say I have forgotten and moved on, a position where I am free in my head to meet and date again. 2012 in this regards has to be the year of de-cluttering. Complete FAN integration: Given my constant moaning about how mind numbingly boring the little city I live in is, that I am not taking advantage of what opportunities there are to meet people is a shame. Through 2012, the intention is to reconnect with the Youth and Singles group at church once a month. Re-engage with FOL service: My service in the group I work with in church was shocking in 2011. Granted, part of it was a busier, less controlled work load, but my worldview issues also contributed in no small measure. The plan in 2012 is to reconnect and reengage with the group, and be useful once again. Find a mentor: I’m looking to get more intentionality in life, a mentor would definitely help for the accountability bits here.

Yours truly spent the weekend; the part not spent on Facebook, Twitter or playing Football Manager that is, thinking about all the things I need to sort out in the next phase of life for my aging self! Here are the Seven things I have to get done, in no particular order, before Heaven beckons…. Marry the akara making Halle berry/ Gordon Ramsay/ Martha Stewart superwoman of my dreams! Write the best-selling collection of poems and or the book that gets me on the cover of TIME magazine and rave reviews as the new Shakespeare (speaking at TED would be a great alternative!) Swivel in my chair and dictate global Pipeline Integrity Policy from my corner office at Corporate HQ on 800 Bell street for at least 20 years.. Walk a tight-rope stretched taut over the Niagara falls (or if my keg prevents me, pretend to!) Get to retire to my yacht in the Caribbean and watch the sun set for at least another 20 years! Make a one time donation of at least ten million dollars to World Vision, Compassion, or preferably Stepping Stones Nigeria. Last and not the least, get some legit toe-curling, head twisting, mind boggling you-know-what.. Daaaayuuum…. Its a Sunday.. Enough of the day dreams - I’m off to Church!

I identified a few key things that I need to work on in my life to improve on myself majorly. The prioritized list I will be working off is below: Develop a reading schedule: financial, self motivation, self esteem, writing and career related books. Schedule times for laptop gaming, internet and other non essential activites. Build a plan for improving my life in the categories of Al Mohler’s excellent piece - The Marks of Real Manhood. Develop a plan for regular bible study and prayer, determine a time and stick to it Document my peculiar sin vulnerabilities: identify the triggers and fight for the life of me! Identify two mentors - one in the workplace and one for my personal life. Set up weekly teleconferences or meetings as appropriate. De-clutter my life. Reassess all my people connections and downsize to a manageable number. Complete my MSc, identify critical modules I will require in the work place and read up on them before I get to resume work. Get a complete physical exam done. Identify any potential health vulnerabilities and ensure they are in line for focused attention. Maintain my weight - can’t afford to increase health risk levels by bulking up. Develop mechanisms for tracking and assessing need before expenditure. Consider adding a need assessment module to my excel tracking sheet. Read up on investment opportunities in Nigeria. Develop mechanisms for assessing investments and prioritizing them for action. Identify worthy causes and get plugged into a couple. Hopefully, I will be able to state categorically at the end of the year that I have worked through the list.. I then shall measure effectiveness and decide which new directions I need to chase!