Plans

Three main achievements will make 2015 a ‘perfect’ year, to all intents and purposes, viz: Spiritual growth as evidenced by a regular routine of bible study and prayer A new Technical M&C role at an oil and gas operator Getting married The wider goals and targets I’m looking to achieve for the year though, aligned with my personal SWOT analysis and the refocused Life Plan are: Spiritual Achieve 80% Daily Bible Reading and Prayer - explore the Lectio Divina process Average 6 (of 8) church days per month Attend FOL Morning Prayers twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) – 80% target Physical and Health Get fitter – YE target is 15% body fat, weight under 80kg Get blood pressure below 140/90 consistently (explore potassium replacement/ supplements as a quantified self project) Average 6 hours of sleep/day >80% of the time Use the gym 3 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) – target 80% Track sodium and attempt to bring within recommended limits Social and People: Track B contact time (Target > 1 hour per day); track completions in Habit List Host a hangout for my 2015 birthday (Aberdeen) Drag my London Blogger peeps today for a meal over summer 2015 (CaramelD, Simeon, NoLimit, ToniAnni, Aloted, MizKeji) Maintain weekly phone calls home to Dad Career & Work Become staff M&C Engineer at an O&G Operator; Attend monthly industry working group meetings – target 80% of months with a meeting (one of ICorr, IMarEST or AFBE) – track in Habit List Deliver Work Projects TI Anomaly Risk Review TI Vibration Fatigue Strategy and Implementation ECE Project Procedure Updates - Integrity Risk Screening (PoF Guidance, DAF Risk Assessment) MU Integrity Management - Inspections and Topside Pressure System Integrity Financial: Save 30% of net earnings, Reduce total spend; 2015 YE target of £35k Grow net worth by 50% (total - investments + savings + pension growth,+ assets, etc) Rebalance net worth and elements; buy a house, build ISA back up to 10k, invest excess in index funds Mental and Personal Development: Deliver on a 25 book reading plan (Aim to cover Christian Classics, Literary Classics, Popular Fiction, Current Christian & Non-fiction with 5 each per category) Blog here at archive.rustgeek.me at least once a week (Plan is to post something >500 words every Tuesday) Learn to write VBA for Excel and Macros Learn to play a musical instrument - need to decide between the acoustic guitar and the saxophone, target is to present something at eXpressions 2015) Attend Structural Integrity course at Imperial College Causes & Charity: Catch up on my first fruit offering from pay rise in Q1 2013 (as a one time gift if possible at the end of February) Write to Moises and RosieMarie twice each during the year General, Projects and Bucket List Items Complete a modified Whole30 or Ketogenic Diet for an entire month Walk or run 5 miles daily for a month Read 5 Booker Prize Winners (Bucket List) Attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Watch the Ball drop in New York’s Time Square

Baselines Weight - 87kg, 26.1% body fat (Tanita Body Composition Monitor) Waist - 88cm, Hips - 108cm, The Plan Exercise every day - Run (Gym or outdoors) on alternate days, body strength straining at home on other days; utilise the fitnut plan from work. Eat well - Resetting the diet to same time last year - no grains, rice or gluten containing food; meat, nuts and vegetables primarily

Day 18 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Find Your N.U.T.s --- Your Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms that is. For me these are inextricably linked to the Core Values from Day 1- Faith, Family, Continuous Improvement, Mentoring and Health. Soooo, here goes:order: Living out a real world faith - continuously seeking ways to translate the undergirding principles of love and consideration for others, and social justice - will be the single most important thing that will guide my relationships with others; I will honour my daily spiritual practice and journaling; My family, and adequately fulfilling the various roles I play in it - Son,Brother, (future) Husband and Father - will always take precedence over other considerations; I will schedule regular (monthly at least) time to go through plan-do-review cycles for each of my core connections and the roles I play in them - friends and family, professional and within the wider civil/social context; I will take care of my body - eating well and exercising.

When I first came here, it was not love at first sight. There was no instant click, no immediate sense of belonging; only a sense of tentativeness.The call that set it all off had come out of the blue one Tuesday afternoon, from a Manager I didn’t work for directly. My first response was to email the guy I actually did work for - he took a day and a half to get back to me - by which time the moving train had gathered speed. After less than three months back at the mother lode, following a six month stint sequestered in a client office, I was on the move again. ...

Distilled into three main components: Be the best husband, father, brother, son and friend I can be; Excel in (Corrosion, Materials and Welding) Engineering; Live in, and contribute to life in, a great church and a great city. Not quite as simple as it sounds, but tiny first steps are all that count, no?

Develop a daily practice of meditation, prayer and journaling Complete 40 consecutive days of prayer Make morning prayer meetings @ FOL three times a week (M, W, F) Weigh 80kg Gym thrice a week (M,W, S) Improve eating habits - cut down on eba, soup and rice Use myfitnesspal.com as food journal Save 30% of Net earnings Min of £1k per month Target 12k extra saved this year Improve Professionally, get Chartered engineer status Receive feedback on IMarEST CEng application ASME Level 2 Plant Inspector/ NACE Snr Corrosion Technologist certification Register for a PhD in corrosion, materials and or welding (Newcastle/ Manchester/Cranfield) Get a driver’s license: Pass theory test, Get a driving teacher on retainer Get 20 hours practice in Get full driver’s license Resolve long term settlement options Base plan - Remain in Aberdeen + progress professional development opportunities(see #4 above) Only seek to leave Aberdeen if US/ Canada/Australia opportunities open up Resolve my dating conundrums; target being in a stable committed relationship by YE 2013: Clear all people I’m currently stuck in the friend zone with, gain clarity (Mo, Fola, Ese etc Gain knowledge about Dating and Relationships the Godly way; Prayerfully pursue the woman God has prepared. Find a spiritual mentor Take 2 main trips Nigeria US (Depending on where I am with Project M by Q3 2013) Oklahoma ? Houston Spain or Portugal Complete a writing project - the3six5N Buy a house (2 bed) Requirements: 2 bed room flat, city centre apartment, parking space, etc tba

A few days ago, mid way through a telephone conversation with one of the lads I used to work with in my UX5 days, the delectable lass who joined a few months before I was due to leave overheard our conversation and asked to speak with me. Even back then, in those early days of 2008, I was the bloke with a 5 year rolling plan complete with milestones, leading and lagging indicators and a roadmap. Her question had an air of inevitability to it; it had to do with the current iteration of the plan. Sadly, I could not give her the reassurances she was seeking – namely that the plan was still on track, and that an invite – amongst other things – would be winging it’s way to her Nigerian post box in the not too distant future. ...

I have spent the last few days offsite attending the SPE’s Oilfield Corrosion Conference in Aberdeen. When the email invite first came through, I knew I had to be part of it. The one main gripe I have about my job is the lack of real technical content in it on an ongoing basis. I tend to get sucked into the fire fighting, reactive mode that prevents me from applying my specialist Corrosion & Materials engineering knowledge. ...

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.

I spent the weekend going through Michael Hyatt’s cute little e-book Creating Your Personal Life Plan. In no particular order, below are the things I feel need to be priorities going forward: God: World-view, faith, God and how these interact in defining a moral compass for me is a crucial part of my developing fully into the sort of bloke I need to become. It is time for me to start engaging my various proclivities which are preventing me from gaining the clarity of thought and direction that I need. Health: Whilst I have not had any major health scares, truth is I am overweight by some. A few years ago, I had blood pressures that were way out of the ‘safe’ and ’normal’ zone [Thankfully, I passed my last offshore medical in flying colours]. Keeping fit, counting calories and staying health has to be one of my priorities going forward. Family: Whilst I remain single at the moment, deep in my heart is a longing to meet someone, find love and raise a family together. Two dimensions stand out here - finding the one and being the sort of bloke she’d want to be with. These both have to be priorities going forward - engaging the ‘knowledgable others’ in my circle and being open enough to solicit, accept and implement honest feedback where it is offered on areas where personal improvement is required. Personal Development: Learning continuously, and always reviewing where I am versus where I should be has to be a key component of my life. Big things are expected of me, and getting those done depends on continuously improving and finding the over arching knowledge and foresight required to grow into those big roles. This will have two facets: Career, in which I develop into a globally recognised Corrosion/Materials/Integrity Engineer, and personally where I progress and develop my public speaking, and writing skills. Friends: Given the large number of acquaintances I have, the few real friends I have (and I would count O & I as the two stand out ones at the moment) who time and time again have proven they are worth their weight in gold, and more, deserve some reciprocal attention. They are going to have to be priorities going forward - they’ve earned it! Finances: Finances are a key part of fulfilling the responsibilities that I will have as a Father, Husband, Son and social justice campaigner. Learning how to manage and grow my money is a critical part of the me I will become. Service: One more priority is taking all the gifts and blessings that I have been given and pouring them all out in service to others. The details of this are not exactly clear at the moment - especially considering the significant evolution my world view is going through at the moment - but finding the time and the place to make a difference for others ’less blessed’ as to be a priority going forward.