Posted by Chris on Jan 2, 2012 in
Life 
The New Year is upon us, and it’s now to late to determine what you will do to make it your best year yet. This year, I’m choosing themes to help me understand my goals for the year. 2012 is to be the year of Consistency, Margin and Risk.
CONSISTENCY
Spiritual Life
Three practices I’m hoping to develop consistency in are Bible reading, scripture memorization and writing prayer lettters to God.
Fitness
My goal is to work out three times in week. This will include Crossfit, running and bike riding. I also hope to drop from my current weight of 180.5 lbs to my ideal weight on 165 in the next three months.
Relationships
My best relationships are the ones that I have built a regular time to spend together. I hope to expand this to having dinner once a week with friends and roommates. I am also seeking out discipling relationships, both those I can disciple and others to disciple me.
Creativity
Five days a week, I will write a minimum of 200 words that is purely creative, neither school or work related.
Education
I will build in regular daily time for graduate school classes as well as my 2012 reading list.
MARGIN
In 2012 I hope to grow in my practice of margin with time and finances. In order to maintain margin, I plan to practice a true weekly sabbath, with no school or work allowed. I will also take two weeks of vacation. Financially, this means reestablishing, and sticking to a strict budget and creating an emergency account.
RISK
The last few years of my life have been about survival and recovery. This year I hope grow beyond that into Risk. A mentor of mine defined me as a strange mix of adventurous and risk averse. It’s sad but true. Here’s a few risks I want to conquer this year.
Vocation
In the next few months, I have plans to take concrete steps toward a new vocation. I currently have a comfortable job and a predictable way of life. This will be quite the risk.
New Blog
I’m experimenting with at least one new blog, seeing if I can focus my content into something that will get more attention and maybe even produce some revenue.
Relationships
I’ve “taken myself off the market” for the last few months for personal reasons. However, I want to take more risks this year when it comes to romantic relationships. This means having awkward conversations I’ve avoided, seeking out new ways of meeting people, and being more honest than I might usually be.
Fitness
I want to conquer something physical as well. I’m not sure of details yet, but I’m thinking it will either be a Century (100 mile ride) or a half marathon.
How I’m Tracking My Goals
Perhaps the biggest reason we don’t achieve our goals is that we’ve never stated them. The second is that we don’t try to track them. I’ve spent some time over the last few days creating quite the spreadsheet, listing each thing that I want to do weekly and monthly. I hope to end my day everyday by visiting this spreadsheet, and having cool graphs showing how I’ve succeeded.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 31, 2011 in
Life 2011 has been a rough year for a lot of people I know. For me there was disappointments at work, life without a car, some personal issues, and the all time hottest summer in Austin. I am not sad to see 2011 go.
However, if I really take stock, I remember some great things have happened this year. For instance:
- Spent two weeks in Colorado with my MAGL cohort. Not only was this a fantastic learning experience, but I got to see how God is at work throughout the world, and made some great friends.
- Rode my bike. A lot.
- Read some great books. My favorite of the year.
- Threw an epic triple birthday party with the roommates.
- Grew an amazing beard.
- Spoke twice at Vox Veniae. The staff there always pours a lot in to us volunteers.
- Got to know the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ecclesia Network.
Whether you are sad to see 2011 go, or happy to get on to 2012, try to remember the best of 2011, and be grateful.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 30, 2011 in
Life Contrary to popular belief 2012 does not have to be the end of the world. Actually, it can be your best year yet. Here’s five steps I’m taking, and I hope you will join me.
- Imagine Who You Want to be in 2013
You’ll never reach a destination if you don’t choose one. What kind of person do you want to be? Decide that, and everything else will fall in to place.
- Set Clear Goals
The problem with New Years Resolutions is that they are usually broad sweeping proclamations. Often they focus on getting rid of vices. They are seldom accompanied by a specific plan. A good goal is “SMART”, or:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
To make 2012 the best year yet, make some SMART goals.
- Clear out your Bucket List
What is is you’ve always said you wanted to do? Why wait? Determine what really is on your bucket list, and make 2012 the year to get started on it.
- Focus on Relationships
It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks, only to realize that you no longer pray, you feel estranged from friends or family, or you are just lonely. Relationships are the both the fuel that keeps you moving and the reward for your hard work. Make them your focus.
- Track EVERYTHING.
Believe it or not, almost everything in this life is quantifiable. Not sure how you are going to pay the bills? Keep a budget. Want to loose weight? Track what you eat. Want better relationships? Block out time with people. Want to grow spirituality? Keep a record or your spiritual and discipling experiences. The very act of tracking something allows you see your progress, see how you need to improve, and testifies to how you’ve grown.
In January, I’ll let you in on my plan 2012. I’m excited to hear yours. If you have any SMART goals for 2012, share them here.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 27, 2011 in
Life Every year, I try to plan ahead what I’m going to read. My goal is to conquer a minimum of 40 books every year. I have no doubt that the graduate school will provide at least half of that. So I’m looking for about 20 books to that will help define 2012.
Here’s some categories:
Classics
The kind that you always feel like you should have read, and are free on a Kindle.
Discernment/Vocation
One goal I have for 2012 is about taking decisive steps towards growing in my vocation. Anything you may have on this would be great.
Biography/Memoir
The only thing better than learning from experience is learning from other peoples experience. I’m looking for stories of leaders, missionaries and interesting people.
Mindless Fiction
You can’t be in school all the time. I’m looking for a few books to rest my mind on weekends and in between classes.
Your Favorites
What reads have had the most affect on you? I’d love to share in that with you.
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Posted by Chris on Dec 26, 2011 in
Life 
http://www.in5d.com/images/2012mckenna.jpg
What will 2012 be all about? It’s a more important question than you might think.
As I approached 2010, I had this epiphany that I my year was not going to be about accomplishing my great life goals. Instead, I decided to focus on a few small things that I knew I would be able to well. So I aimed for those dreams that you never really get around to, the “bucket list” kind of things. I set twelve goals, and used this blog as a means for enforcing accountability. I did things like run a marathon and pay off all of my debt. It was a very difficult year, but I’m proud of it.
For some reason, I didn’t approach 2011 with the same attitude. Maybe I was just tired. Maybe I felt like I had accomplished enough and didn’t need to try. Maybe I was more concerned about maintenance than accomplishment. 2011 was mainly about riding my bicycle and doing well in graduate school and surviving the summer heat. The end result was a good year, but not one I look back with the same kind of pride I have about 2010.
Perhaps the difference is that early on I decided what 2010 was going to be about. I made some goals, and a plan to accomplish them. The end result was that I did some cool things, specific, that I can point to.
I want to have more years like that. I want you to as well.
So now is the time to decide: What will 2012 be all about?
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Tags: 2012
The New Year is upon us, and it’s now to late to determine what you will do to make it your best year yet. This year, I’m choosing themes to help me understand my goals for the year. 2012 is to be the year of Consistency, Margin and Risk.
