Here are my goals for 2014. I place them in a hierarchy. You may be shocked that I place myself (mind and body) before my wife and my children. This is counter-intuitive, but I have learned (the hard way) that if I am sick/tired/depressed/frustrated/discouraged I cannot serve my wife and children. Most books about goal-making will encourage you to do the same.

I think it comes down to Mark 12:30-31:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Notice that God is first. Then notice that you must love your neighbor as yourself. This implies that care is taken for self so that you can care for others. If I eat poorly, sleep only 2 hours, gain 15 pounds of fat for the sake of helping people, I’m going to be a wreck – they probably won’t want my help!

So it’s important to care for yourself so that your care even more for your family, friends, and vocation in life. Think of it like this, if a fireman doesn’t workout and train, he can’t save lives.

Taylor’s Goals for 2014

1. God
   1. Mental Prayer daily – 20 minutes and work back to 30 minutes
   2. 3 chapters of Bible Reading 365 days per year
   3. Daily Rosary (5 decades with family)
   4. 33 Day Consecration for Aug 15
   5. Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe in February
2. Mind
   1. Fortitude is the virtue that I will work on in 2014. Do one thing I don’t want to do, every day. (If you’re a Member of NSTI, please be sure to watch the two video classes on the 7 Virtues)
   2. Cultivate the habit of positivity by saying something positive to everyone I converse with
   3. Keep a tighter calendar, and schedule one hour daily for creative tasks
3. Body
   1. Jog 5 days per week or 12 miles per week and log it in “MyFitnessPal”
   2. Keep caloric intake below 2,000 daily by charting on “MyFitnessPal”
   3. One daily bodily penance
4. Joy
   1. Say I love you 3 times per day
   2. Write her a weekly love note every Sunday
   3. Date once per week (preferably on Thursday or Friday)
5. Seven Children
   1. Do something special with each child every week (eg, read a book)
   2. Have lunch with them at school every Wednesday
   3. Travel less and limit my speaking to protect time with family
6. Work and Charity
   1. Record and Produce 52 Podcasts – one per week, every Wednesday
   2. Publish 3 blog posts per week (M,W,F) – 156 blog posts
   3. Publish 2 books in paperback and Kindle – Thomas Aquinas in 50 Pages and God’s Birthday
   4. Grow readership of taylormarshall.com from 130,000 unique monthly visitors to 260,000 by Dec 31
   5. Expand NSTI from 20 nations to 40 nations
   6. Launch certificate program for NSTI
   7. Get to know the Captains of the Troops of Saint George
   8. Continue to produce 90% of my content/writing for FREE.

There it is. Some of you may be thinking: “Dang! Why pile it on? Why not just accept what God wills?”

My answer: I straight up believe that’s not the biblical way to live. It’s not what I discover in the Proverbs.

I think we must pray every day and then pursue the goals that God reveals to us. That’s what my list is. We must prepare and plan. That’s how we turn 5 talents into 10 talents:

And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Mt 25:20-21)

God is giving you talents for 2014.

Don’t bury them!

Make a plan! Now!

I get a lot of things done and I do it with goals. It’s what Thomas Aquinas calls “teleology.” I call it “teleological living” (hey, that’s a book idea!).

Having Closure with Failed Goals

From past experience, I usually attain only 75% of my goals. I’d like to move that number up to 85% in 2014. That means that there are things on the list above that may not happen. I accept that. Still, I plan accordingly. I think keeping a better calendar will help bump that percentage up.

Part of making future goals is getting closure with past successful goals and past failed goals. It’s like doing your taxes. You look at how the year went. What you made. What you lost. You can never move forward if you don’t accept the past and then kiss it goodbye. If goals don’t get you excited, you’re doing it wrong.

More Resources for Goal Making

I’ve recently produced 2 podcasts on Making Goals. If you want my philosophy on goals, please check them out.

You’ll find them in Episode 16 (which is also about Our Lady of Guadalupe) and in Episode 18 (also about how failed goals can make us bitter and how to find closure with them).

You can subscribe to my podcast at iTunes by clicking here. The podcast has 94 positive 5 star reviews. You won’t be disappointed. Like almost everything that I write and create, it is FREE. I just want you to be blessed and grow in Christ.

[reminder]Tell me about your goals. I want to know what you hope to accomplish and how you plan for it.[/reminder]