New Years Resolutions

It’s that time of year again, the time when people everywhere look ahead to the following 365 days and decide what it is they want to accomplish. Usually it’s to lose weight, eat better, work harder…or less; for me it’s usually nothing at all. I’ve never made New Years Resolutions before, but this year I thought I’d join in on the craze. After all, there are quite a few things about me that need improving. I thought I’d share them here because, well, what better way to ensure you accomplish your goals then to post them for the world to see? So without further ado…here are my New Years Resolutions for 2009.

1. Eat Right/Get to the Gym

Yes, it’s typical. I know. But I suppose there is a reason it’s one of the most popular resolutions: most of us eat terribly. I have survived 29 years without counting calories, drinking energy drinks like water, and eating junk food whenever I wanted to. I wonder how many more years that can last? Even worse – and something I was unaware of until recently – married men eat more. I’ve never eaten like I have this holiday season. Praise my beautiful wife for spending hours in the kitchen cooking up some delicious grub, but even she admits: we should probably watch what we’re cooking up.

I get picked on quite often when I mention my need to eat better and work out more. Usually I’m looked at oddly and then reminded of my rail thin figure. But hey, I like my figure – and I’ve notice it changing with age. Everybody was skinny once, is it wrong to want to stay this way? I never thought eating right was a big deal…but come News Years day it will be.

2. Build A Stronger Relationship With Christ

This is probably something we could all do, but if I take a personal reflection on my own relationship with Christ I know I need to work at it more. Please don’t misunderstand me: my faith in Christ is – and always will be – true and strong. But my passion for prayer and bible study – two very important elements of the Christian walk – has wavered a bit. I’m not sure why, perhaps it is because the Lord has blessed my life in amazing ways and when everything goes right we seem to forget why. The truth is we should continually pray and thank the Lord for the good times as well, something I have failed to do.

I like to compare the passion of the Christian spirit to a campfire. If you constantly attend to a campfire the likelihood it goes out (unless you don’t know what you’re doing, like me) is slim. If you keep supplying it with the necessary sticks and leaves it will continue to burn strong. However if you walk away from it for awhile, perhaps forget about it as you head to the river for a swim…it will die down. In the same way, if we feed our spirit with prayer and bible study we will remain “on fire” for the Lord, but if we forget, or fail to make time, that passion will easily die down. It’s just something I’ve noticed when I take honest look at my Christian walk and something I know I need to work on.

3. Become a Better Leader

I’ve been blessed in my Air Force career by making rank fairly fast. The good thing about this is the increased opportunities, and of course, the better pay. The bad thing (for me) is the increased responsibility for leadership. I have to admit: I’m a terrible leader. When it comes to leading a team I’m more likely to push them aside and do the task myself than lead them to victory. In the face of failure, I’m more likely to get frustrated and vent than I am to calmly react and inspire. This isn’t a good thing in any career, but in the military the effect is magnified. I’m studying right now to hopefully make the next rank this coming year and I know that if I do, the need to change my ways when it comes to leadership will be even more pressing. So why not start now? I should have started two years ago.

I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do this. It’s not like there’s a class you can take and all the sudden you’re a great leader. But I do have ideas on how to be a good leader. I’ve seen good leadership. I’ve seen bad leadership. I just need to take a good look at my actions and learn from them. I need to to map out a plan to succeed, because if I don’t – if I just let myself react – it probably won’t be as a leader, not a good one anyway.

So there you go. My 3 resolutions for the new year. They’re important to me and I know I will make a serious attempt to accomplish all three. At least until February. Isn’t that how’s it done? Like I said, I’ve never done this before so I’m unsure…