This is not a New Year’s resolution. New Year’s resolutions are a joke. What are not a joke are specific, measurable goals that have a set completion date. And that is what this is.
Been listening a lot lately to this guy Dave Ramsey. Dave is a radio talk show guy (of course I listen on podcast, not radio, but that’s a different subject) who talks to people about personal finance, debt help, etc. He’s really pretty cool, but that is also a topic for a different day (you can check it all out at www.daveramsey.com). What is relevant is Dave’s saying that “You must live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else”.
I have been EXTREMELY lucky over the past two years. Among other things I have gotten a new truck, visited 11 foreign countries, eaten at every category of amazing restaurant we have in the US, and on and on and on. The facts of the matter, I live better than John D. Rockefellar did. Seriously, think about it, we do live better than Rockefellar. But there are some side effects… I owe more money on my house still than I should, I weigh more than I should, I constantly put off things I’ve been meaning to accomplish for several years, etc.
Well, this is crap… time for some discipline. I have decided that I want to spend the first 12 weeks of 2007 living like no one else, with a couple of specific goals in mind, and I am using the readers of this blog as a way to hold myself accountable for those goals.
GOAL 1: I will lose 25 lbs. (go from 200 to 175) during these 12 weeks. This requires losing 2 lbs per week, which is not easy. I should be able to achieve this by cutting my daily diet by 700 calories and doing 6 600 calorie workouts per week. I will be tracking my progress using Traineo.com. Need a couple of volunteers to be my motivators who will be people who receive periodic emails about my progress, but anyone can see my progress by going to http://dzvette53.traineo.com.
GOAL 2: I will reduce the debt on my house to a specific number that I am not going to post on the internet, but it is a key barrier that when I break it, paying off my house will seem like a real possibility. I must hit this number by the end of the 12 weeks. I am going to do this by spending essentially NO money outside of my written budget for these 12 weeks. And I mean it on this one. If you want to go out to dinner, don’t invite me for the next 12 weeks unless you don’t mind paying. These $1000+ Visa bills at the end of each month are bullshit… won’t happen for the next 12 weeks. No eating out, no entertainment expenses, nothing. Seriously, we all waste a lot of money, please don’t ask me to be involved for the next 12 weeks.
GOAL 3: I am going to pass 2 sections of the CPA Exam at the end of February. I will accomplish this by studying over the next 2 months. I have to make time to study or this goal won’t be achieved. This is tough one, will certainly need some discipline here.
GOAL 4: I am going to finish my Mandarin foreign language lessons I have been working on, on and off for the last year with no real progress. Again, just have to make the time.
There will be some side effects of these goals including the following: no drinking for 12 weeks, no soda pop for 12 weeks, and no eating out for 12 weeks.
So, that’s it. Time to get back on track in my personal life a bit. This period of time will begin Jan 1. and go through March 26. I don’t know why as culture we have determined that we should never have to sacrifice, but I am going to for awhile. I think its healthy and I’m actually excited about it. There will be one major EXCEPTION. I am going to Vegas at the very beginning of February, but I have already obtained the plane ticket, paid for the hotel, and saved up the money for this. This will be the one bit of high life during the 12 weeks.
This is a small step, but I have no doubt it is going to be key helping me later live like no one else. See you in 12 weeks… 25 lbs lighter, thousands of dollars richer, and halfway to being a CPA.
