2007 – A Quick Review
I know this is my first blog post in a very long time, but what can I say? I’ve been busy! Here’s a quick recap of the highlights: 2007 was the year that…
- We searched for, bought, and moved into our first house (in June).
- I purchased an Xbox 360 (and a Wii) and proceeded to play Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 back-to-back.
- We got a new puppy, named Max.
- I took and passed Greek II, Greek Exegesis, Church & Ministry, Principles of Bible Study, Old Testament I, Old Testament II, Systematic Theology I.
- We traveled to Vancouver, BC for the International Leadership Association’s 9th Annual Conference.
So it’s no surprise that by the time Christmas break rolled around, I was pretty tired! My wife and I took the week off before Christmas break at the school, so we had a super-extended time of rest and relaxation. We were off from December 15 – January 1 and it was flipping awesome! We did absolutely nothing but sleep, watch tv, and read. And I spent many a late night playing Halo 3 on the Xbox of course!
It was nice to take a break and slow down at the end of what had been a very hectic year. I was able to reflect a bit and think about getting a grip on the coming year before another year slipped away from me. I am convinced that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and I certainly don’t want to fail at life. Right before the break, I had lunch with an acquaintance and we discussed life goals. He shared with me what he calls “The 7 Key Areas of Life,” which are:
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Spiritual: your values, morals, faith, worldview, spirituality
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Physical: your health, physical fitness, longevity
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Intellectual: knowledge, well-roundedness, wisdom
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Vocational: your job, career, new skill sets to be acquired
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Relational: relationships with family, friends, acquaintances
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Financial: savings, investments, desired standard of living, giving to others
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Personal: personal dreams and goals, wishes, things to do before I die
There’s no better way of thinking through these areas than through the use of mind mapping software. I found Freemind, which is free (as in free speech, not as in free beer), open source software. I also discovered Mindmeister.com, which enables you to create, store, and share your mind maps online! A mind map “is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.”
I first heard about mind mapping in David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, but it recently came up again as I tried to figure out a way to brainstorm, create and set goals, specifically regarding my writing (I have a few screenplay writing projects that have been sitting on the back-burner for years!).
I’m hoping 2008 will be the year that I finally get something written (and sold!). Maybe it will also be the year I finally get back to normal weight? We’ll see…
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