What a long, rough climb.

Admittedly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as 2008. In retrospective, 2008 was the bottom of a dark and painful pit filled with venomous snakes, so 2009, as painful and tiring as it seemed, was a rope allowing me to climb out of my medical hell. I’m still climbing out but I can at least see the sunshine up ahead.

2009 was the year of vomit.
2009 was the year of a constantly bloody tongue.
2009 was the year of a destroyed immune system. [link]
2009 was the year of a paralyzing and insanely painful, and long shingles infection which plagues me to this day.

The shingles infection was also what gave me the motivation I needed to kick my body into gear and get healthy again. I got off the steroids. I stopped taking the chemo. I started living better—and it’s working. Slowly. But it’s working.

2009 was also:

The year I bought 50lbs of flour and learned how to make tasty pizza dough.
The year I got to watch my oldest daughter, Teagan, change from a little girl to a young lady (8 years old).
The year I witnessed my youngest daughter, Ayn, change from a baby to a little girl (2 years old).
The year that I got back into the garden after a 2 year hiatus.
The year of Howardpalooza 2009!!
The year I kicked-ass in the stock market by buying commodities early and hanging on for the ride.

My goals for the upcoming year are pretty simple:

Love more deeply.
Laugh more often.
Travel with the family.
Take better photos.
Share what I can.

I hope you’ve had a good year, learned a lot, and loved all.

See you in 2010.

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Health and the subsequent financial challenges from the past 15 months encouraged me to review my goals recently. With 2009 fast approaching, I’m taking the time to line things up to achieve them and have a more productive year.

I wasn’t going to write about my planning but in light of Chris Brogan’s recent article, How small boxes help you succeed, I thought I’d share.

In his article, Chris discusses how setting various constraints around his goals, or building small boxes, forces one to focus on the right things. I’d argue that the building of small boxes not only creates focus but encourages creativity.

Chris boils down his process of goal setting to these 4 major steps:

1. Decide what matters most. Articulate it in the largest possible way. It’s easier to drill down when you have the larger goals in mind.
2. Put constraints around HOW you’ll accomplish the goals you’ve set out to accomplish. Include accountability in the constraints.
3. Figure out what you need to help you achieve those goals. In my case, I need two other people and some more education. You’ll need something else.
4. Make your goals public in some form or another. (This helps with accountability).

My process was similar:

1. Identify major goals for 2009 (done)
2. Create a strategy to achieve them (done)
3. Detail specific tactics in various theaters to support the strategy, leaving room for flexibility (done)
4. Identify the metrics used and the reporting tools needed in order to track my progress (in progress)
5. Schedule time to periodically review those metrics (to do)
6. Ask someone I trust to participate in my accountability (to do)

Given the recent worldwide, economic and geo-political upheavals, we may want to take this one step further and have the same conversation on a national level. It’s time to rethink.

[photo credit: Ethan Bloch - My online health goals]

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