“People overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year.”

What follows are my “themes” for goals with some initial projections at what I want to improve on. I plan on taking intervals of time and setting a “sprint” goal to double-down on one specific thing for, say, 2 weeks or 30 days, while keeping the broader goals in mind.

Less Waste and Consumerism

This has been top of mind a lot lately. I can’t get quite as extreme as I could if I were a bachelor, especially with kids (sorry, but we won’t do cloth diapers), but I can take steps to reduce our impact.

I thought about this a lot while I worked a seasonal position at Target stocking food shelves. With all the brands of soup, even, I would think, “Why do we need over 30 flavors of canned soup?! What happened to, you know, cooking?” Asking that question also gave me time to reflect on my own habits, though. We can all do more. Heck, I’m even willing to pay more for recyclable packaging!

Inevitably, Christmas also had me thinking about waste. For one, gifts for the sake of gifts drive me nuts. I’ve prepared a list of gifts that would thrill me, so you know it’ll go over well. Otherwise, you could get a gift that would be convenient from my Amazon list. For the holidays, we want to start doing 4 gifts wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine:

• Something they want
• Something they need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

Heck, this could go for birthdays and other events, too.

Less waste is also one of the reasons I plan on donating to the Yang 2020 campaign for my birthday. See Reduce Packaging Waste on his site.

Start Another Revenue Stream

This one’s important for me for two reasons. First, I’m getting restless and I need an entrepreneurial endeavor. Second, I’m doubling down on building wealth so that we can get a house after flight school.

Right now, the top idea is a project with my brother-in-law that I’m excited about. It involves content creation, event planning, and learning how to code!

Deliberate Caffeine Consumption

This is my last true vice, and it also ties into less waste. I pound the caffeinated drink flavoring packets. Granted, I have kids that don’t sleep, and I dilute it heavily (mix into 40oz instead of 16oz), but the packages are single-use plastic, plus my Hydro Flask lid gets gross.

I promised myself I’d quit and start drinking—dare I say—plain water when the girls sleep. This is the year! I’ve knocked the energy drinks and soda, both during college. This is the last step. We’ll see how flight school goes…

In the meantime, I’ve transitioned to Mio, since the plastic containers are recyclable.

Draw and Share 12 Drawings I’m Proud Of

I plan to publish them to Deviant Art (I’m ~jonnymhenderson). This is a very reasonable goal to get me back into drawing and to finish drawings I start. I’m notorious for having a sketchbook full of half-sketches.

Focus on My 5 Fs: Family, Faith, Finance, Fitness, Flight

I came up with “My 5 Fs” while sitting in the NGAUS conference trying to think about what truly matters to me. These about sum it up! Taking a page from Tim Ferriss’s Past Year Review, this is a way for me to focus on what makes me happy and what will have a lasting impact.

• Family—From Leaders Eat Last: “A study…found that a child’s sense of well-being is affected less by the long hours their parents put in at work and more by the mood their parents are in when they come home.” I’d like to double-down on spending meaningful time with my wife and kids. In His Needs, Her Needs, it discusses a wife’s need for the husband to be a good father. That requires 15 hours per week for her and an additional 15 hours per week for quality family time.
• Faith—Deliberate and consistent scripture study and prayer
• Finance—Apply the principles and action items from I Will Teach You to Be Rich to automate expenses, set goals, and start building wealth.
• Fitness—Focus on APFT and ACFT test scores.
• Flight—The first step in developing this priority is starting flight school. I report April 10th!