The specifics:Read More: (2011 Grade: 4/5)

1. Read one fiction book every three months: Grade 4
2. Read one non-fiction book every 2 months: Grade: 2

My 2011 Progress

In 2011 I finished reading 3 fiction books (“A Galaxy Unknown“, “Rainbows End“, and “Wired“) and there’s a 50/50 shot that I’ll finish reading “Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter” by the end of the year. In 2011 I finished reading 2 non-fiction books: (“The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman” and “Delivering Happiness“); I started, but did not finish, 3 other fiction books (“The perfect gene diet“, “The Power (the secret)“, and “The Shift: Taking Your Life from Ambition to Meaning“).

My 2012 Plan

In 2012 I’ll set aside more dedicated for reading non-fiction books and continue my binge reading of non-fiction on business trips.  I’ll spend less time on Google Reader and more time in my Kindle.  I’ll also make more notes/highlights and share them through my Amazon.com account.

Make $5K / month as side income by September : (2011 Grade: 1/5)

The specifics:

1. The title says it all.

My 2011 Progress

While 2011 saw one of my blogs blow up with a feature on Lifehacker.com not much else has panned out.  I’ve got lots of ideas but not enough time to execute on them.   I’m making ~$40/Month from adsense but that’s nothing compared to my goal.

My 2012 Plan

Focus more.  In 2012 I’ll spend more time working on my goal here.  I’ll set aside two lunch hours per week to work on side income projects and hold firm to that goal.  I’ll also be going back through my ideas and taking at least one from start to finish over the next 3 months.  I will have a drop shipping business set up by April 1st.

Spend more quality time with my boys: (2011 Grade: 3/5)

The specifics:

1. One hour of Daddy/Ethan time per week.
2. One hour of Daddy/Kal time per week.

My 2011 Progress

In 2011 I spent lots of time with the boys, however, in context of the specific goals I set out I didn’t do very well.  I spent very little individualized time with them individually.  I do feel like I spent more quality time with them as a whole (hence my 3/5 grading) but I didn’t adhere to the specifics outlined in this goal.

My 2012 Plan

Execute.  I’ll pull each of them aside for a 1:1 activity every week.

Be in the best shape of my life by 2012: (2011 Grade: 2/5)

The specifics:

1. Sleep 7 hours / night
2. Daily workout routine
3. Weekly workout routine
4. Stick with the slow carb diet
5. Take progress photos of myself
6. Keep a food photo journal
7. Measure my body fat monthly
8. Public Goal Setting and Results
9. 12,000 Steps / Day
10. Lose 60 pounds by 4/1/11

My 2011 Progress

1. Sleep 7 hours / night: Fail – My average sleep 6.85 Hours
2. Daily workout routine: Fail – I didn’t do anything daily.
3. Weekly workout routine: Success – I worked out weekly.
4. Stick with the slow carb diet: Failure – I cheated too often (damn you goldfish crackers!)
5. Take progress photos of myself: Meh – I have progress photos that I took probably twice this year.
6. Keep a food photo journal: Meh – I did this ~75% of the time.
7. Measure my body fat monthly: Fail – (Data for Jan, Feb, April, May, and August)
8. Public Goal Setting and Results: Success
9. 12,000 Steps / Day: Fail – Average steps / day ~6,420
10. Lose 60 pounds by 4/1/11: Fail (big time) – I lost ~25lbs of fat.

My 2012 Plan

In 2012 I’ll be more disciplined.  My health coach gave me some good advice and helped me thing through things.  I believe I have more of an all or nothing mentality which means I need to find something and stick with it for a defined time.  My biggest weakness here is in justifying a little cheat here or there.  I’ll get home and grab a handful of goldfish crackers that are on the table for the kids or have organic peanut butter by the spoonful instead of a single spoonful of almond butter.  As an example when I forget to bring my lunch I’ll then justify not telling the cook in the cafe to take the cheese off the salad.  In 2012 I’ll be time boxing an all or nothing goal.  I’m not sure of the specifics here yet but I’ll have those lined up by 1/1 and publish here shortly.  Right now I think I’ll set a time box of three months with no cheating at all.  I’ll define success as having prepared meals each day and eating those meals only.  I’ll have a military like discipline and not cheat for 3 months outside of my dedicated cheat day.  Also I’ll put more time into cardio at they gym or at home with some routine.

Begin my shift towards self actualization: (2011 Grade: 1/5)

The specifics:

1. Be independent of the good opinion of other people
2. I am detached from the outcome of my decisions, my actions are instead determined because of who I am.
3. I have no investment in power over others. Let others be who they want to be.

My 2011 Progress

In general I lost site of this goal.  It’s funny looking back at these specific bullet points above.  Especially number two.  In the last 4 months of this year I spent so much time grappling with the outcome of my decisions at work and how they would be interpreted, how others would be affected, and playing out those consequences.  Should I have just focused more on this goal alone I think I would have slept better, had less stress, and be generally happier.

My 2012 Plan

1. Be independent of the good opinion of other people: Today I spend too much time worrying about how others will interpret my actions and playing out the scenarios against my choice of words and actions.  This year I’ll overcome this hinderance and actively dismiss these thoughts. I’ll enlist some of my closest friends to help keep me in check. I’ll thank people for their unsolicited opinions and treat them as such.  I’ll trust in myself and learn from my mistakes and success independent of other people’s opinions.
2. I am detached from the outcome of my decisions, my actions are instead determined instead because of who I am.  - In 2012 I’ll make faster decisions and learn from my success and failure.  I’ll celebrate my failures based on poor decisions as the learning opportunities they are.  I’ll have more confidence in my decision making ability and do things for me, not because of how others perceive my actions.
3. I have no investment in power over others. Let others be who they want to be: In 2011 I spent too much time trying to improve other people, trying to advise/improve them (even when unsolicited) wasn’t the most efficient use of my time.  In 2012 I’ll not invest my time in actively trying to change other people.

Value experiences over material things: (2011 Grade: 4/5)

The specifics:

1. Travel with friends and family
2. More lunches / dinners with friends
3. Actively seek opportunities to have experiences with other people

My 2011 Progress

I did pretty well against this goal for 2011.  We traveled with family to Hawaii, California, and Flagstaff, we did day trips to the Mogollon Rim and around the valley.  We had lots of friends over for dinner and I did many lunches with friends and family.

My 2012 Plan

Step up our game a bit and do some more advanced planning.  Also clean the house a for 10 minutes before every night before bed so we stop using a dirty house as an excuse for not having folks over.

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Taken at Intel Chandler – CH7 ]]> http://joshuacork.com/2011/12/03/winter-wonderland-intel-with-my-little-kings-we-told-kal-to-put-on-his-happy-face/feed/ 0 http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/30/playing-starwars/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=playing-starwars http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/30/playing-starwars/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:08:21 +0000 JoshCork http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/30/playing-starwars/

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Taken at Gordon Biersch ]]> http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/26/sitting-by-the-fire-after-dinner/feed/ 0 http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/08/downtown-seattle/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=downtown-seattle http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/08/downtown-seattle/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:43:58 +0000 JoshCork http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/08/downtown-seattle/

]]> http://joshuacork.com/2011/11/08/downtown-seattle/feed/ 0 http://joshuacork.com/2011/10/13/jawbone-up-bracelet-yes-please/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jawbone-up-bracelet-yes-please http://joshuacork.com/2011/10/13/jawbone-up-bracelet-yes-please/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:23:02 +0000 JoshCork http://leanncork.com/joshuacork/?p=226

Two please!

My latest obsession is the UP bracelet by Jawbone!  Similar to the Fitbit this device will help you track activity levels, sleep, and food consumption.  I’m so excited about this product and I can’t wait to use it.  I’m pulling hard to try to get a review model and post a review over on iUpgrade.me and my YouTube channel. If I get the opportunity to do so I’ll drop you all a line when I’m done through Facebook, twitter, and here on JoshuaCork.com.

So should you have any control over who gets review models (I’m looking at you Jawbone product marketing team) and are reading this pretty please drop me a line or give me a call I’m certain I can create a very objective and fun to watch video review of your product and I can get the word out to my social media peeps and other Fitness geeks like me!

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