After some prayerful pondering, I came up with the following goals:
- Read the Sunday School lesson every week.
- Read the Priesthood lesson every week.
- Review a talk from General Conference each week. (If you do this, you can just about review an entire Conference by the time the next one comes around.)
- Read the Ensign each month.
- Read the Limbaugh Letter each month.
- Write a talk each month.
In addition, I want to read A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, The 8th Habit, and some others. I didn't set concrete goals for when to finish those. Maybe I should. This is a first pass at this — next time, I'll keep what works and fix what doesn't.
There are two months per planner-size page (this is just the top):
The objective is to check off one box per day, wherever the box is.
Last year, it took me about three days to do justice to the reading for Gospel Doctrine. We'll see if that number gets adjusted as we get further into the Doctrine and Covenants. (The "L" is for weeks where I need to prepare a lesson.) One day for the reading for Elders' Quorum, one day reviewing a conference talk of my choosing, and one day where I'm free to choose whatever I want to study.
In addition to the weekly reading, there's monthly reading: two days in the Ensign (one specifically on the home teaching message for the month), one day to read the Limbaugh Letter, and four days to read longer books. The month is rounded out with two days to prepare a talk and one day spent studying civics — national history, fiat economics, biographies… It's kind of a wild card.
After putting two months on the page, I still had room for one more line. I decided to give myself some flexibility. Six times over a two-month period, my daily personal study can be listening to a podcast. Maybe I'll get lost wandering down the streets of Lake Wobegone. Maybe I'll test my awareness of current events. Or stick my head under the hood with Click and Clack. (If I'm feeling especially bold, I may even Meet the Press.) I figure I can make more time for them if they're a legitimate part of my study.
The part that I'm really pleased with is the last part:
I'm giving myself six days of legitimately missing a day. I figure it's going to happen — some days, I just won't have the time, energy, or inclination to study. I thought this was an intriguing idea, and I'm kind of excited about it. I'm building a little bit of leniency (mercy? clemency?) into the goal. This is a motivational too as much as anything, and I can miss six days (over two months) and still check off a box.
2 comments:
That looks like a good plan. I may have to copy you!
Make it your own if you do. Select *your* goals to reflect what *you* want to do. Create a plan and then a way to track it. What can be measured can be managed.
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