There’s a new book out by Erik Fisher and Jim Woods. Erik has been on the Quality Living Made Simple Podcast and is the host of the podcast, “Beyond the To-Do List.” This book, “Beyond the To-Do List Volume 1: Goals,” is the first of three. This one focuses on goals. The next two will tackle your time and avoiding distractions.

I began an endeavor at the end of 2012 to set and track my goals for 2013. I started out tracking them pretty well, but then I let it drop off. I came back in June and tried to re-examine my goals. I realized that some of my goals were too vague to be goals themselves.

When my son was first starting with table food, he would scare us to death. He would stuff his mouth full – his cheeks would be puffed out from being so full. And then he would chew on it for 2-3 minutes. We realized it was because of his tongue – he wasn’t able to use his tongue to naturally push the food back while eating. He had to stuff more food in to push it to the back. We were able to get his tongue fixed, but it took awhile for him to readjust to being normal.

Regarding my goals, I had also bit off more than I could chew. They were well intentioned, and I do believe that I was able to accomplish more this year than if I had done nothing. But there is room for improvement.

This book by Erik and Jim will help me to look at myself with fresh eyes. They have designed the book to be read one page a day. Each day brings simple truths, inspiring quotes, and actions to take. I have read through the book, but I am planning to start working through the book taking this day-at-time approach. By the time I finish, I’ll be ready to look ahead at 2014 and realistically set goals for myself.

Here are a couple of quotes from the book:

  • “Goals encourage growth. You should set goals that make you stretch in order to reach them.”
  • “How you spend your time shows what your priorities are.”
  • “Many times, if you don’t achieve a goal, it is because the motivation was based solely on one thing.”
  • “You can choose to focus on the negative or the positive. It’s completely up to you.”

Get your copy of Beyond The To-Do List Volume 1: Goals today!