The Appointed Time Has Come

I am not what I should be.

On Sunday, October 11, 2007 I will turn 30 years old. The thought of leaving my 20s behind and still having so many shortcomings in my life makes me a bit depressed. I would have thought that, by this time in my life, I would have been more -- more organized, more physically fit, more spiritually strong, a better communicator, more confident, more of a leader -- more of about a hundred different things that I am not, but should be.

This MG2 Project is intended to be a catalyst in improving myself -- sort of like a New Year's resolution that begins in May. I have five months until I turn 30, and I want who I am now and who I will be on that day to be different. I want to see an improved version of me in these three areas:

SOUL ~ Spiritual Discipline I have never been consistent at doing devotions or praying. I believe in them wholeheartedly, but haven't done a good job at developing spiritual discipline in my own daily life. On some level, being around church all my life has made me somewhat immune to the excitement that others get when they read the Bible, or pray to a loving God. These things have been my life from infancy -- and Satan has exploited that familiarity to his advantage by making me almost ambivalent in these areas.

BODY ~ Physical Discipline I'm not merely out of shape, I'm in poor shape. I always find excuses for not working out or for not eating right, and those excuses have only led to me being what I am now. In addition to the typical list of symptoms I get to deal with from being in poor shape, I believe that my current inability to produce children is directly related to my physical health. That both saddens me and enrages me. Things need to change.

MIND ~ Mental Discipline This may be the hardest thing for me to change because I feel like my brain simply does not work the way I need it to in order to be a great leader. I am a very slow information, idea, and thought processor. This makes my ability to work quickly and communicate clearly (especially verbally) a very difficult thing. I communicate well in writing because I am able to think about what I want to write, write it, and then go back and refine my message before anyone ever reads it. I cannot do that with everyday personal interactions and it frustrates me to no end.

The same goes with my work. I have a very difficult time producing quality work under a crunch or with little information or guidance. I rely a bit to much on time buffers. I need to learn how to retrain my mind to be sharper, more visionary, and prepared to produce immediate and high quality results when I'm called upon to do so.

Well, that was an overview of the MG2 Project. You may wonder why I put something like this on my blog. Two reasons - accountability and encouragement. If I make this public, I am more likely to stick with it because I know that other people are hip to what I am trying to accomplish (and what I am trying to avoid). When they see me eating at Barro's, they'll be able to remind me that I have fitness goals that I am sacrificing for two [great] slices of pizza. Also, I hope that people will encourage me along the way to keep at it (especially in relation to my spiritual discipline).

The MG2 Project begins today.