Where is Your Treasure?

There is a verse in the Bible (Matthew 6:21) that says:

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I'm going to try and apply this verse into this 2009 Goals type post.

As usual this time of year, there are many goals and/or resolutions out there and I usually don't post anything as I'm not real good at setting goals and even more so following through on those goals; but what the the heck. I'll give it the college try.

Where is my treasure? Is it my family, my faith, my poker, my money? Truthfully, this is not as easy as it seems on the surface. Sure, I could say that faith and family take any and all precedence in my life; but do my actions actually follow that up.

Family wise. I spend a couple of hours before and after work with family (not counting weekends). After the kids are in bed, I am usually off doing my own thing.

Faith Wise. Once a week at church.

Poker Wise. I can tell you for the most part, I am playing 40-45 hours a month according to holdem manager. This, of course, doesn't count live play which I probably do 2 or 3 times a month.

Money Wise is hard to judge and I will hold off on that one.

It is clear to me that I am NOT spending enough of my time on things that matter which clearly means that my treasure is focused on selfish reasons. Whether it be poker, or just messing around on computer on watching tv alone, I need to make some changes. That is where the goals come in.

I could make a generic goals list like:

Play better Poker
Don't go on Tilt
Make x amount of money playing x amount of hands per month
Watch training videos and study hands.

But I'm not going to do that as I want to make some realistic goals that are both attainable and trackable. So here we go and these will be in no particular order.

-Spend more time in the Word (Bible). There is truly plenty of things in there that can help me in all sorts of ways and I have neglected this for a while now.

-Play more poker. Wait? Didn't I just read what I just wrote? Yes, I did; but we will get back to this one later.

-Track finances better. We have always used Quicken; but I have not done any budgeting and/or analysis lately. During these times where our retirement is going the wrong direction, I want to be more fiscally responsible for both present and future. To that, I will at least do some monthly analysis (together with Mrs Wonka) around this.

-Where would any goals list at the beginning of the year be without at better eating and exercise. My exercise level as gotten down to about zero and I hope to change that by first eating better and then also using my gym membership at least 3 times a week. Again, I'm trying to make this attainable. Mrs Wonka goes to the gym everyday so hopefully some of that will rub off on me.

-Read more. Not just poker related things; but just reading in general.

So for all of this to happen, something needs to go away. Hopefully, the play is to drastically decrease my TV watching; especially late at night. If I'm not tired, do something a little more constructive. This can be playing poker or reading. I've taken away the movie channels from my satellite package. Hopefully this will help.

Now, let's focus a bit more on poker.

Like I said above. I would like to play more. Recently, I make my 200 pts on Full Tilt and call it a day (which is usually about 1 to 1 1/2 hours) to do other stuff. That other stuff is usually pretty non productive. If I'm not tired, then I want to keep on playing.

More studying. I want to post at least 1 hand maybe 2 hands a week to this blog or to some forum to help me improve. I am still playing 100NL and would like to to move up to 200NL. Using FTP bankroll. I have a little ways to go; but might start taking a look if I have a 4 figure month in January (which would not be typical).

Watch training videos. I try to watch at least 1 or 2 videos at week. I usually can fit 15 minutes or so during lunch to watch part of a video which makes 1 or 2 videos a week.

Do NOT and I repeat do NOT play online blackjack. I had another relapse where I started playing blackjack and lost way too much. It's sickening really.

Well, I think that is going to do it for now. Perhaps, more on this later.

Have a good day.