I said a few days ago that the key to focusing is willing to give up and cut out some things in life. So, with that, here’s what I’m cutting out in 2012:

• Personal: Reading non-Bible stuff. As I said, this year is the year of the Bible, reading-wise, for me. So I will do very little reading that isn’t related to scripture.
• Personal: Miata & Autocrossing. I bought a 1994 miata a couple of years ago in hopes of tinkering on it and doing some autocross events with it. When I bought my road bicycle last year, I spent so much time on my bike that I didn’t have the time to work on the car. Instead of feeling guilty for not giving it the attention it deserves, I’m going to sell it.
• Personal: Motorsports on TV. When I was in high school I considered being an engineer, for one reason only: to design and work on racecars. I thought that auto racing was the most exciting display of engineering and have never lost the awe of watching cars scream around a track. My DVR is usually filled with hours of racing from March-October. Giving this up will keep me from sitting in front of the TV so much.
• Personal: College Basketball on TV. Last year, thanks to my parents, I crossed something off of my bucket list: going to the NCAA Final Four & Championship game. I watch quite a bit of college basketball in the winter months and during March Madness. Now that I’ve made the pilgrimage to the Final Four, I feel like I can cut back on that.
• Ministry: Administration. When I requested that my hours be cut back at the church, it really didn’t leave time for me to do a significant amount of administration. Instead, I’m focusing on teaching and discipleship. The size of our church and ministry really doesn’t make it that big of a loss. Looking back, I’m not sure how effective it was to spend the time I did on administrative matters.
• Professionally: Continuing Education. I’m not cutting this out entirely, but I am scaling back. Last fall I spent a ton of time learning about business, marketing, and web development and design practices. I feel like I needed to do that, because I learned a lot, but those things don’t pay the bills. With that foundation behind me, I’m going to scale back on the continuing education and focus on things that actually grow my business and pay the bills.

I’m content with giving these things up, because I know it will allow me to focus on other things that I already enjoy and that will be productive. And if a year from now I want to cut something else out in order to add in something above, then I’ll do it. This isn’t a permanent decision, but one that I think makes sense in my life right now.

Are you giving up anything in 2012 to focus on something that you think is important?