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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

2018 Goals


Hey all! Are you tired of reading about everyone's New Years goals yet? Well I hope you have room for one more post about goals...

First, let's do the obligatory look back on my 2017 goals and how I did. (Don't worry, I'll make this short!)


2017 Goals:

1. Learn Spanish- I spent several months learning Spanish and even went to some classes at the library. But as the summer went on, I stopped practicing. I am sad to say I forget a lot of what I learned. Grade: C

2. Make a financial plan- Nope. Didn't do it. I mean, we saved money and I donated to my retirement, but we didn't male a "plan". Grade: F.

3. Spend less money on "stuff" and more on experiences- We definitely spent money on experiences and I think we improved a little on the "stuff" category but not a ton. Grade: C.

4. Do this:



We did it for like 2.5 months and stopped. Grade: D.

5. Become more active politically- I voted. I called my reps. I stayed informed of issues. I donated money. I spoke out. I could do more. Grade: B.

Geez, I didn't do very well at all! I guess I didn't want to reach these goals bad enough, because I think if I really wanted to, I could have done it!

With that in mind, I took a look at my 2018 goals and narrowed it down from 8 goals to 4 goals. "What do I really want???" was on my mind.

2018 Goals:

1. Run more trail. I have to get out there and run trail more often because I LOVE IT. These days, I am too scared to do it alone (bears, and snakes and rapes, oh my!), so that means finding some groups or friends to run with. I already have trail running friends and know of group runs so I am good to go. There is NO REASON I shouldn't be able to achieve this goal!

2. Read more. I love to read. I have always loved to read. But as I have gotten older, I made less time for reading. I'm not going to pick a number of books per month or anything like that, mainly because I know I will fail! I just want to be sure I make time to read something other than blogs or reddit.

3. Make a financial plan. I STILL WANT TO DO THIS. Paul, this is our mutual goal, okay? (I wonder if Paul will read this?)

4. Perform! In December I went to three auditions before getting cast in Godspell. So I will be very busy rehearsing/performing through March. If this is a good experience and I am able to balance work, piano lessons, and rehearsing, then I would like to do another show this year. If I did one in the summer it would be less crazy.

We'll see if I REALLY want to achieve these goals or not. They are COMPLETELY attainable, wouldn't you agree? So if I don't reach them, it's my own fault!

Did you make any goals for 2018?
How did you do with your 2017 goals?

17 comments:

  1. I think you'll achieve your goals this year! They seem attainable to me. Two of my goals for 2018 are the clean and organize the apartment plus throw out or donate what we don't need and to break 2 hours in the half marathon.

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    1. Cleaning/organizing/getting rid of things is soooo freeing! Good luck with your sub 2 goal. What is your PR now?

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  2. I have a hard time continuing with goals all year long. The year I started to learn spanish using an app I forgot about it after a month. I am hoping to stay more focused on finances this year too.

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    1. It is hard. And I was so all or nothing with my Spanish and that's why I think I stopped. I felt like if I couldn't devote like 30 min a day to it, it wasn't worth it. Which is not true. Even just 5 min on a busy day would be fine for a quick review.

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  3. I think you should have given yourself an "A" on your #5 goal. You've done a lot more than most!

    I may make some "plans" for 2018 but I doubt I'll make any goals. I guess I am lazy like that or maybe i'm just content and there's not anything out there I really feel I HAVE to do. Either way I guess it sounds lazy of me...haha. We will see what 2018 holds. (I said the same thing about 2017 and that turned out A-OK)! Good luck with your goals!

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    1. Thanks! With #5 I feel a little helpless too about what more I can do...

      You're not lazy. There's no reason to make goals just for the sake of it. If things are going well now then just keep going. It's not like NY is the only time we can evaluate our lives. And I think as teachers, we check in on our lives more often because there seems to me more than one "start" There's the start of the year in JAn, there's the beginning of summer, and then there's back to school!

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    2. And now for me the school year starts all over again because I have new classes and new students for the spring semester on Jan 15! It never ends..haha

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  4. Oh, we did the "happiness jar" last year and remembered to do it (almost) every week... and than we forgot to read the notes and look back on New Year's Eve. Thanks for the reminder.

    I think you did very good with #5, much better than most people. I know, it feels like there is always more to do!

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    1. Well you did the hard part, now the fun part! We didn't read our's yet either. :) It does feel like there is more to do with #5 but I feel helpless as to what else to do.

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  5. I think you did well with your goals!

    I think that taking a good swing at learning a language is amazing, so I would give you an A! One year I made a goal to learn Portuguese, but ended up just listening to a lot of Brazilian music, which only taught me Obrigado (Thanks!)

    Part of me opposes to doing "resolutions", because they feel so vague and resolution sounds more like a wishlist than a plan.

    I have three starts to the year, January for real life, July 1st for our office program year, and late August/September for school, and I set goals for each one! by the way, I'm failing at my work goals as my desk is covered in papers right now!

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    1. I FINALLY am caught up with work stuff. That doesn't mean I don't have a to do list, but I am finally organized. It only took me until Jan 9th!

      I hope if I start using Duolingo again it won't be like starting from scratch,

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  6. I didn't read as much last year, but I will continue to read. I'm already reading a new book, and I have dates written down for books that are being published early this year.

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    1. That's a good idea! I have 4 on hold for me right now at the library. I can't wait!

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  7. If I could read just ONE book that would be a lifetime goal! Seriously, I just can't read books. Ok, I do know how to read books :) but 1) they make me fall asleep (I don't know how I survived college, I used to fall asleep reading text books!) and 2) I feel so guilty spending time just reading! I have a million other things to do, so I just don't read books - I'm sticking with "short attention span friendly" magazines!
    I think my goal every year is to be organized, and be more understanding with my family (I feel like I get grouchy with them) so that's about it for me!

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    1. I bet working less will give you more time to get organized and give you the mental space to be more understanding. :)

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  8. You had and have great goals! I seriously just make ONE FUN goal per year. Last year I wanted to try one new restaurant per month. We made it except in November and December! LOL. This year I am trying one new recipe per month.

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    1. I like that your goals are FUN. Pretty impressive that you tried so many restaurants!

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