2011 Goals Recap and Check In

Posted on January 3, 2012 3 Comments

Regular readers know I’m huge on goal-setting. Last year I set ambitious goals for myself that I knew would require effort, but seemed realistic and achievable at the time.

I posted an update on my progress in August and got some wonderful feedback.  So how did I do? I didn’t make ALL my goals, but I did well on quite a few of them:

FINANCE
Savings Account – Increase by $12,000 ($1,000/month)
Retirement – Continue to invest at 10% all year
Auto loan – Pay $300/month
Attend a home buying 101 class
Complete a free online tutorial for investing  (@ Kiplinger)
Create a new budget and stick to it!

I completed two-thirds of these goals. Turns out I’m really good at saving and paying down debt, and terrible at learning how to take the next steps to do more with my finances. The new budget item was sort of unnecessary – I stuck with my old one and managed just fine. I did increase some of my spending categories on Mint.com, so I guess that counts.

FITNESS
Stay healthy! No injuries in 2011
Complete an olympic distance tri
Complete a half marathon
Add strength and stretching to my workout schedule EVERY WEEK

I completed all my fitness goals for the year! Wahoo for me!

BLOG
Connect with more finance bloggers in 2011 via comments, link love, and twitter
Post every week, no excuses
Research how to get ads on the blog

Ugh, only 30 percent completion rate here, and I don’t even think I did that well.  I had a couple big bursts of networking via Twitter during the year, but I still don’t do a very good job of commenting on other people’s posts. I usually just write them via Twitter, which is easier for me because I do most of my blog reading on my phone while I’m commuting. And unfortunately, that won’t change. I thought about getting a tablet so I can do more during my commute, but I don’t realistically see that happening anytime soon.

I’m OK with my progress on these goals. It’s helpful to compare the goals I completed to the ones I did not complete. I always have the option of moving them into my 2012 goals, or changing/modifying them to be more realistic (which I intend to do).

So now it’s time to brainstorm for 2012. I would like to set goals in similar categories this year, and maybe add in one for charitable giving. I did donate to quite a few charities in 2011, and also volunteered. That will be a good baseline for my 2012 goal.

Unfortunately I’m really under the weather today and not feeling particularly motivated to set a plan for the upcoming year. My current 2012 goal, in fact, is to visit a doctor tomorrow to help me get over a nasty cold I’ve been battling since Christmas. So I’ll hold off on new goals for another day. And in the meantime, I think I’m due for another dose of NyQuil… perhaps my slumber will inspire me to dream big about my 2012 goals!

Category: Life
   Tags: goals

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