Here are my updates on Q1, Q2, and Q3.
To get the photos for this post, I just searched the headings in the photo gallery on my phone and you get what you get. LOL. Some of them are strange.
2025 Cumulative Goals
Health
1) Spend 1000 hours outside ✖
Yearly total: 561 hours, 35 minutes
Not good, really. I think maybe I'll do a more modest goal next year and try to ease up to 1000 hours.
2) Do something in the yard every week ✖
Yearly outcome: I mean, yes, generally, but the yard is still a mess and I have to confess I didn't really meet the spirit of this goal.
3) Do at least five yoga poses a day. ✔
Yearly total: 350/365 (95.9%)
This has been wonderful.
4) Go to a new-to-me fitness class. ✔
I went to Zumba for the first time this year!
5) Drink 20 ounces of water a day. ✔
Yearly outcome: 349/365 (95.6%)
Pretty good.
6) Exercise for 30 minutes at least 80% of days. ≈
Yearly outcome: 278/355 (10 days off in August for reasons) - 78.3%.
Pretty good, but frankly I'm disappointed with myself.
7) Only eat dessert Thursday - Saturday (or special occasions like holidays and birthdays). ✖
It turns out that I have dessert more often than I don't. This is something to work on.
Connection
1) Message my accountability buddy every day and M/T/T at least once a week. ≈
Yearly outcome: This waxed and waned. *sigh*
2) Do two Cool Blogger Book Club sessions. ✔
The Blue Castle in Q1 and the Joy Luck Club in Q3.
3) Send at least one fun piece of snail mail every month. Track snail mail. ≈
Yearly outcome: Okay, I definitely tracked this. But I didn't send something fun every month. Oh, well. Something to work on for next year. Total was 265 pieces of mail, though! Maybe my goal for next year should be an average of one a day? Is that too ambitious?
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Adulting
1) Figure out a will or whatever ✖
I think you all know that this never happened.
2) Order new checks. ✔
Completed in Q2.
3) Limit my clothes buying to the following: two new dresses/season, new mary janes, anything that was on my Christmas wish list that I did not get, necessary bras/underwear/workout gear/replacement leggings or tights (one-to-one replacements on those). ✔
Yearly outcome: I did pretty well on this. And now my wardrobe needs some stuff!
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| This is the house where one of my high school friend's lived growing up. His parents sold the house and moved a couple of years ago, but isn't this exactly what you think of when you think of a house? |
Home
1) Paint the porch and garage. ✖
This did not happen.
2) Hem the stupid pants. ≈
Well, someone hemmed them.
3) Consult an architect/contractor for our bathroom remodel. ✖
This did not happen.
4) Clean and organize my closet and dresser and keep them that way. ✖
This did not happen.
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| Me and my SIL. I wore those glasses for hours. |
Fun
1) Learn three new hairstyles: French braid, an elegant low knot, and something else TBD. ✖
This did not happen.
2) Have one day a quarter where I take off work with no plans. ≈
Yearly outcome: Partial credit. I took off a day in Q1 and two days in Q4 and sort of half-assed it in Q3 (although it ended up being me running errands). Q3 was a mess. But progress was made!
3) Watch at least one makeup tutorial every quarter. ✖
This did not happen.
4) Go on a girls trip. ✔
We went on a trip to Seattle in July.
5) Go to at least four new-to-me museums. ✔
Yearly outcome: I did this! Anne and I went to four museums in the first half of the year and I went to a museum with my husband.
6) Once a month dates with my husband. ≈
Yearly outcome: Six dates. 50%. Is that good? I think probably not.
7) Actually train Hannah at least three times a week. ≈
Yearly outcome: 71 times throughout the year (this is more like twice a week than three, so that's not nothing, but could be improved upon).
8) Read big books over 500 pages at least once a month. ✔
Yearly outcome: I read 12 big books this year! I'm so proud of myself for this.
I think this goal is also why I read fewer books this year compared to previous years. And that's okay because a lot of these were great books. Some were not.
9) Make six new-to-me cookie recipes. ≈
Yearly outcome: I made three new recipes: peanut butter blossoms, brown butter sugar, and ricciarelli. I mean, that's progress.
10) Do a 30-day project each month. ✔
January: Improve your posture challenge and I did the exercises for 28/31 (90.3%) days
February: 4-5 minutes of core exercises a day and I did it for 14/28 (50%) of days
March: Don't eat candy or baked goods. I managed this on 27/30 (90%) of days
April: Send one postcard a day - I sent 25 in April and the rest in May
May: Two minutes of core work daily on 22/31 (71%) days - I'm collating this in December and have zero memory of doing this in May.
June: Survive. Check.
July: No candy. 31/31 days
August: Lolz. There was no challenge this month.
September: I did a photo a day project and did it on all 30 days
October: Participate in Cool Bloggers Walking Club and I managed a perfect 31/31 day streak.
November: Comment on at least five posts a day during NaBloPoMo. I was at 28/30 (93.3%) days.
December: To do at least five minute strength training each day and I was at 23/31 (74.2%). That's not too bad.
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Do you set yearly goals? How did they go this year?
LOOK AT THAT YOGA STAT!!!! I am SO happy for you. Daily yoga is such a great thing to do and really can be done anywhere. Yay yay yay!! I mean, yay on all the other things too but biggest yay goes to yoga!!! *throws confetti* *grimly vacuums up confetti*
ReplyDeleteYou had mentioned the 1000 hours last year and I thought - oh, I should track that, since I spend a lot of time outside. Now it's the fifth of January and...should I go back and track what I've done the past five days? You know what, I am never going to be a good time tracker and I'm overwhelmed with the idea already. This is just my stream of consciousness talking.
I think you did really great this year, you had a YEAR holy crap, and you still got so much done!
The daily yoga is so easy to fit in, too. Like, if I was doing my habit tracker and I realized I hadn't done yoga that day, I just would get down on the floor and do it. Even if I didn't have my mat. Easy peasy!
DeleteIt is annoying to track time outside, to be honest. LOL. We'd go to a picnic or something and I'd have to ask "how many hours were we outside?" and my husband would get ANNOYED because he thinks my tracking is OTT. Which, maybe he has a point?
I agree with Nicole- you did great. Even the exercise goal that you're disappointed in is great. And, you absolutely nailed some of these 100%! You did way better than I did, because I did not set any goals for 2025, and 2026 is still TBD. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLook, Jenny, if I were as consistent as you, I wouldn't need to set goals. But, ahem, I am not.
DeleteListen, if you read An American Tragedy AND Moby-Dick in the same year, you automatically win. AT EVERYTHING. FOR THE YEAR.
ReplyDeleteI don't set goals for the year, ever. I set daily goals every morning, really modest ones like Do Laundry, Clean Out Fridge, Organize The Damn Desk Already!, and get very excited if I actually complete them.
(I have been meaning to brush Piper for two weeks now. Thank goodness he is a shorthair.)
Getting The Pants Hemmed still counts as Hemming The Pants. I think you had a very successful year smashing goals.
I felt so good about the Big Books Challenge. Maybe I'll sort of continue it on next year? Without The Moby-Dick Ambition!
DeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again - if I don't set goals and hold myself accountable, I don't get anything done except reading! So this is what I have to do. If I could set an achieve modest goals, maybe I would!
For a pretty shitty year, I think you did spectacularly with your goals, Engie.
ReplyDeleteTHE PANTS ARE HEMMED. That is a success, doesn't matter how it happened.
The pants ARE hemmed indeed. Let's count that as a 2025 victory.
DeleteLots to be proud of, Engie. You showed up for yourself and did the best you could! (I count that not numbers).
ReplyDeleteThanks, friend. I didn't beat myself up about these goals. I met some and not others. It's fine! And will be better next year.
DeleteWow, this is seriously impressive, Engie. You had a Year from Hell and you GOT THINGS DONE.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I can't hem anything so the pants got hemmed and you didn't have to do anything with needle and thread. I think you get bonus points for resolving this To Do the easier way!
Well, I got some things done and that's good enough for right now! But next year has got to be better!
DeleteI respect people who set goals, but I rarely have any – and those that I do are very loosely defined. The closest I have this year is "hike more" – but I haven't defined "more." If I do 25 hikes, that will be more than last year. But three hikes will also be more. See? Maybe I do need to write these down at some point....
ReplyDeleteI admire people who don't set goals because if I didn't, nothing would get done. I'm not ambitious!
Delete265 pieces of mail! Does that include your holiday cards? Either way it is an impressive amount of joyful mail to be sending out! I am not great at sending mail to others. I do send out about 150 holiday cards, a few birthday cards, and some thank yous, but that's usually it. I did send out some post cards from the children's bookstore close to use. I was totally inspired by all the ladies, including you, that send me fun postcards! We just got one from Kyria and it's so fun to get fun mail!
ReplyDeleteI think you did excellent considering the year you add. I mean alot of these had sub-components so that is A LOT OF GOALS. The yoga pose goal is a good one. I should try something like that in February and then try to keep it going. I like that it could be done anywhere w/out any special equipment.
It DOES include my holiday cards, which are just under 100 sent out. I also have 11 niblings and regularly send all of them cards on holidays we don't see them (Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, etc.), so it adds up quickly. I also send a lot of postcards in a year.
DeleteThe yoga thing worked so well for me. I do yoga a lot and then, if I didn't do any at the end of the day, I just would get down and do them while I was filling out my goal tracker. I regularly would do downward dog, pigeon, a forward fold (either standing or a sitting straddle), a twist, and child's pose. And then I'd be done and my lower back would usually feel so much better. It's a huge thumb's up from me.
This is a fun look back. I'm impressed by your tracking alone. I track nothing. I do not set goals. Holy smokes, If I tried to read a 500 page book in a month- it would take me two months at least to get through it. While I don't track anything, I do do a lot of stuff. I feed a lot of people and attend all of their sporting events and the laundry . . . eek, I do almost all of it. Plus I write chapters and read them at my writing groups, so I don't feel like I need to track my stuff because I tend to always be doing. I do like the idea of trying new recipes or different workouts or attempting to go on some many date nights a month. Those things can be easy to slip through the cracks.
ReplyDeleteIt took me about three months to read Moby-Dick, so some of those 500 page books did take a long time!
DeleteI think you are naturally a lot more motivated than I am. I need the goals to hold myself accountable, so I don't just sit on the couch with my cat all the time! You probably don't need to be a goal setter.