Looking back on my Goals for 2012… I’ve realized I accomplished more than I expected, though far less than desired. Unlike years prior, however, the bits I did accomplish were the larger of the sorts, and not the easiest low-hanging fruit tackled just to cross it off the list.
You’ll note in my previous post on my 2012 goals that I categorized into 3 sections: Fiscal, Self improvement, and Home improvement. Oddly enough, this past year was heaviest on achievements in the fiscal category, likely due to the nature of the economy. Rather than recap that list one-by one, though, I’d like to quickly highlight what I consider my top achievements:
- We paid off one of our two Visa cards completely, leaving only one credit card carrying any balance.
- We paid off my motorcycle and obtained the pink slip.
- We refinanced the house to drop 3 percent on our rate.
- I took a 6 day motorcycle ride to Mt.Rushmore and visited with my sister Kally.
- The one goal I am really proud of, however: I Investigated, built, and began selling my photography via my on-line portfolio.
While I have no aspirations to become a professional photographer (like I had back in my school days), I am very proud to have set this goal of selling my photography and to have seen it through to completion within a single year. I’d set this goal with the intent of pushing myself forward with the hobby, to give me focus and direction. I’ll admit to surprising myself when I realized I’d actually accomplished the goal well within the time frame I’d set thinking it was slightly aggressive.
Of course, one of my other major goals was to publish a blog post here once a week for the entire year. Happily, with the exception of last week, I achieved that goal as well. Looking back on my blog through prior years, I can only come to the conclusion that this goal of posting once per week has really helped me focus and create content that is more valuable than what prior years have generated. That in mind, I expect the coming year to see this same goal in effect.
Now, no 2012 “looking back” post would be complete without a list, so here are my all-time Top 10 posts based on views to-date:
Since top-posts lists are often self-perpetuating (highlighting the top posts ensures they will continue to receive views and remain in the top lists), I’d also like to highlight some of the under-performing posts which you may have missed and which I think deserve a bit more visibility…
Thank you all for hanging in there and growing with me over 2012. Here’s to a wonderful 2013; may this be your year to outshine all prior years, to exceed your dreams and expectations and make your mark on the world like never before!
And stay tuned… I’m sure a 2013 goals post is soon to come 😉
At work, this is the time of year we are all furiously working on our Personal Business Commitments (or PBCs since acronyms are more fun) for the year, essentially working out our goals for the coming months. While I’d love to blog about my PBCs externally, I can’t since that would expose company confidential information as it directly relates to business strategy (though you could expect to see things like working outside the inbox and driving social business initiatives to make appearances there, quelle surprise!) … of course in keeping with working openly and transparently, my colleague Kelly and I are working on our own PBCs in an internal community forum, and activity which will help us refine our goals to be more effective in our roles.
But, it also got me thinking… I CAN expose my personal, non-work related goals, be open and transparent, and find greater accountability than if I just kept them in a draft email to remind myself every now and again. So here we go, these are my goals for 2012.
Goals…
Fiscal:
- Pay off both Visa cards (Credit union and Bank)
- Pay off Motorcycle – done by May 2012 at latest.
- Plan and save for a trip to Ireland in 2013
- Research available channels/strategies and begin selling photos
- Stretch goal: Research avenues/strategies to enable some level of income for writing, outside of day job.
- Sell my SCA Armour (Photograph each piece and determine best channel for sale).
Self improvement:
- Take a week long motorcycle trip (Mt. Rushmore will likely be a full week out and back).
- Visit 2 or more light houses
- Get two more tattoos or equivalent sleeve work.
- Reduce my weight by 80lbs, again.
- Get a large, framed map of the USA to use for plotting out rides and general decoration.
- Build a personal 5 year plan and begin executing on it.
- Read 5 books by Dec 31. 2012 (2 already done: Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing: Long-Distance Motorcycling’s Endless Road by Melissa Holbrook Pierson)
Home improvement:
- Clean and organize the garage including disposal of unneeded items.
- Clean and organize the home office, including filing and disposal of unneeded items
- Paint loft, hallway, guest bath, stairs, pantry, and laundry (Pantry planned for Pres. Day weekend)
- Build a 5 year plan for the next improvements to tackle.
The trick now, of course, is to focus everything I do to ensure it is working towards achieving one of the goals above. Anything that doesn’t support one of these goals will likely take lesser priority this year. Some of these are quite lofty (for me, possibly not for some of my readers), while others are easily attainable within a relatively short span of time, well before end of year.
Unless laziness wins out of course 😉
