Yes. Happy No Longer Last Year.
I guess since the date is 1.1.11 it's a good time to start over. Last year I started off the year focusing on how I could improve myself. I had just graduated, was jobless, and had pretty much just been forced to move back home. To the average twenty-something year old, that's about as bad as it can get. At least, it feels that way at the time. This year, I think I'm just going to start off the year by appreciating the fact that I made it through last year. I am technically no longer a recent graduate. I still don't have a real job. And I kinda still halfway live at home. But I'm not really in the same place that I was this time last year. Which to me is kind of amazing. Apparently this improving yourself stuff actually works. As long as you pick the right goals.
So on that note, here's a quick review of the goals I set in January 2010.
1. Get Organized - DONE
The goal - Find some sort of a system for me to use so as not to lose all of the information and stuff that's important to me.
The result - I am super awesome at organization. Or rather, the people I stole all my ideas from are. Anyways, I took a few different systems, from a few different book and blogs and people, and rolled them all into a system that kinda works for me. My nice shiny Franklin Covey planner is not filled with my calendar, to do list, shopping lists, inspiration pages, goal lists and my ever growing bucket list. Apparently writing things down in one place really does help. It seems like as soon as I started writing down everything, it was easier to understand what was going on in my life.
2. Get Rid of 365 Things - SUPER DONE
The goal - Pretty self explanatory. Get rid of 365 pieces of junk.
The result - It took me awhile to get moving on this one, but once I did, boy did I get moving. What really helped the most was figuring out what I really wanted my space to look like, feel like and be used for. With that in mind it was pretty easy to get rid of stuff that didn't fit the bill. In the end, i got rid of over 1000 things. The amazing part is that I don't miss anything I got rid of. And I still have A LOT of stuff. Yeah. 1000 things later and there is still too much stuff.
3. Get A Job - UBER FAIL
So..... I'm just gonna go with "Jesus didn't want me to have a real job". That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The economy sucks, etc. etc. etc. Not going to go down a list of excuses here. Simply going to deal with the fact that it's a year later and I am still unemployed. Actually, I don't say it like that anymore. I'm on vacation. It's January. I'm on winter break.
4. Take Control of My Finances - 1/2 DONE!?
The goal - Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich and have $1000 in my savings account by December 31.
The result - I read the book. I read the blog. I'm on vacation. It's hard to get paid when you're on vacation. So...... there is not $1000 in my savings account. There is however more than $1. And my student loans are up to date. And I have accounts set up for an emergency fund, a retirement
fund, and saving up for a new car. So I'm doing better than most people my age. At least I have a plan. And as soon as I get my first paycheck, from the job I'm on vacation from, I know exactly where the money needs to go. Down to the last penny. So $1000, not so much. Understanding where I am financially, done.
5. Start an Exercise Program/Routine - FAIL
The goal - Work my way back to at least high school running standards (2 miles in under 20 minutes) and increase the number of pushups and situps I can do consecutively.
The result - I think there was just too much going on in my life at one time. Exercise is a good idea. And every month I tried to move it back towards the top of the priority list. But when the rest of your life is spinning in circles, it's hard to convince yourself to do something that doesn't appear to move you forward. I did manage to run more than 10 miles in the year and do a few push ups and sit ups though. I'm not sure you can call that progress, but at least I didn't create a mold of myself on the couch...
6. Improve my cooking skills - FAIL
The goal - To be able to consistently cook about 20 things and maybe add in 2 really hard impressive things so I can pretend I know what I'm doing if I ever have super important company, like at the holidays.
The result - I never really pulled out any recipes or tried to cook anything difficult. I did experiment with different spices and such though. I never really had company to impress, so that probably didn't help. But still, nothing new coming out of my kitchen yet. More creative, yes. New, no. I guess we'll call it progress though. At least I have more options for breakfast than cereal now.
7. Keep In Contact With Friends and Family - Um... Sure. Let's call it DONE
The goal - Get a list of contacts, and maybe start a Birthday Calendar and send cards.
The result - Thanks to Google, I finally have all of my contacts in one place. Only problem is that there are a ton of duplicates on the list. I guess importing lists from different sites and just dumping them together will do that. So I have half of a calendar with dates pulled from Facebook. Maybe by this year I'll get it organized enough to be able to send Christmas cards. Or at least Christmas emails...
8. Start 52 Good Habits - DONE
The goal - Establish 52 good habits.
The result - About halfway through the year I lowered the goal to 12. I got pretty good with about 10 of them. So yay for me! 1 - For realizing that I couldn't accomplish the original goal and changing it instead of giving up. And 2 - For actually keeping up with it.
9. Read The Whole Bible - FAIL
The goal - Gee. I wonder. What could it be?
The result - So maybe I should have eased into this one. For someone who doesn't read everyday, the first plan should not be to read the Bible in 90 days. Over a year, sure. 90 Days, not so much. So I failed. Not as miserably as I could have, but I did.
10. Move To A New City - DONE
The goal - Move.
The result - Success. I don't live by myself, but I don't live in suburbia anymore either.
So the grand total is...
DONE - 5
1/2 DONE - 1
FAIL - 4
Not too bad I guess. I mean, It's not like I'm being graded or anything. And even if I was, I don't think 55% is failing at life. To me you can only fail at life if you don't live it. And it's no longer last year. It's this year. So I've lived an entire year. I've moved forward. That has to count for something right?
I've made some goals for this year already. But since it's Saturday, I think I'll enjoy my weekend a little before I get to work improving my life or learning new things again. There will still be plenty of 2011 left next week. Until then.... Happy No Longer Last Year!!!!
