Wednesday, July 10, 2013

2013 - goal check

In my last post, I covered a budget check point, so now I'll look at our 2013 goals. Writing the post is a nice forcing function for me to review our 2013 yearly goals & understand where we stand, with just over half of the year elapsed.

Here are the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

  1. Lose 12 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. I'm trying to shoot for a healthy, but realistic number. - Well, I've been as low as 141. I'm currently at 144, so I've lost three pounds so far this year.
  2. Track my food/exercise every day in My Fitness Pal. - Yes! Even though I guesstimated a few vacation days, I've tracked every day.
  3. Improve my fitness by doing the following:
    1. Complete 13,000 minutes of cardio. This will be a huge stretch goal for me, but I'm ready for the challenge! - I'm at 6700 minutes, so right on track!
    2. Complete 100 strength workouts. - I'm at 57 strength workouts. WOOHOO!
    3. Complete 100 stretching workouts. - I'm at 22 stretching workouts, so need to improve this.
  4. Run consistently, as measured by the following:
    1. Run 10 races. I have a few in mind, but basically want to challenge myself to really maintain my running endurance throughout the year. - my healthcare diagnosis changed my plans, but I did complete 3 races this year, and hope to do a couple more.
    2. Run 20 miles (or more per week). - This is no longer a goal. I would like to build up to 10 miles/week.
    3. Run 1000 miles in 2013. - No longer a goal for 2013. 
    4. Achieve a personal best in a half marathon. - I did this! :-)
    5. Run a 5K, 10K, 15K, & potentially a 30K. - I did a 10K, a 5 miler, and a half this year.
  5. Reach 50% of our boys college fund savings. This will take around $10,000, depending on the tuition price fluctuation. - We are at 44% saved, and I don't envision us finishing this out this year, due to other priority shifts. . namely, coming up with a huge efund in case I decide to leave my job.
  6. Pay $50,000 of principal on our mortgages. - We're at just over $10,000, but I expect to make major headway on our primary residence the second half of the year.
  7. Have one date night per month with M, & get together with two friends per month.  - Yes!
  8. Track our spending, stick to our budget, & continue the monthly reports. - Yes!
  9. Review our charitable contributions, & increase our yearly giving by 10%. - Yes!
  10. Organize one room in our house per month. - I've done a tremendous amount of decluttering, but haven't focused on any one room in particular. Maybe I should start that.
  11. Learn to bake bread (bagels, english muffin bread, sandwich bread). This is partially because I'd like to trim our grocery budget, but also because it's something I've tried & failed at before & just want to improve. - Yes! I made bread from scratch multiple times, & then M bought me a bread maker for my birthday. I *adore* it!
  12. Create/finalize will & guardianship papers. I hesitated even adding this to my goals, as I've failed at this for the last two years. But, it's important enough that I'm adding it again. - Fail. :-( Need to focus on this.
  13. Generate $1,000 in "side hustle", loosely defined as anything outside my normal paycheck, for the year. I've never tracked this before, so keeping the bar low. The money will be used to convert my grandmother's old movies into DVDs, and the rest will go towards my sister's 40th birthday trip. - Yes! I've made over $2400!! So excited.
Given my progress, I'm going to set some more challenging (or, more realistic, depending on the goal) stretch goals.

Goal #3
  1. Complete 14,000 minutes of cardio.
  2. Complete 120 strength workouts.
Goal #4
  1. Run 10 miles/week
  2. Run a post-diagnosis race.
Goal #7
  1. Plan a fall girls trip. Most of my trips fall into the summer, which makes fall a bit of a lull.
Goal #11
Learn to make pie! :-)

Goal #13
Make $5000 in side hustle. I think I can do this.

And, adding a couple of additional goals for the second half of the year:
14. Save $30,000 in our Efund, so I can consider other (more flexible) employment options.
15. Sort out my job situation.

How are you doing with your 2013 goals? Are you on track? Do you need to adjust any numbers, add or remove goals?

8 comments:

  1. I admire your ability to make and commit to goals. It is not something I can ever do, I either set the bar too low or too high and then get depressed from the disappointment OR too depressed at the rigidity of it.

    I am much more spontaneous (mmm, something to work on!)

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    1. It definitely doesn't work for everyone, but I'm always okay with not hitting them, as long as I've worked hard & put in the time & effort. I also adapt when things change & don't get hung up on the details.

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  2. You are doing great on your goals! Good luck on the ones!

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    1. Thanks! Let's see how I do with the pie making. ;-)

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  3. You're doing great!

    I only had 4 financial goals for the year. One of my goals was to pay cash for a new car and we just took out a $13,000 car loan - so that was a big fail. The others seem to be okay ...

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  4. Regarding your will, I wonder if you are hesitating because you don't know exactly what to do. Just remember that its better to have your plan down, even if you don't totally agree on it, than for people close to you to speculate or have a judge just make an executive decision. You can always change it later.

    You are doing very well with your annual goals. I can't believe you are able to track everything you eat. I have an addictive personality so that wouldn't go over very well for me. Props to you for being able to do that.

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    1. You've hit the nail on the head exactly! The couple we had all planned out (my sister & her ex), got a divorce, so they are out. My sister is a single mom, & no way would I burden her with two additional kids. Add in that my parents are getting older & now responsible for taking care of my mom's mom, and I'm not sure what to do. It's just so hard to plan for, but you are right. I know what would happen - my parents would take the kids. I need to just do it.

      Thanks! It works for me to track my food, because I'm a data junkie. I love looking at where I get off track, analyzing my body like a machine - exactly how many calories do I need under these circumstances to maintain my weight, which foods do I do better with, etc.

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