2016 Goal Check

It's almost the end of the year (23 days to achieve any goals you created for the year)! I thought it would be good to check in & see if there are any easy to wins to be had, or things I want to push myself hard to accomplish before the end of the year.

Here's how I'm doing do far, in this home stretch of the year. As a reminder, I obviously decided to delay my "leave work" plan, and am now working on several exit dates in 2017. This plan changed as we were working through options to move back to Washington, and I wanted as much flexibility as possible.

1) Financial - Save $160,000 for my "leaving work" nest egg ($100K to offset expenses, $45K for taxes, $15K for travel) - Yes!!! I'm currently at $217K. We are also relatively committed (M still has to find a job back in Seattle, come spring) to relocating back to Seattle. The timeline is a bit TBD, but the plan is coming together. We only had one budget for the year, but we are working on a similar strategy for 2017. 

• Decide what to do with our Seattle house
• Build/follow a 2016 "interim budget" (until I leave my job)
• Build/follow a 2016 "post-job budget"

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family! - I think we've done a much better job on this. Not perfect, of course, but more quality time together. M & I have done one date night per month, but alas, not two. Lunches are harder. I'd say we've probably done 5 lunches together this year. 

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. 
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 133. Yes, I've gained weight since last year. Stress, eating poorly & no exercise will do that to you. - You knew there was a big fail coming up, and this is it! :-) I'm currently at 153, so exactly where I started the year. I ran a 5K, have tracked my food & exercise, and I'm actually on track to do the 10,000 minutes of cardio (assuming I have a strong December). So, progress was made, but as I get older, I need to continue to ratchet my calories down, and increase my fitness. 

• Run a 5K, 10K, 15K, & a half marathon, as a 40th birthday gift to myself. Not all in the same day. ;-) 
• Track my food/exercise every day.
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio
• Complete 100 strength workouts.
• Complete 75 stretching workouts. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance. - Although I didn't leave my job, I've done a much better job at stress management (particularly over the last quarter), and have a revised plan for leaving work. 

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave)
• Leave my job in June.
• Take the summer off
• Find a new, flexible job in the fall.

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits. - I will end the year with close to 12 social events with friends (I think I missed one month), I definitely read more than 50 books, and I *started* (emphasis on started) to learn a new skill. I took a meditation class through work & found it fascinating. I haven't done a great job of making it a regular part of my routine, but I'd like to continue practicing. 

• Learn a new skill. I'm thinking of learning a new language, but would be fine with anything: sewing, knitting, expanding my baking, etc.
• Make time for my friends. Do something social at least once per month.
• Read 50 books. 

So, there you have it. A mix of wins, a big failure, and a modest improvement. You can see the biggest area of focus for 2017, in addition to our life adjustments (work, location, etc). How about you? Any goals you have in sight for the end of the year?