Last October, I posted a few goals for 2013 (here’s a link to the post). I realized recently that we are halfway through the year. That’s a good time to check in. If I’m making progress, great. If I’m not, there’s still time to regroup.
So how am I doing?
On the professional front, I finished a draft of my novel. It’s in my agent’s hands now. I have no idea how the publishing industry will view it, but I’m happy with it.
I have not yet fully formed the next non-fiction book idea, though I have some ideas churning. That’s somewhere to focus over the next 6 months.
My 2 short ebooks (on work and weekends) came out this spring. Now I’m prepping for the launch of the paperback compilation in late August.
As for doubling blog readership, I should have recorded what precisely it was back in January. That would have made this goal more measurable! Oh well. I can see it’s growing regularly — and I am making plans to work on that some more.
On the personal front, I wanted to run 1000 miles in 2013. Despite training for (and finishing!) the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon in June, I hit June 30 with a total of 434.5 miles, which puts me well under the 500 I should have hit by that point. In order to hit 1000 miles for the year, I’ll need to run 565.5 in the next 6 months, which is just shy of 95 miles a month. That’s a lot of miles. While it is doable, I’m not sure I’m going to make it a priority. I may just decide to do 500 in the next 6 months (83-34/month). I hit that in 3 of the first 6 months of the year, so I know that is possible. I dislike not hitting a goal, but I also don’t want to get injured, which would rapidly drop my potential mileage total for the year.
I wanted to take some good trips as a family, including one to a national park out west. We hit Olympic National Park and Mt. Rainier National Park this June, so that’s a win.
How are you doing on your 2013 goals?
Photo courtesy flickr user -hollycore
I can’t remember what the first two were, but I did them. Oh wait, one was getting my hair cut. Still drawing a blank on the second.
I don’t think I’ll probably ever get those pants hemmed though.
@nicoleandmaggie – maybe it’s just time to buy new pants…
These ARE new pants. As in, never been worn. That’s why they need to be hemmed. Besides, buying new ones would take more time than hemming, and is even less likely to happen.
One of the upsides of living where we did in NYC was that there was a tailor in the bottom of our building. I’d just walk down there in my unhemmed pants, get them marked, walk up and take them off, then drop them off next time I walked down. Now, it’s much more of a ridiculous process of driving somewhere.
Yeah, there was a dry cleaner/tailor on my walk to work in grad school. It was convenient!
Also not having kids helped.
I am making good progress on both our family fun list and my personal fun list (see http://www.wandering-scientist.com/2013/01/2013-family-fun-list.html and http://www.wandering-scientist.com/2013/01/2013-personal-fun-list.html). Work (as in my real job that I’m paid to do) is going well and my group is hitting most of its goals, although sometimes a bit late. My personal projects goals, though… those are suffering. If I’m serious about doing those, I need to get going! I have another children’s story to clean up and submit for consideration and I wanted to try writing an app… but am now thinking I might do another website instead. I need to decide and start doing.
On the pants thing… I am lucky to be roughly the height that clothing manufacturers expect for my size. It is something I am very thankful for!
@Cloud – well, there are still 5.5 months left to go 🙂 Sorry it took a while to post your comment — 2 links triggers the spam filter.
What this exercise has reminded me is why it’s good to be specific. I’m feeling good about knowing I’m making progress on major goals — it also is making me look at my weekly to-do lists and be sure there’s something advancing me toward those goals.
My goals were pretty limited and basic:
(1) getting myself into the same shape I was in in August 2011 (body weight, running speed/distance, weights lifted, etc);
(2) switch jobs to a position with greater responsibility and control of my schedule. This is part of a larger plan to change my job/career to one with a lot more control or predictability.
Complete fail on part 1 and success on part 2, or least I hope so, because I’ve made the leap. Still early days, though.
Thinking about making a list of resolutions for the second half of the year.
@WG – nice job on #2. And as for #1, there’s still a lot of time in the year… That’s why I like these half-year check ins.
Thanks! I’m excited. As for #1, you are right, and summer is the best time to restart a health program.
My goal for this year was to take a break from personal goals and not stress over it. I’ve only partially succeeded (I keep making unofficial goals in my head, and then stressing when I can’t make them happen).
@Ana – I think this may be a personality type thing… Making goals doesn’t seem like something associated with stress to me, though this is definitely one of the responses I get a lot (that it seems stressful or regimented or doesn’t allow for the complexity of life). Maybe it’s my planning side. I’m going to miss my 1000 mile goal, but I’m the only one who cares. And I’m not stressed because I’m pretty forgiving of myself 😉
I think of stuff that I want to do but won’t beat myself up for not doing as my bucket list. Goals (and resolutions) are something that have a timeline and responsibility attached.
Now, goal theory probably has a different definition of goal than what I think of colloquially.
(Getting my pants hemmed is not on my bucket list.)
That is exactly what I’m working on—being more forgiving of myself. I decided for a change this year—I generally make tons of goals—probably too many—and my focus is diluted and nothing really gets done. I love your goals—they are focused & measurable, but also flexible (i.e. if something came in April & you couldn’t run at all, you’d still have 11 months to make it up vs. a goal saying “run 20 miles every week” which you could fail at for one week & feel defeated). Maybe I just need to learn to set better goals! (I DO indeed set goals for work, and have been doing quite well on those this year).
Two major goals for this year:
1) get moved into our new home and -make- it a home: pretty much done! I just need to hang the mirror on the wall in our bedroom and it is complete. I had a professional decorator come in and give us ideas on how to make it functional and pretty. It’s a great gift to all of us.
2) Turn my less-than-one-year-old naturopathic medical practice into something that -makes me money- as opposed to costs me money. Realistically I know that for most ND’s the first 3 years of practice ends up being either a loss or just breaking even. I don’t want to settle for that, but we shall see how that goes. I need to get more on top of this, it is amazing how running the day-to-day of life gets in the way of really getting important goals met.
How do people track their daily, weekly, yearly tasks/goals? (i.e., in one notebook that you refer to everyday, excel, etc?)
I’m trying out my hand at limiting my to-do list (which is a huge change for me). It’s odd not to have all the tasks “follow” me.