First the traditional review of my 2011 goals (as I prefer to call them):
1. I declared 2011 to be National Eat Right And Get Some Exercise I Mean Seriously Come On Year, otherwise known as NERAGSEIMSCOY.
I did ok with this but not great, particularly on the eating right bit. I got more exercise than I've gotten in any other year of my adult life other than 2010, but it was significantly less than 2010 and that's not good. I definitely need to get back on this.
2. I also called 2011 Dude I'm Not Even Kidding Stop Being a Jerk And Stay In Touch Year, or DINEKSBAJASITY, in hopes that I would do a better job of showing the people that I love how much I care about them, and do so on a regular basis.
I did better in this area than I have in a very long time, but I also had some serious failures and that makes me unhappy. It's hard to be happy about the successes here when I think of the many times that I've failed.
3. I set a goal to post on my blog more often than I had been before, which was maybe once a month or so on average. I hoped for once a week.
At first glance this appears to be an utter failure because the very last entry on my old blog was these resolutions. But in fact that was completely on purpose. Some things happened shortly after that post that made me not want to post there anymore, which is why I'm starting a new blog now. I have written in the interim; I just haven't posted it publicly. So I'm content with this because I know that it's not the failure that it appears to be.
4. I hoped to make at least a few videos and post them on YouTube.
Ugh, this one hurts because I really have tried hard and often. I just haven't been able to find a decent place to do it where I would have decent lighting and a good camera angle and so forth, and I've also had trouble figuring my camera out. I have a couple of videos completely planned; when I find a way and a place to do them, they will be done.
5. And finally, I wanted to get the (main) book I'm writing from ~20k to at least 50k "solid, reasonably well edited words".
I didn't exactly do this, but I'm fairly happy with what I did. I didn't write 30k words on the one book, but I did write a total of maybe 25k on all three of the books that I have in my head. That isn't much, but the second and third books both require extensive research, of which I did quite a lot, and it was time consuming. Still, I can't deny that I should have done much more. I'll be working on this again in 2012.
So what's the plan for this year? Well, it's basically the same as last year, with a few refinements, mostly in terms of making them more specific. So now, without further ado:
My Goals for 2012*
1. To lose at least 1 lb per week and to go to the gym at least 2 times per week (AKA Edi's 2nd Annual NERAGSEIMSCOY)
2. To send Christmas cards or emails to everyone in my address book AND birthday cards, emails, or other greetings to all of them whose birthdays I know; to say "I love you" to at least 3 people per week IN ADDITION TO the three people to whom I already say it regularly; and to give kisses and/or hugs to at least 3 people per week IN ADDITION TO the three people to whom I already regularly give them (AKA Edi's 2nd Annual DINEKSBAJASITY)
3. To post something in this blog at least once per month
4. To make at least 3 videos and post them to YouTube
5. To write a total of at least 50,000 words on any or all of my three book drafts
These aren't terribly difficult goals in the big scheme of things but they're all things that are moderately to extremely difficult for me. I know I'll struggle with them to various degrees.
Losing weight is pretty easy for me if I put my mind to it and remember to care. Caring enough to bother is the tough part but I know that I need to do it so I'm going to try hard.
Writing is also easy for me and I love doing it, but carving time out of my schedule for it is almost always a challenge.
By far the hardest goals to meet will be the gym, the interpersonal stuff, and the videos. The first two are things that I've always struggled with a lot but I want very much to do better, and the third is something that interests and excites me, but that has given me logistical problems. Here's hoping that I can overcome obstacles of all kinds and conquer these goals this time around.
So yeah. That's what I have in mind. Thank you so much if you care enough about my thoughts to have read this far! Comments and questions are welcomed. I'd love to hear what you think.
<3
* (defined for my purposes as "between now and next February 1")
