Resolution Check-in

There's no point in setting goals if you don't use them for something useful. You can't work toward a goal you've completely forgotten you've set.

That's why I occasionally take a moment to check in with my annual goals and see where I am, how my life has shifted since I set them, and what's going on next.

• Pay off credit card debt - one of my cards will be paid off by December; sudden need to reshift finances, so the other will have to wait until 2012.


• Live within my means - So far so good


• Replace windows and doors on the house - deferred til 2012


• Exercise 300 minutes per week - so far so good


• 4 duathlons with Tri the Parks (and maybe 1 triathlon?) - done 1/4 dus on 4/30, and I'm signed up for that tri on 7/23


• Work on running speed – decrease my 5K time to under 30 minutes, decrease my duathlon time to under 2 hours. This is doggone ambitious. My personal record is average speed of 12-minute miles in a 5K, so I'd have to drop that to under 10 minutes each mile to meet that goal. Let alone do it that quickly in an endurance event!


• Biking a century - still in sight, but I need more distance rides in!


• Log my food 100% of the time, and strive to get 30% of my calories from protein - reevaluating this one currently. I'm trying to decide whether this tool is really working for me, or whether there's another way to tackle this.


• Go on a real vacation with Brett - Probably mini-getaways given schedules


• Hike a bit of the Appalachian trail with Jessica in July - going to be checking airfares today! I've got 90% of my pack ready to go!


• Girls weekend getaway with Kara - still need to work on this


• See my family - Will be visiting Ohio folks just before the hike in July


• Throw a party - Biggest party of my life to be thrown Spring 2012, I'll defer this goal til then.


• Make something beautiful and useful with my new sewing machine - Raw materials have been purchased....


• Finish a draft of one of my stories, and the How to Think Sideways course - done, and done. I've actually finished 2 drafts of the same story, and am working on the next pass through


• Meet minimums on Suite 101 – that’s 180 articles up by this time next year - this one is gone. I've quit Suite. Since the Panda update, it has been hit hard on traffic, and the reward is not worth the time and effort I put into it anymore.


• Regular blog posts on both blogs (goal is 24 minimum posts on each) - Yikes. I did fine with this until mid-March! Writing that novel really took the blog out of me.


• Finish reading the 40 or so books I’ve got on my shelves - I've screamed through several, but I keep adding to the shelf!


• Regular yoga classes, regular massages - I've only missed one massage date so far this year. She comes to the office once every 2 weeks. Have been bad about yoga though.


• Regular morning pages. Really stick with it! - Erm... not so much.


• Habitual self-care, be that wardrobe updates, alone time or a good haircut - this one has been remarkably easy this year. Maybe next year I won't need it to be on the list?

All in all I'd say I'm about 70% on track, which isn't bad, considering how easily a person can get derailed from 22 different goals. Especially with big changes, like getting engaged!