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A rundown of my 2019 goals
So here we go again. New year, new you; make 2019 the best year ever, etc. etc. I get a bit cynical about New Years Resolutions and the belief that people can change their behaviour overnight just because we’ve rung in a new year.
That said, I do get excited about creating clear action-based goals that encourage us to develop better habits and new skills over the course of a year. Last year, defining my intentions for 2018 and following a clear plan for achieving my goals worked wonders. As I was writing my 2018 Annual Review, I was really chuffed to see how far I’d come from my initial hopes and dreams in January, and I could see the value of replicating the process again in 2019.
Formulating new goals for 2019
Over the Christmas break, I was happy to take a breather from discipline, routine, and forward planning, so I dragged my feet a little on defining my goals. But after New Year, I opened a fresh document on Word, and tentatively started defining what I want to achieve this year.
While doing this exercise, I envisioned the general outcomes I’d like by end of the year. I then drilled down and defined the actions I would need to take each day, week, or month in order to achieve it. Afterwards, I estimated how much time I would need to dedicate to it as a maximum, and whether I would schedule it for morning, afternoon, or evening. I also have a column for steps to take over the next week (this column will be updated on a daily/weekly basis).
The matrix I ended up creating for myself looks like this:
Getting specific
I feel blessed to not be chained to an office desk at the moment and have all the time in the world to dedicate to my goals, but this is also dangerous territory.
Unstructured time means I can spend a whole morning playing Spider Solitaire (yes I still play it, and yes that’s how I whiled away a few hours yesterday). On the other hand, it could mean working like crazy on side hustles without taking a breather to actually enjoy my time and freedom. I didn’t quit a relatively comfy job just to be a slave to my laptop.
So that’s why I’m getting quite specific on how much time I would ideally spend on each goal, leaving enough time for other fun stuff. It also means that I’m using my time in a way that matches my concentration and energy levels. I’m much better at being focused and creative in the morning, so I’ll use mornings for writing, for example.
Also, you’ll notice my goals aren’t anchored around specific targets I can’t control. I can certainly wish to make a certain amount in side hustle income, or attain a certain number of blog hits, but I can’t control those results. What I can control are actions that might lead to that outcome.
My goals for 2019
This is what I will be working on over the next year:
Side hustles and blogging
Notes:
- I haven’t written about it on here yet, but yes I started an Etsy store! I’ll give it some time before writing about my experience.
- I’ve been playing around with Matched Betting. It’s been giving me a bit of a headache, hence why “familiar and comfortable” is part of the goal…
- I’m going to be remain passive on the freelancing front – I’m not actively looking for more opportunities for now.
- I’m going to keep blogging once a week – I found it helps to keep me disciplined, gives me new skills, and keeps me accountable. I also really like being part of the blogging community.
Learning
Financial
Notes:
- For someone quite obsessed with tracking my expenses and updating my financial spreadsheet, this goal is quite wishy-washy. I don’t have a savings goal, because I will have a tiny/irregular income until I get a new job, and I’m not setting a net worth goal because the markets will do whatever they do.
- In December I did have a vague goal of keeping my expenses to £1,000 month but that’s already been blown out of the water after a couple of trips to Boots Opticians!
- I have already re-started regular savings into my stocks and shares ISA (I stopped while in Thailand because I was non-resident).
- I need to figure out what to do with future pension contributions.
- Although my existing pension is invested in a so-called “ethical fund”, I want to explore other ethical options.
Health
Other goals
- I plan to make room for more travel in 2019. Since I’ll be back in Europe most of the year, I’d like to see more countries in this region, and ideally go to at least two countries I haven’t been to yet.
- This is not so much a goal but an aspiration (and somewhat undermined by the goal above): I want to be more environmentally-friendly. I used to be so militant about waste and preserving energy, but in Thailand where plastic is king and recycling doesn’t really exist, my usual green lifestyle was really hard to maintain. I’m starting off the year with Veganuary, which will at least minimise the impact of my food choices on the environment.
That’s a wrap on my goals for the year! They will no doubt evolve slightly throughout the year, but I’ll be updating you on my progress every month.
Do you have goals you’re excited about this year? Comment below!
Wow, those are some meaty goals there, Mindy, all challenging I would say. Intresting how you allocate the time to spend on them but this makes sense as you need the structure so that you can give the right amount of focus on each of them.
I wondered how you would get on with matched betting, it can take a while to get used to (or you might realise that it’s not something you want to continue).
As regards to environmentally-friendly, I’m already started to make a conscious effort – my latest trip to HK was the first where I didn’t buy any bottled water at all (main place is at the airport) – I carried a water bottle and used the free drinking fountains. It’s a start ad although I didn’t set it as a goal, I might try to see if I can go a whole year without buying bottled water.
All the very best with your goals, I look forward to reading your updates and cheering you on from the sides!
I’m still wrapping my head around MB – it’s taking a while to understand how it works, and all the lingo. Plus some of the websites completely fail to function on my computer! There was lots of frustration over the first few days for sure.
That’s great that you didn’t buy any bottled water. I struggle with that sometimes- even though I carry my water bottle everywhere, often there just aren’t public water fountains. I actually find airports one of the easiest places to refill. My partner and I actually had the idea to build an app showing where all the water fountains are in airports around the world!
“My partner and I actually had the idea to build an app showing where all the water fountains are in airports around the world!” What a fabulous idea! Get on it before someone else does!
Nice job Mindy. I love the preciseness and range of your targets. I also love the reasoning behind the hours. Ensuring that you budget enough time for work AND play seems a very sensible approach.
I’ve bounced back and forth on the idea that my goals should be in my control. That makes a lot of sense and inputs are ultimately all we CAN influence, What I also think though is that the outcome is often what I really want. So, with things like pageviews I know I want people to read my blog but I can’t directly influence that. What I can do though is to try different strategies to achieve that. What I’ve ended up with as a result is a mix of things I can control but also some outcomes I want to achieve when I don’t yet know what the inputs are that are going to achieve those outcomes. Does that make any sense at all?!?!
In any case good luck with achieving your goals!
Yes I totally understand!! I think that as the year gets going I might put some actual figures to some goals as well in order to motivate myself further.
That’s alotta goals!
I love the hours per week idea which makes perfect sense and I have no reason why I’ve not thought of that before.
A few years ago I just spouted about 20 goals onto the page with no thought of the time it might take, and I had a full time job at the time so well! What a Muppet.
Good look with achieving all you wish to, you sound very organised and motivated so I have every faith that you’ll smash it Mindy!
Thanks TFS! I may project the idea that I’m organised and motivated, but real-life can be far from it, hence using this blog for accountability! Look forward to also reading what you have planned for this year 🙂
I really like the way you’ve set out your goals – they’re not vague, but actionable and, as long as you put in the effort, achievable. I think I’m going to use this as inspiration when I set myself a few goals for the upcoming year.
Good luck with the matched betting. I found that with practise you get better and quicker at the offers. I think the first time I tried it, it took me about an hour to sign up to a bookie, deposit money, place a qualifying bet, etc. It was all very nerve wracking! But now it’s pretty natural and I can do the whole process in a few minutes. If anything, I’ve become complacent with it, and need to start challenging myself with new types of MB to earn more money!
I actually recently started using Duolingo after reading about it previously on your blog. It’s far too early to say if I find it effective or not, but it is pretty fun, and the streaks and scores (and therefore, competition with my girlfriend!) make it easy to find 10-15 minutes a day to complete a lesson.
Thanks Dr FIRE. I’m always experimenting with goal setting and the best approach to use. I like this one because it’s very clear and actionable, so I know the bare minimum I should be trying to achieve in a week. But I’ll review it in a couple of months to assess whether it’s still working for me. I look forward to reading what you have planned for 2019!
I’m into my third week of MB now. I am much quicker, but do still get a bit panicky about placing bets in case I make a mistake!
Glad you and your girlfriend are having fun with Duolingo! I think the fact that it encourages regular learning is the most effective thing about it.
Great post. I also created a better spreadsheet tracking system to monitor my goals in 2019, and so it’s great to see examples of what yours looks like. Best of luck with all of your goals in 2019!
Thanks Maria! Good luck with your 2019 goals too 🙂