As 2015 ends it is time for me to look back on my goals for the year. Before I take score against my uber list I like to reflect on some of the unplanned accomplishments and good news of the year, if only to make me feel better about the goals I failed to meet.
Here were some of my unexpected highlights of 2015:
- Got a full-time job rather than continuing to be a contractor (This was definitely a goal, but one that wasn’t completely in my control, which is why it wasn’t achieved in 2014 as I would have liked),
- Saw one of my plays performed,
- Wrote and published a serialized fiction story,
- Had an essay I wrote published in a book,
- Shared a story at a live artists’ salon, and
- Became a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
That’s a pretty good year, despite the fact that I didn’t meet many of my declared 2015 goals as you will see below.
2015 goals achieved
- Go to at least 25 playgrounds. We went to 25 different Chicago area playgrounds rather than sticking to our usual handful. It was fun to explore new places with my kids.
- Visit Pittsburgh. Not only did I go, I went twice. First I went to see the play mentioned above. Then I went for an alumni reunion associated with the opening of a new theatre at my old school. Despite two visits I still didn’t get to see everyone I would want to, but it was fun.
Unfortunately, that was it for goals achieved as written.
2015 goals for which partial credit was earned
There were a few goals I didn’t complete as written, but I did something close.
- Get my CISSP. That new job I mentioned won’t pay for me to get my Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification until I have a CISA certification, which is why I changed my certification priorities. Now that I have my CISA though, you can probably guess what will be one of my 2016 goals.
- Write a new one- act play and at least outline a new full-length play. I did not do that, but my intent was to work on a substantive creative work. I think writing The October Diary counts.
- Tackle the back office sublist. I did a lot of it, but there are still a few straggling tasks left.
2015 goals that I did not achieve
- Build my personal website. Except for an hour or so spent browsing SquareSpace and WordPress templates I didn’t do anything for this.
- Go to yoga 12 times. I started out well, but lost momentum around March.
- Lose 10 pounds. Technically I did do this, but only because I gained 10 pounds in the first part of the year that I later managed to lose. I’m ending this year at the same weight I ended last year, which was definitely not the intent of this goal.
- Organizing the office and basement. For years with these I feel like I take two steps forward then something happens that makes me take two steps back. It’s like Paula Abdul and M.C. Skat Kat are my organization coaches with some additional help from Sisyphus. Maybe next year. Ugh.
So now I need to make some goals for 2016, and hopefully I’ll do a better job of achieving them. I already declared a couple of goals that I know will be challenging.
How was your year? Did you achieve what you set out to do?
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Kim Z. Dale 