Each year I make an uber list of my goals for the year. I don’t always meet every goal, but I usually meet most of them. Not this year. This year I fell short on almost every goal I set for myself. I started well but didn’t finish (strong or otherwise).
Of the 13 goals I set for myself this year I achieved two. Just two. I became a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and I met my youngest nephew. (I actually got to see him twice.) Other than that I didn’t quite make my goals on everything else.
Some people (my husband) may say that I am too ambitious. That is true, but I know that. I use these lists to push myself, which is why I don’t always meet every goal. But this year there was something more.
Near the end of the year I lost motivation. I lost focus. I lost energy. There are a number of reasons for this, a few you can probably guess and a few that are less obvious. Because of that it’s not just the fact that I didn’t meet my own arbitrary goals that bothered me. It’s that I was on pace to meet many of them then stopped making an effort. Because I make a list of goals there are a usually a some for which I lose interest and momentum by the end of the year, but this year it was everything. I stopped doing everything.
Although there are a few days left in the year I don’t expect many changes in most of these, so here the breakdown of how I did with my 2016 goals:
Family & Friends
- Get professional pictures taken of my family. Nope. Didn’t happen.
- Go out with friends at least once a month. I made it to October, although I’m ashamed of how hard some of those months were. Expect a follow up to this in my 2017 goals.
- Meet my new nephew. Done!
Creative
- Submit to at least 10 theatres or publications. I made 7 submissions only one of which was accepted. I do have my eyes on a few January deadlines though, so I may actually get to 10 by the end of the year. Or maybe not.
Arts & Entertainment
- Read at least 25 books. I was ahead of pace on this as of the middle of year, but I am currently reading my 23rd book (not counting books I read with my children). Close but not quite there.
- Go to at least 10 plays. I went to 8 plays. Again, close. (I did take the kids to two plays this year, but I said I wasn’t going to count those.)
- Watch 50 movies with my husband. We’ve watched 41 shows together so far. Not too bad considering we also watch a bunch of shows that eat into to what could be movie time. For example, we considered watching a movie last night, but watched two episodes of the The Man in the High Castle instead.
Career
- Less Talking, Better Listening. According to my review at work I’m doing better at this, but it’s still a challenge.
- Get my CISSP. Done!
- Get a good professional headshot taken. Nope. Not even close.
Self Care
- Wear red lipstick. I tried this for a while. It’s just not me. For dressy occasions I’m more into a smoky eye.
- Get my overdue massages. Nope. Although I occasionally get short chair massages when they are offered at work, self-care is generally not my my strength.
- No drinking at home during the week. This started out fine, then Nope. Nope. Nope. Which came first: the drinking or the lack of motivation? I don’t know.
Yes, I know it looks like a lot, but if I plotted my progress on a graph you we see the precipitous drop in the last few months of the year. That’s the part that concerns me. I’m hoping that my goals for 2017 will help me get past that. Look for those later in the week.
What did you accomplish this year?
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Kim Z. Dale 