2017: An Honest Evaluation

I put goals in two categories. Either they are passing successes (only achieved if I complete the goal exactly as I had it written) or they are a total failure. Since I seldom deem anything perfect, my goal evaluations are mostly negative and discouraging.

I don’t want this to happen this year. I want to look at 2017 honestly. I want to enjoy the success and learn from the downfalls. So that’s what I’m going to do today. Here’s how I did on my goals from 2017:

 

  1. The Reading Challenge. I ended up reading 33 books from the main list, plus 5 from the advanced list (I couldn’t help myself). I learned about some new genres, especially steampunk, found some new favorite authors, and had some laughs about terrible books that I read just for the challenge. I also read some books that didn’t fit on the list, just because I wanted to try them. Overall, the challenge helped me with what I wanted, which was consistent reading even when I was busy and an expanded reading repertoire.
  2. The Writing Challenge. I did not do this well. I think my biggest problem was finding a time to consistently write every day. If I try something like this again, I should figure out a better system before I begin.
  3. Anne’s Earworms. This was a fun way to find new things to write about. Although I only wrote 29 Earworms. I enjoyed trying to find new artists and songs, and finding interesting ways to talk about old ones. I want to keep doing these posts, so I can improve in consistency and in creativity.
  4. The Bible in a Year. I did it! I had to do some catch up days, but I completed the Bible in a year. With this I wanted to prove to myself that I could, to grow closer to God, and to learn more about the Bible. This upcoming year I think I’ll do a different Bible reading plan, but this one was awesome.
  5. Audible. This challenge was an unqualified success. I loved listening to audiobooks, and I found a few series that I listened through. Even now I’m still listening, currently swimming in a fantastic reading of Sherlock Holmes.

 

Overall, I did well on my goals. I have room to improve, and successes to celebrate, and I’m ready to move on to a few new goals. The biggest problem I had in 2017 was having too many goals to balance, so I’ve decided to cut back from so many year-long goals and try a few quarterly goals. Here are my three goals for January, February, and March of 2018:

 

  1. Find and complete a new Bible study. Since my school semester is starting up again in a couple weeks, I want to find something to keep me in the Bible even when I get busy.
  2. Read for 20 minutes. 6 days a week. This will help me continue to grow my mind and stay relaxed.
  3. Raise $8,000. I am currently saving money for a study abroad program to Salzburg in the summer, and I’m also saving to stay in college debt-free. Because of this, I’m trying to raise some money by teaching, hosting murder mystery parties, and the like.

 

What are your 2018 goals? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

 

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