So, 2011′s over and 2012 is upon us – Happy New Year everyone!
I have to admit, 2011 went incredibly quickly and from what I’ve heard and read, a great deal of people are happy that it’s over, seems to have been a really tough year for a lot of people. Was interesting to look back at the post I wrote literally this time last year.
2011 was good for me, I achieved most, if not all, of the goals I set myself, but that’s not to say it was an easy year, I certainly worked incredibly long hours and faced some difficult challenges, but I made it to the end and I’m pleased with the results. If I can maintain the momentum through the next 365 days then I’ll be really happy with myself. I haven’t taken the time to sit and really think about goals for the year, but I’ll certainly do this over the next few days and will put up a post with them.
Last year I put the following goals out there:
- Work on health - I did alright with this, the start of the year I conscious but as I started working too much I quickly lost the momentum, but thanks to the Sleek Geek Challenge I managed to get into a great routine, which will be picked up again on the 15 Jan 2012 once the festive season is over. I bought a mountain bike during 2011 and have used it a lot – the results have been motivating.
- Tanning – Failed on this one horribly, I’ve loved to be tanned and all, but I just find myself preferring to be out of the sun – too many bad things come from the sun and I think I’m just better without spending hours lying under it. Driving a cabriolet does give me plenty of sun though, pity it’s not legal to drive without a top on ;)
- Engage locally - Last year I said this, “There are a number of really talented local web players in our industry and although I’ve been highly annoyed with a lot of them because of the arrogance that’s grown and the continual cleverly phrased tweets used to show off, I’ve decided that I will no longer care about those things and try phase them out of my mind and rather engage with these people, supporting their initiatives and hopefully sharing great information.” and I have to be honest – I didn’t bother, the circle jerk is too annoying and I refuse to put on a fake face to fit in, like most of them do. So, ya, I’ve scouted out new people from the local industry who aren’t caught up in the clicks and have enjoyed building strong relationships on trust.
- Financially – Well, I did it – I bought a house in Harfield Village without touching my savings, which is exactly what the aim was.
- Social - I did well on this one too, I had many braai’s, attended some great events and in general bounced up the social life a lot; this one’s on my 2012 list as well, it makes all the difference.
- Work - #winning
- Blogging - During 2011 I wanted to do more personal blogging and I, unfortunately, didn’t do a great job, or at least didn’t get to where I wanted to be. It takes a fair amount of time to put something into place that allows me to write about my personal life in a way that people can follow the journey. I know because this is how iMod started and the recipe isn’t simple. That being said, I reckon in 2012 I’ll make a plan to re-write the recipe.
- Fishing - One thing I wanted to do in 2011 was take more trips down to the dams and rivers to fish, and although I made it to the dam a number of times, I started to fade towards the end of the year, which is something I need to fix! I need to take a trip during 2012 to somewhere incredible to fish as well as tackle the rivers more often. All in all, I definitely fished more this year than any other year, which is an achievement – bring on the outdoors \o/
- Weekends Away - #winning
- Driving - Haha, I managed this for 6 months and I promise you that it made a huge difference to my life, but as the year got busier, I slacked off. This will need to be on my 2012 list too.
- Hobby - I didn’t manage to get the aquarium going due to space constraints, but I did evolve my bonsai collection in a big way and have put more time into gardening in general; I also started cycling, so I did fairly well on this point now that I think about it.
- Studying - Sigh, didn’t succeed here; I need to enroll, finish my degree and then search for something new to study, I keep missing the registration dates!!
So that’s some feedback on the 2011 year, next list will be for 2012, but I need some time to think about that still :)
Glad to hear you managed to meet most of those goals – good on you :)
I’ve never been very good at goal-setting, but 2011 took it out of me all the same :|
Happy, happy 2012 my friend! Hope you get lots of QT with yourself this year and manage to cross off all the things on your list.
xoxo
I was thinking about how new years resolutions usually fizzle away, so why not make a resolution to do something till the end of Feb. ie. I make a resolution to exercise daily till the end of feb.
I think this will be much easier to stick to and by the time feb is over then you will be feeling so good and have made a habit of it…
…just a random thought :)
@Wogan – Thank you very much, I’m quite pleased with what I achieved during 2011. I must agree, setting goals isn’t something I feel too strongly about, or at least that’s how I felt, now I try to create goals as a way of creating direction, so it’s not so much about achieving them specifically but more about following a path that I feel best suites what I need to achieve. 2011 was a hectic year, I hope 2012 can be more balanced!
@SheBee – Happy Happy Sheebs! I wish you all the best for the year ahead and really hope that we get to sit and have a cocktail together, I’m really upset that I couldn’t see you when you came down recently :(
@Chris – I hear you loud and clear, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t do resolutions, but rather just some goals, so even if they aren’t all reached, some are and that’s motivating. You’re right on the money though, a nice mix of short and long term goals could work well, if you can achieve the short term goal by the end of February, you’ll have the motivation to reach out to achieve those long term goals.