Goals for 2018! (And a recap of how 2017 went...)

Happy New Year! Time to check in on how I did with my goals for 2017 and set some goals for 2018.

Recap of 2017, starting out with the things I did well on -

* Writing a little about each day in my notebook - check! I actually did it! I had to catch up a day late every once in a while since I had a number of long work days last year (in addition to the usual Wednesday nights), but I did actually write something for every day. Given what a ridiculous year it was (both in the world at large and for me personally), it will be interesting to go back and read some of it in the future. Among other things I ended up doing in 2017 that I never imagined I would - attended the Women's March and the March for Science. Never attended an organized march in my life and then I go to two in 2017!

* Read 30 books for my Goodreads Challenge - check! Actually made it to 31 by the end of the year.

* Yes, I did get a haircut. Two of them actually. :)

* Dry January - check!

Now for the ones I did moderately well on or totally bombed -

* Digital security improvements - I did make some progress on this, but I still have some duplicate and old (weak-ish) passwords that need updating and there are still some things I need to add 2FA to.

* Health things - a had some stretches where I did eat much better and even managed to lose some weight... before blowing it all in the last month of the year. I was on and off with monitoring my blood pressure too, but for the most part it's been pretty good. I did okay with walking more, but that was mostly just a side-effect of how busy work was last year! I didn't get an eye exam, but I did get an abdominal scan which confirmed what I already was pretty sure of - I have gall stones and will need to eventually get my gall bladder removed. But as long as I'm eating moderately well and not drinking too much, I haven't had too many twinges (and I have never had a full-blown "oh my god I think I'm dying!" attack). I also didn't do too hot on the regular arm and core exercises.

* Clearing stuff out of the apartment - I didn't get stuff to Half Price, but I did do a thorough clear-out and reorganization and did take some stuff to charity shops.

* More stitching - nope. I think I did *some* stitching earlier in the year, but not much. Although I did build some 3-D puzzles and Lego kits, so at least I did have an outlet for making things in 2017!


And now for 2018!

A lot of these are going to be re-dos of the things I didn't do in 2017 since they are things I really do need to accomplish! The overall theme for 2018 is going to be "clearing out the backlog" - whether it applies to digital and physical stuff, health, and money (i.e. debt).

* Health goals - Dry January again (pretty good track record on this one). Really get an eye exam this year. Eat better and actually try to lose a quantifiable number of pounds - realistically 15 lbs, but ambitiously 30 lbs. Tone some of the flab - arm and core exercises and get more cardio. My lungs have always been problematic, but I really shouldn't be huffing and puffing after a couple of flights of stairs. Keep monitoring my blood pressure regularly.

* Goodreads Challenge - I set the goal for only 20 books this year because the other entertainment backlogs will probably steal some of my reading (and audiobook listening) time. But some of the backlog is still comic books so if I count collected volumes again I might blow past 20 pretty easily so I might up the goal at the mid-point of the year.

* Home stuff - take books to Half Price and more stuff to charity shops/freecycle. Finally get a few minor repairs done that I've been lazy about putting in work requests for.

* Digital security - continue updating old passwords and continue to add two-factor authentication where possible.

* Financial - A couple of years ago I made a big step towards getting a lot of my debt paid and I'm continuing to work on that. But I need to cut back on the monthly expenses, including impulse shopping. It's amazing how 2-day shipping is as bad as walking into a store!

* Media backlog - back issues of BBC History Magazine, comic books, non-Audible audiobooks, back catalog on a couple of podcasts, YouTube channels (including the only four Crash Course subjects I haven't watched yet), final seasons of a surprisingly large number of TV shows that have ended that I didn't finish watching, and finally play more of the old video games that have been in my Steam library and on my iPad for way too long.

I'm not expecting 2018 to be quite as busy at work as 2017 was so I'm going to really try to not use work as an excuse for stuff this year, especially since last year I managed to survive some of the busiest stretches of work I've ever had. The first week back (all three days of it) was pretty nuts, so that might not bode well, but there aren't as many big things on the calendar this year so I am counting on it not to be nearly as bad as last year. I ended up taking a bunch of time off in the summer to avoid losing vacation time since I wasn't able to take much time during the rest of the year - and the time I did take off was often to use up comp time!

Well, let's see how 2018 shakes out!