A new year. New beginnings, new possibilities, an international celebration of renewal and resolutions. Throughout my childhood and teen years, I would spend weeks pondering my New Year's Resolution, only to usually settle on the same sort of thing. To get straight A's, to be more fit, to be a little less impulsive (turns out that having ADHD can interfere with that, who knew?). When I moved into adulthood I was fully prepared to start mirroring the resolutions of most Americans: to lose weight, to save more money, to eat less fast food. But, as luck would have it, I happened to stumble upon a better way of goal setting, thanks to the online productivity and lifestyle creator Lavendaire. I purchased her 2018 "Artist of Life" planner and the way I saw my goals shifted into something deeper. The planner guides you through your goal setting, starting with where you are now. Forcing you to take the time to write out what inspires you, what drives you, what your dreams are, and why your dreams are. I thought I'd take a moment to publicly share those goals with you here, where I'll be taking you along with me as I pursue them throughout the year. Financial GoalsCREDIT SCORE > 700 Over the past few years my credit has slipped to a point I'm not at all comfortable with and I've decided that this year I want to turn that around. I'd like to try to hit around a 720 by the year's end. SAVE $10,000 I grew up in a paycheck to paycheck household and I continue to live that way now (though that's purposefully budgeted currently, since spare money is going towards debt repayment). I don't want to live that way forever, or even for longer than I absolutely have to. So by the end of the year I'd like to have a minimum of $10,000 in my savings account. DEBT FREE This goal is one I'm super excited for. Based on my current time line, I should be completely debt free by the end of April, which will make the first two goals even easier to achieve! Writing GoalsHAVE > 100 PUBLISHED ARTICLES Currently, I have around 80 articles published. I'd love to hit the triple digits this year and hopefully add a few company names to my portfolio. FINISH MY BOOK DRAFT I'm more than halfway done writing the initial draft of the book I've been working on for ages. I want to have the draft finalized this year and ready to be in the hands of potential publishers. Education GoalsATTEND 1 SEMESTER OF COLLEGE It has been too long since I've had to spend too much money on textbooks and too many hours drinking coffee. It's time. CONVERSATIONAL FLUENCY IN FRENCH I know enough french to say some of the things that need to be said. But I couldn't have a conversation with a native french speaker if my life depended on it. I'd like to change that. Personal GoalsGET A DRIVERS LICENSE
Embarrassing, I know. What kind of person doesn't have a license at 22? I don't want to have to ask that question again next year, so I've decided to make it a priority to have my license by summer 2020. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL I've never done it. Not even once. But I'm thinking this is the year to make it happen. Not in any big way. But it's going to happen. WEIGH UNDER 140 This would be... huge. I haven't weighed under 140 since I was 18, and honestly I didn't know if I would ever get close again. But I weighed in at 145 a few days ago, so I'm feeling pretty ready to tackle the next (and final) milestone. There you have it. My main goals for the year. I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting (I'm going off of a google doc and my poor memory, since I left my Artist of Life workbook at home (foolish, right?). I'm also sure that more goals will pop up as I cross the finish line of the others. But that's life, right? Pursuing dreams until they're your reality, and then making that dream just a little wider.
Comments
|