Goals Not Resolutions

Keeping my promises to myself.

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash

I used to be like so many people on New Year’s Eve. “This is my year. I’m going to get healthy and lose weight.”

And then I’d wake up in the morning, slightly hungover, with no plan.

I’m sure you know where that story ends up.

Yup, with me being overweight and unhealthy.

In 2019, I decided to try something new. I wanted to theme my year and set goals to that theme.

2019 was Fearless. I ran my first Tough Mudder, dropped 30 pounds, and ran my first 5K race.

2020 was All In. I think we can agree to never mention 2020 again. My goals went kind of to crap because almost all of my races went virtual or canceled all together and my gym shut down for months.

2021 is the year of Fierce. I’ve set myself 20 goals, some of which are just things that really need to be cleared off of my to do lists (hello organizing my external hard drive and getting rid of duplicate files), some are harder (I want to get to 50 burpees without stopping because I’m stupid), all are designed to get me to the place in my life where I want to be.

I know my mindset going into this year has been different than in years past. I have solid goals that I’ve broken down into quarterly chunks, monthly bites, and weekly bites. Every month, I plan to go over my goals to make sure I’m still on track. I’m close to completing a couple of them, so I’m more than on track for where I want to be.

What are my lofty goals for the year?

1. Read 52 books. I’m a voracious reader, but video games and other distractions get in the way too often for my taste.
2. Write 4 books. Dear lord, the number of partial finished books sitting waiting for the day I get them done is staggering.
3. Write 52 blog posts or Medium posts.
4. Start a podcast or YouTube channel.
5. Make it to the top of the rope at my gym.
6. Weight loss goal. I’m not telling what it is.
7. Clothing size goal. Again, super personal.
8. Be able to do 10 pull-ups with no assistance bands.
9. 50 continuous burpees. Because I’m crazy.
10. Back roll from laying on the ground. Super close to this one already. Just needs a tiny bit of refinement.
11. Stretch daily for at least 3 months. My flexibility is crap.
12. Run 6 5Ks with the majority having PRs. The shortened version of last year’s goal.
13. Complete 4 30 day challenges.
14. Pay off my car.
15. Pay off a credit card.
16. Savings goal.
17. Finish a friend’s blanket.
18. Try 4 new recipes. Because my current ones are repetitive and getting boring.
19. Organize my D drive.
20. Organize my external hard drive.

More goals my get added as the year goes on and I start knocking some of these out. I’ll keep you updated as to my progress.

What are your plans and goals for the year?