2018 Plans & Goals:
The Good, the Bad, the Incomplete

2018 is finished! Last year, and every year in general, I set out to do stuff.  Here’s how it all went down.

1. Blog at least once a month, and at least 15 times overall for the year. Almost did it; I missed out on September.  However, I wrote 35 blog posts in 2018.  It’s by far the most I’ve ever done.  Grade: B+ (I did miss an entire month after all)
2. Read the Maddaddam Trilogy. I finished the trilogy during my summer break.  Grade: A+
3. Finish my Rosetta Stone Arabic Course. Didn’t finish and didn’t even come close.  I should have set aside some time each day to make this happen, small steps make long journeys, not giant leaps.  Grade: F
4. Do at least one triathlon in a country I’ve never visited / Lose Weight! Weigh 81kg or less before 2019. The triathlon goal died when I re-injured my quadriceps; a problem I’ve been dealing with since 2016. I finished the year weighing in at 98kg. It’s not to say I have been completely inactive. I’ve done a lot of physiotherapy sessions in 2018 because the quad tear didn’t heal properly. That said, I could have gone swimming and used high intensity walking to get to 81kg. The good news is, the physiotherapist says it’s time to start training again.  For now, I’ll be walking instead of running.    Grade: F (for FAT)
5. Use every book in my cookbook collection at least once. I did it!  93 books and 112 recipes later. I’m pleased about this one.  All of the extra practice cooking has really made me sharper in the kitchen.  Some of the recipes and the books brought back memories of my childhood, my old life in Korea, and vacations in far-off lands. Grade: A+
6.  Get at least one article published. Zero progress here and no excuses. Grade: F
7. Become an investor – Invest $xxx this year! Zero progress here as well.  There’s a saying that life is what happens when we’re busy making plans, and it’s quite applicable to this case. I was supposed to work this summer, but a family member suddenly took very ill, so I flew back to Canada on short notice.  This was a double whammy because not only did I lose out on a lot of money, but I also paid a higher price for booking my airline ticket on short notice. I also went home for Christmas for the second time in twenty years.  2018 may have been expensive in this respect; however, the time spent with family is definitely the best investment I could hope to make. Grade: F (the purpose of this goal was to begin laying the foundations for my financial well-being, and that didn’t happen – still, no regrets)
8. Get a project management certification in the first half of 2018. Another shoulda coulda woulda moment for me.  I didn’t get it done in the first half of the year. I didn’t get it done at all. Grade: F
9. Start another Master’s Degree in the latter half of 2018! Didn’t start one. Didn’t want to either. This past fall semester was insanely busy, and as long as half of my year is going to be like that, I won’t be going anywhere near another Master’s Degree.  Grade: F (this time I don’t mind seeing an F on my report card;  bad goal, so bad, it was a terrible goal)
10. No Coke zero and no store-bought sweets in 2018! I did it! And it actually wasn’t that difficult.  I missed the sweets and cola during the first couple weeks of the year. But, after identifying the triggers that led me to drink soda and eat candy, I adapted. Instead of drinking Coke Zero, I had water, and since I often drank Coke Zero while eating sweets, when I eliminated the coke zero, the candy went away with it. And that made all the difference.  Grade: A+

So that’s it. I accomplished 3/10 of my goals completely, 1/10 partially, and failed to achieve the other six.  Overall, I’m really pleased because I feel like I’ve grown this year and made myself better.  I may not have done everything I set out to do, but the goals I didn’t accomplish actually taught me more than the ones where I succeeded.

Looking back on the years and the goals where I failed, I realize that most of the ones I missed out on were due to poor time management.  I should have had a look at the overall time investment I needed for each activity and then checked that against how much time I could spare on a daily/weekly basis.  From there I could have decided if getting them all done was feasible.  Better to do less and do less better. These thoughts will be in the front of my mind as I make my plans for 2019.