At the start of the year, I set a series of intentions in different areas of my life. It’s time to look back and see how I did.
Daily Routines: I planned to try out a new habit each month and see what stuck in an attempt to level up my daily routines. This did not go well and I ditched this goal in the middle of the year. Around September I fell into a lovely, morning routine that happened most weekday mornings without meaning to. Overall though, this was a fail. I think ultimately this was a goal that deep down I just wasn’t that committed to. I know a lot of people react well to strict routines, but I’ve realised that is not me.
Three times a week is a Habit: I picked gardening, photography and blogging for these and, most months I was home, I was successful with these. I’d rate this an 80% success.
Read 52 books. I read 50 books. I’m pretty happy with that as it was probably my biggest reading year yet. I only read paper or e-books, no audio. I read 16,432 pages which is an average book length of 368 pages.I read 22 fiction books, 13 general non-fiction and and 7 books about faith and theology. This was a 96% success.
Travel: Our trip to Israel was moved to Easter this year but that is now cancelled for obvious reasons. We were looking at booking our son’s trip to Germany for next year but we bought it forward and tacked it onto our US trip. Wilson’s Prom was everything I’d hoped and we enjoyed our stay in Noosa. Our travel was a highlight of our year.
Home: I organised the laundry and kitchen cabinets, got the paintings hung and gallery wall done and the garden planted all in the first part of the year.
Photography: I only got two photobooks printed, but I have one done that I will wait to print once I’ve finished some more. I pulled out and photographed the kids memorabilia from their primary school years. I completed my In the Garden Project. I haven’t edited the video from our trip to Tasmania. 50% successful.
Round the Neighbourhood: We got to know the staff at our local cafe. I altered my walking/running of the neighbourhood to just include Elwood and Brighton. I made substantial progress on this and am currently at 86% of Elwood and 70% of Brighton. I went to a library talk and learned a bit about the Bayside area. Counting this as a success.
Sustainability: I got a bike. I started using the returnr grocery service that delivers groceries in returnable containers.
Run: 2500km for the year. LOL – no! I gave up on this halfway through the year and hoped to at least do more kilometres in the second half of the year which was not to be. Too many episodes of vertigo, colds, vaccine reactions and overseas travel. I ended up running 1585 km for the year. I did make progress on my goal to get a sub 1:50 HM with a new PB at the Gold Coast.
Swim in the ocean at least five times this summer. I did this! I also swam four times while I was in Queensland.
Entertain more. Friends and family at our new place. I think I did this. We had a few large and small gatherings at our place.
Find a new dentist I can walk to. I did this too.
Overall I’m pretty happy with how I did, although the running was disappointing and very frustrating this year. I usually consider my goals something to aim for not things that I must achieve. If I make progress I’m generally pretty happy. I’m not making any goals for this year. I’ve decided to just stick with my 101 list and let my year be guided by my word—renewal.
How do you approach goals? Are you happy if you just make some progress? Do you make goals and then realise they’re not for you?
Comments
14 responses to “2023 Intentions – End of Year Review”
I’m only interested in progress, not perfection. Having the goal to read 52 books and reading 50 is a fantastic result! And yes I’ve most definitely stopped working toward a goal when I’ve realized that it’s not for me. A few years ago running was something that made me very happy and I had so many goals that I was working towards. Then it became something that was not making me happy and I gave it up. What’s the saying, sometimes you have to give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you?
You have to know yourself well to make good decisions re goals I think. It’s good that you didn’t force the running when you weren’t enjoying it.
I think you did a great job on your goals. Some of mine are a way to push myself and so I don’t have to get to the “end” to be happy with the result, whereas some are more number based and I do want to get to the goal. So I guess it depends! I like to also set a mix of goals that are fun vs. maybe a little less fun. For example, “travel to one new country” is one that I would like to do, so I will add things like that so that they are not all just boring and hard and necessary.
Most of the things on my 101 list are fun goals, or things that just add up to a richer life.
I made 23 goals in 2023 and crushed them; that said, I am SO excited to NOT have any goals for 2024.
I think you did great. That is still a lot of running mileage, and I never swim in the ocean (too cold for me – brrr), so major gold stars for that.
Love the bike. I really need to buy a bike in 2024, though we live in a very hilly town so it’s hard to get places easily.
I was lazy and got an e-bike, but a light one so most of the time I can easily ride it with the assist turned off. It’s good if you’re carrying a load into the wind or up a hill and also if you don’t to sweat which happens when I go shopping.
It sounds like you crushed your goals, great job! I’m sorry you weren’t able to run as much as you wanted, injury and illness really make running a lot more difficult than walking.
I love swimming in the ocean, in Hawaii. Here in Northern California, the water is in the 50s, much too cold for me.
I loved seeing your pictures of your trip to New York and Germany, they were amazing!
50F is what our water temp in Melbourne in winter, summer it is cold but more refreshing than uncomfortable take your breath awa.
I’d agree that you did very well. I usually don’t set fixed goals, more like aspirations to work towards. Sure, sometimes a “number” can be nice to reach, but generally, I am looking for progress not perfection. 🙂
THe progressv s perfection thing is why I don’t hold my goals too tightly. I don’t want ot give up just because I won’t hit the target.
Oh yes- it’s so easy to make goals in January that don’t make any sense at all in June. This year I’m trying monthly goals instead of goals for the year- we’ll see how that goes.
I think you did well! Some thing were just out of your control, which I know is frustrating. Still, I would say you made progress with your running- you did have a PB. And I’m envious of your 50 books- every year I have that reading goal and I always fall short. This year I’m determined though (lthough like i said- I’m setting monthly goals- hopefully it comes out to 50 for the year.)
It will be interesting how you ifnd the monthly goals. How will you deal with more long term ones?
I am with you on the mindset of goals. If you are taking just a tiny step closer in achiving your goal it is a success. If you want to read 50 books and read only one it is one more than not reading at all. Of course a bit of a push and challange go a long way and putting some enddate helps move you/me along.
You are exactly right.