Reflection on 2015 Goals

I’ve been putting this off. I had a bunch of goals that I posted publicly; of course, after a year, it’s only right I say how it went. Here goes.

I will admit that I am a bit apprehensive about this; thing did not go as well as I hoped. There are things I succeeded with, and things that I did not, and I find myself in a position of admitting that I failed to basically the entire world. But I think it is always better to look at the world for what it is, rather than how I wish it worked. I will however, give myself credit when credit is due.

As a reminder, these are the goals I set; we’ll be going through them one at a time.

Get a Job #

I got a Job! This was a big goal, the biggest goal. Not only did I get a job, but I got a great job that I love.

I’m working for Mavenlink, and I’m finally a software developer (Thanks, App Academy!) and I get to develop full-stack, which is exactly what I wanted. Our company builds project management software, and I help people have better workflows. Without saying too much, there is a culture and set of business practices that I love and really jell with, so this is a big win for me.

Write 750 Words a Day Without Missing a Single Day #

I did this.

I didn’t think I would.

This is notable because this is the first thing that I did, ever, for every single day a year straight without fail. I’m very proud of myself for this; my total on this site is 450,344 words, which is several novels if I was writing novels with it. This was an awesome habit to do, and it was awesome to have achieved it.

I will note that I am dropping this habit for 2016, because I hit decreasing marginal terms. While it helped prove to myself I can build long term habits, I feel that it stopped at some point making me a better writer; I had a lot of low effort or nonsense days rather than something coherent and edited. I felt fatigue at the end. The writing was no longer helping me move forward. This year I’m focusing on a more structured, quality output.

Keep Track of my Habits #

I track all kinds of habits - from flossing, to my daily check ins, and I’ve begun tracking how much I spend and what I eat. I check in on my habits every day, and have gotten better at this by any objective measure - this is a success.

Get out of debt. #

This is where my tone turns down a bit. This is very uncomfortable for me to admit, but I have more debt this year than last year. I do have reasons, and they are actually very good reasons, I promise, but that doesn’t matter. I still abjectly failed this goal, and I considered it very important.

Long term I am doing things that will improve my financial health, but it’s going to be a long road.

Continue to be frugal and track my money and spending #

I became more aware of my spending, and did cut some things after pledging this. Still, I didn’t oragnize myself and actually track my spending, so this is still a loss.

Write a novel of at least 50,000 words #

I didn’t do this, at all, though I do have outlines.

Get through Rosen’s Discrete Mathematics book #

It was roughly three months in when I realized I did not actually care about this, at all, in any way. It was a lot of work and wasn’t contributing to my life.

Build a Roguelike #

This project also fell by the wayside.

Play a Long Term Tabletop Game #

This actually happened, we got three sessions into a Shadowrun game! People moved away and got jobs and we all became too busy for this, but while it wan it was actually awesome and I’m super happy that it happened. Hoping to make some more time this year!

Get Fit #

I recovered from my broken hand, and I’ve recently squatted my weight! Granted, that was in the beginning of February 2016, but that only happened because of the groundwork I set during 2015. I actively tracked my lifting for several months, got progressively better, lost weight, and built muscle. I call that a win.

This year I want more specific fitness goals - I am still unsatisfied with my body fat percentage, and realize that it is still going to take more active and organized participation on my part. Having something to work towards (this year is a six pack) will keep me accountable for my body. I think last year I was too vague, but I put a lot of work in and got results.

Learn to cook Cheaply, Healthily, and Deliciously #

This goal. I did do this, but I didn’t stick with it. I meal preped for several weeks, and I learned to be clever at what I can make out of office food - I’m willing to call this neural, because I put in a good effort, cut my food spending from going out to chipotle every day, and now I have actual food.

Focus on the Friendships in my life #

I have great fucking freinds. I don’t think there is any way I could appreciate them enough.

And that’s the list.

So, for all the world to see - here is how 2015 went:

 
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