2020 Goals in Review

Dear friends I haven’t met yet,

     Last year I made public my goals for the year, and how I’d broken them down. I found flaws and boons both in it, and I’d like to go over how my goals went in this hectic year, and what I’d change for 2021.

     First, the goals themselves. With the pandemic, we are renting our own apartment instead of buying a house. I didn’t help with that much; it was almost chance we even saw there was an open unit. Also due to the pandemic, I ended up doing more strength training in the summer when I had the opportunity, and using a bike machine most of the rest of the time. So while I couldn’t run a 5k, I was able to bike one without thinking about it. My spiritual journey was also held up, but unpredictable progress was made. While I worked on New Flame some, the spark had died. However, I’m working on rekindling (hah) it so I can continue in 2021. For now I’m trying to plot a webnovel so people can actually see some of my fiction, sooner rather than later! Due in part to there being no places to dance, I did not end up learning a new dance. However, I’m still happy that was in my goals, even if I made no progress towards it.

SUMMARY: I didn't really meet my goals, pandemic and all.

     As for the logistics, everything got derailed. I had some backups for this that I talked about in last year’s goals post. In the personal spectrum, I was sick for most of January. So, I pushed what I was doing until October, as I had plans for what to do each month until September just in case something like that happened. But then with the pandemic, all my habits fell apart, especially before we got an apartment and as time went on. It was self care to keep things minimalistic this year.

     Around November, I got tired of being minimalistic. I started a junk journal that was just for stream of consciousness writing for a set number of pages. I filled the whole thing in November. It was easier than trying to write any specific thing, and therapeutic. Then I wanted to do more again, feeling like if I could write 1500 words a day and it could help me feel better, I could do other things to help me feel better too. I cleaned up my erratic sleep schedule and started doing old habits again (mainly from the Miracle Morning I created,) after doing research and introspection about what would be best for someone who was as depressed as I was. (I reached a notable low in October or so, so this was a big deal.)

     I restarted my exercise goal based on articles I’d read that year and how I’d felt exercising in the past: 2 miles of biking a day, as fast as I could do while pacing myself, or just about 10 minutes a day. Small. Doable. Unintimidating. I couldn’t go for a run in my new neighborhood, but I could do this.

      I found habits were all well and good, and could help me reach my goals, but I needed more goals. I needed smaller goals. Not just daily ones, which were very small, but things that could be reached in a week or month instead of as far out as a year or more. Then even if I got derailed again, I could see how I’d actually accomplished something great. I mainly started realising this in November when I broke down my daily junk writing into 25 minute sessions where I tried to write 2.5 pages before the timer ran out. And then I’d do it again. And then I’d try to write a certain amount a week. And of course, there was trying to fill the notebook by the end of the month. Incremental goals, in short-, mid-, and long-term ranges.

SUMMARY: Things got derailed in various ways. When I tried picking up good habits again around November, I realised I needed goals for short-, mid-, and long-term.

     Next year, I intend on making plans for not just doing the habits, but goals for what the habit is supposed to produce. Taking last years goals for instance: Sure, be able to run a 5k! But also have ran 500k in total, perhaps, and try to run 40-50k per month, and 1-2k per day. And have that all based on my current capabilities, instead of trying to project that my capabilities will get better as the year progresses.

     One failing of last year was making goals I couldn’t predict I’d be ready for—for instance, that I’d be ready to write my novel for an hour a day, every day, six days a week, when I was barely close to being able to make any progress in a day.

     Of course, I should still try to be ambitious, but I should be ambitious without trying to predict the future. It’s a balance, and perhaps the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction this year and I will miss the middle once again. No matter; just like in 2020, I will learn, and do better going forward.

SUMMARY: Next year I intend on making concrete goals besides "make this a habit" to keep me on track for why I made that habit in the first place. I will also stop trying to predict the future! That way I can be more realistic about what I'll be capable of in a year.

     See you next year.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Your Life Can Be Better: Using Strategies for Adult ADD/ADHD by Douglas A Puryear MD

Many, many Healthline articles on ADHD, depression, bipolar, etc.

Nerdfitness articles: 7 Emergency Hacks to Stay Healthy in the Winter, What is SAD?, How to Start Meditating