Despite my intuition-driven, roll-with-the-punches nature, I also firmly believe in the values of setting goals. And I’m not talking about the New Year’s resolution type nonsense, but more of a concrete achievable thing, along with the “hows”. In addition to setting personal goals this year, we also had a family discussion about what our collective goals should be. This post is a look at those goals, along with some of my thoughts on each.
PERSONAL GOALS
- Read 60 books this year. I set a reading goal of a 50-book pace in the middle of the year last year along with some concrete steps to get there, and started tracking my reading seriously for the first time in quite a while. I read over 30 books in the last half of 2018, and hope to continue that pace for a year in 2019. It will certainly be challenging, but in my Reading Strategy post, I’ll talk about how I plan to do that.
- Figure out the next phase for Exeq (and by extension, myself). We’re going through some great changes at Exeq right now, and I’m excited about where it all could lead. It’s a bit too early right now to discuss, but could end up in a very exciting place for myself professionally. Goal for 2019 is not to drop this ball.
- Make progress on a novel. If you can’t tell, I enjoy writing. I’ve had a world in my head for literally decades now, and I need to get it on paper. I don’t think I’ll actually finish a novel this year, but I want to make substantial progress on it (namely, a fairly firm plot outline).
- Blog weekly. It’s been a few years since I wrote with any substantial regularity outside of my professional life. I’ve enjoyed writing here thus far, and hope to continue doing so, with a goal of writing at least 52 posts in 2019.
FAMILY GOALS
The way we determined these is literally going around the dinner table and everyone gets one goal, no matter how ambitious. Miranda and I whittled them down to within reason, and here’s the list along with the likelihood that it gets done, at least in my opinion. Pretty interesting to hear the suggestions.
- Take 2 family trips this year. This one is pretty straightforward: travel as a family at least twice this year. Outlook good.
- Take 3 food adventures this year. A “food adventure” in our parlance is going to eat somewhere (even in our own backyard of NYC) and trying something outside of the girls’ comfort zone. This can include momos from Nepal or Japanese BBQ. It’s also an excuse for the adults in the house to eat good food with minimal noise. Outlook good.
- Collectively read 300 books as a family this year. I’m not yet sure the best way to track this, but I’m sure we’ll get it done. We’re a reading family, and an average of 60 books per person is doable but a stretch all at the same time. Outlook good.
- Learn Spanish as a family. This one is probably the biggest stretch, I think. It’s also hard to define. Should we start with courses? Books/workbooks? Should I start teaching it & speaking it in the house? I need to work on this one a bit more, it seems. Outlook not so good.
- Improve manners and respect. Our girls are generally very respectful, particularly among strangers. But behind closed doors, they’re typical sisters and daughters. We want to reduce the backtalk, the infighting, and the whining. I’m sure we’ll make progress against this, and calling it out in January will help us remind the girls throughout the year. Outlook good.
- Eat more vegetables. See the above goal. Calling it out explicitly as a family goal has already started to pay off, and not just for the girls. By forcing me to not be hypocrite, I’ve found myself eating a bit more with every dinner sitting. Don’t judge me. I became an adult so I wouldn’t have to eat vegetables. Outlook good.
- Try one new fruit per month. This is a good one from the girls. It’s in the same vein as a food adventure or travel, but it’s also concrete and clear. Not sure what we’ll pick for January yet, though. And will we run out of available fruits to try? Unclear. Outlook iffy.
- Grow plants. More greenery around the house. I’d love to see herbs or other usable plants in the house. But our housing situation right now is in flux (oh, NYC housing market!), so TBD on how realistic this goal is right now. Outlook iffy.
- Build LEGO project. We want to build a large-scale LEGO project this year. This will be hugely dependent on resources (namely space and time), which I don’t have clear insight into this year. The girls and I are very excited about getting to it, but we’ll have to see. Outlook iffy.
- Look for a new house. We put in notice to leave our apartment (long story, summarized with massive building issues), but haven’t found a replacement yet. The girls obviously are concerned about this, and rightly named it as a goal. I figure that we will accomplish at least this goal this year. Outlook good.