2014 Top Ten: Goals

Welcome to the end of the year: One top 10 post for each of the last 10 days of 2014.

1. Songs.
2. Healthy living.

Today: goals.

It may not surprise you that I’m pretty big on goals. Weekly, monthly, yearly, five-year, ten-year. Etc. I do wonder if I should set different goals… or maybe not have as many… but they’re definitely a Thing with me.

In the interest of accountability, I’ll lay some of them out – past and future both.

Here were 10 of my goals for 2014, and how I did against them:

1. In my first year as a freelancer, gross half of what I made in my last year of corporate work. (That’s been a huge financial hit, obviously, but it was still two to three times more than what I was told to expect in my first year as a freelancer.) Done. And I did a bit more than that, even. I’m psyched about that. Impoverished, but psyched.
2. Date somebody amazing. Done. I did, and he is, but we determined that I make a better friend to him than I do a girlfriend.
3. Visit my closest friends more. Done. Some of the lesser-renowned cities of our great nation have seen a lot of me this year. Pittsburgh, Orlando, Milwaukee, Easton… I’m talking to you.
4. Get my second dan in tae kwon do. Done.
5. Learn how to do toes-to-bar, double unders, bunny-hop-less box jumps, and pull-ups. Done. Here’s where I prevaricate: I can’t do consecutive T2B or DU, and only 20″ box jumps, and only a couple of kipping pull-ups – but still. Done.
6. Run 10 miles. Not done. I ran two 10Ks, a 5-miler, a 4-miler and a couple of 5Ks, in addition to plenty of training, and I got faster – from 13-minute averages to 11 and a fastest mile of 9:19. But no, not 10 at one go this year.
7. Be able to go down into a backbend again. Not done. No. Very no.
8. Become a better teacher. Done? I think so. I’m more confident and creative, and more approachable. I haven’t killed anybody, I’ve only been told by one parent that her child hates me, and I don’t make anyone cry too often. I’m pleased with those results.
9. Do full splits. Not done. I’m only an inch away from front splits, but I have a ways to go on a straddle.

Here are 10 of my goals for next year. Well. Ten buckets. More than 10 goals. Because I’m a nerd.

(Updates for 2015 are being made in parentheses as the year progresses)

1. Become healthier. Be proud of what I eat. Get undetectable (0!) Tg levels (the marker for thyroid cancer), and under 30% 25% 20% body fat (Done!? Calipers say 16.2% on 1/14?!). I don’t care what a scale or tag says. Those numbers are the ones I want.
2. Become a better CrossFitter. Get a strict pull-up. Deadlift over 200 250 lbs. (Done! 210 on 1/9!) Snatch 100, bench 150, and clean & jerk 125. Get skin-the-cats, consecutive double-unders, and free-standing handstands or handstand walks. Compete on a scaled team at Test Your Metal in July.
3. Become a better martial artist. Write down forms (something I did for years and fell away from). Spar at least once a month.
4. Become a better runner. Run a half-marathon and a sub-30 5K.
5. Become more flexible. Get full front and side splits, backbend, cow face pose.
6. Become a better freelancer. Make 15% more than 2014. Net the same as I did in 2014. Be more prolific on my own blog. Strengthen and diversify my client base. Get a new certification to help with the preceding.
7. Become safer financially. Rebuild emergency savings. Restart retirement savings. Find the best insurance to replace COBRA. (Done!) Save for home projects.
8. Become a better human. Be kind. Assume the best. Meditate daily. Pray. Simplify. Create less garbage.
9. Be more creative. Draw people and words. Take pictures. Cook. Bake. Write stories.
10. Be more fun. Sing. Visit a new country. Have a party. Do new things. Spend time loving the people I love. Be less shy with new ones. Stop buying things I don’t love. Laugh.