I was happy to do my annual review, so I could to go back and look at my life during 2020.  I should also say that I’m happy to just be writing the follow up to the last post.  My biggest issue most of the time is follow through.  I have recently thought about the ideas I have come up with and never followed up on.  I’ve wondered what it would be like if I had a type A personality.  I just have issues with getting motivated and continuing things.  I generally like to say every year that I’m going to do better and be different, but overall, goals just fall to the wayside.

With all of that, I’m just happy to be writing about my goals for 2021.  I really think I can make this year a productive one in some way.  I’ve gone through and followed the path that Chris Guillebeau has set out as far setting out various goals, deadlines I should make and think about etc.

Just to recap, the annual review and the goals I’m setting for myself are different from resolutions.  Why are they different?  Resolutions are things you where you say, “I’m going to make these giant changes in my life.  I want to get the beach body, I want to drink less, I’m going to run everyday a certain amount of miles.”  The goals you set for yourself are measurable things you want to do.  As mentioned in my other post though, these goals can change.  Even after I wrote down the goals, I realized there was something else I wanted to do and one of my other goals didn’t make sense, so I just changed it.  That is the great thing about doing this type of thing.  You really have a lot of control.

Lastly, checking back in on your goals, seeing what needs to be adjusted, what doesn’t make sense in your plan is a great way to keep yourself honest.  I just can’t say enough positive things about this annual review, if you couldn’t tell.

Now after all of that, here is what I have planned out that I would like to do in 2021.

My goals for this year are broken down in the following way:

• Writing
• Learning
• Financial (Saving)
• Reading

With these being the goals, you then need to setup your measurable goals from the basic goals you have made.  In this case, here is what I have planned when it comes to my goals for writing.

• Write 500 words daily about something. 
• This will give me content and allow me to then publish 2 blog post a month. 
• Write every evening during the week, then in the morning on the weekends. 
• Take about 30 minutes to just put thoughts out on a subject. 
• Make a list of blogs that I want to read on a weekly or daily basis.

I’ll be honest, I’ve set these to be goals and so far the only one I can say I’m doing is checking out blogs that I should read on a weekly or daily basis.  The importance of reading other blogs is of course to understand style, get ideas, and just see what other writers and bloggers are doing.  I’ve said before there aren’t anymore original ideas.  Everyone is borrowing or expanding on everyone else’s ideas.

When it comes to learning, I have this laid out for myself:

• Do online courses or watch videos on photoshop.
• Practice my photography.
• Find courses on skillshare and YouTube that help me in editing my photos and create other things.
• Take my DSLR out on the town twice per week to take photos. 
• Take photos in my apartment and work on staging as well.

My financial goals are always at top of my mind as well, so those goals are going to be laid out in this way:

• Set aside a targeted monthly amount to send to a few different accounts.
• Organize an emergency fund.
• Analysis my various spending to make sure I stick to my monthly budget.

Reading

• Read 5 books or more this year.
• On a daily basis, read for at least 30 minutes.
• Read 2 or 3 articles per day, either news or some other websites.
• Read magazine articles, then pick a few articles from my subscribed magazines, take notes on them for reference of what I read.

With all of these goals, I’ve started off OK on some, while others will be a struggle.  As I’ve mentioned before, these aren’t like resolutions, these are things that I want to do, so I can make myself better overall.  For example, I really want to read more.  This isn’t just because I want to, rather it’s good for my growth.  The thing is I have to figure out the right way to get myself to actually get the goal accomplished.  I think I’ve found that with what I have planned out.  Now that I’ve set out my goals, I’ll do quarterly check-ins on what I want to do.  I’ll make adjustments as needed, even remove or add things.  It all depends.

I hope I’ve inspired others to give the annual review a try.  I think it will definitely give you a new outlook on your life and other things in the future.

As always, thank you for taking the time and giving this a read.