So I might yet get to writing about Christmas; or I might not and just end up enjoying it without writing a thing about it. But since I'm focused on next year of work, it's also started to enter the back of my mind that there's a whole new year of life outside work coming soon, too. And if you know me at all, you know what that means: perfect time to set some goals and make some plans. As has been well documented here, I'm significantly better at making plans than I am at following through on them and keeping them going. But amongst all the starts and stops I've made, there have been some real changes as well.
For example, at this time last year I set a few goals - mostly cooking-related - and did surprisingly better than I expected. Here are the results.
Meal planning - not a perfect result, but pretty darn good for all the "normal" weeks (weeks where we were leaving or arriving from a trip usually involved more scrambling for ideas and ending up dining out, but I figure that's forgivable).
New ideas/top restaurants - We haven't made a point to go to the Des Moines "Top 100" but every time we do go out, I thoughtfully look at the menu for ideas that we could try to replicate or build off of at home. Keeping my eyes open for new ideas is a mindset that I've been fairly good about keeping.
Learn new techniques - Kicked butt at this one! I signed up for the Des Moines Area Community College's Food and Wine Seminar. Although it didn't fully live up to my (probably overly high) expectations, it was a great experience and I do feel I learned quite a bit.
Gain knowledge - I wanted to have the ability to make something "right," rather than having to follow a recipe. I didn't do a ton of this, but just by cooking more and more, there are some things I know how to do the right way. I'd go into more depth, but I think I want to make it its own post. So for now, let's just say there are a handful of items I can make by myself and "properly"
I didn't necessarily remember each of these ideas all year long as I got better at some of them, but looking back now, I see that I did pretty well. I'm sure there's some famous saying to this effect, but I find that I never fully appreciate how far I've come until I stop to look back at where I was. And though I don't feel satisfied with where I am (particularly with my cooking), I have to admit I've come a long ways.
Which is all really cool, but wasn't even what I wanted to write about today. I wanted to focus on what I want to achieve in the next year, but got so busy patting myself on the back that I haven't even gotten to it yet. I'm not necessarily big on making resolutions on New Year's Day or whatever, but there's some tradition to it, and it's as good a time as any to start fresh. Right now I can think of lots of areas of my life where I might want to make changes, but don't have any specifics as yet. What say I start brainstorming now, and maybe by the first of the year, I'll have some real goals to shoot for? Here are the blanks I hope to fill in by next week sometime:
Fitness - We're members of a gym, and I realized recently that I want to do more yoga. Should there be a concrete goal here, like number of visits per week or a big event to be in shape for?
Cooking - Now I've been through DMACC's class - what next? It will likely have to be self-taught, but should I aim to learn specific techniques? Particular dishes? I also want to focus on cooking healthy and local; does this need to be an explicit goal, or do I do it enough already? Can I incorporate more vegetarian and/or Mediterranean diet meals into the weekly plan?
Movies - Following a re-reboot, I'm back to the AFI top 100, and I've seen 10 (haven't blogged the second 5 yet, but will soon). Since I'm not rewatching unless I feel I need to for a second chance, this could actually be finished this coming year, but would that make it too much of a chore for something that's ostensibly fun?
Books - I once had a plan to read more classic literature, but it's really fallen off. If I'm going to read, I need to properly dedicate time to it, which I haven't lately. Maybe I could find a book club somewhere to motivate me?
Blog - How often, what content, should I focus on something worthwhile for side money or just ramble for the hell of it - the usual questions.
Work - A higher-up position just opened at work. Should I go for it, and get paid more for more responsibility? Am I happy enough at my current role? In this climate, I should probably just be happy to have a job, but I am 5 years in, should I be looking upward, to stability or to fantasy?
Finances - The subject that exposed me to blogs in the first place. Are we saving enough? Conversely are we spending enough, or maybe we're too stingy? Can we ever get our condo refinanced? What should be the focus of our savings - paying down the mortgage, investing, etc?
House - Some of our condo needs upgrading, since it's more and more apparent that we'll be there for a while. What should we improve? Also, we need to be better at just keeping the place clean - I'm not a kid who can just keep a messy room anymore. But how to actually make that change?
Happiness - I loved the idea of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project, and realize that I can do a lot more to be happier in my life. Should I start a focused project like hers, maybe just incorporate some of her ideas every day?
Garden - Last year's garden was a moderate success, but there were too many lazy days where I simply didn't want to water, and a lack of knowledge of plants that kept us from our full potential. What should we change (crops/methods/etc) to make this year better?
And that's just what I thought of today. Obviously, it's unlikely that I'll be able to make and keep resolutions in all of these areas. I don't even know yet if I'll take a shotgun approach and make a resolution for each and hope to keep a few of them as lasting habits, or just focus on one overarching theme which might encompass several of them. In any case, it's a lot for a guy to think about. Hopefully by the first I'll know where I want to go with it all and make some real
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