Each year at this time millions of people make rash announcements of things that they will do over the coming 12 months. Inevitably, a substantial percentage of these rash decisions will have been broken at the end of January - if they last that long - but there are a some people who don’t decide on them when a little worse for wear, and think about them a bit more rationally before committing themselves.
These are the people that set mini-goals along the way and plan out how they’re going to achieve their resolutions. I’d like to think I am one of those people, but perhaps without quite so much planning. Last year I set 4 goals, and I like to think that, by-and-large, I’ve completed them. Here are last year’s goals:
1. Get a proper job
This time last year I was temping at an export company and loosing the will to get out of bed in the morning. I got a proper job at the end of February, so that’s definitely a tick.
2. Move house
Being unemployed when I graduated in 2011 I moved back in with my parents to save a bit of money. It wasn’t the ideal solution, but it was done for a reason. I moved to my new flat about a month ago so - whilst I cut it a little finer than I would have rathered - that too gets a tick!
3. Sort out my blog
I wrote a different blog at the start of 2012 and it needed a fair bit of work. Then I decided that it wasn’t going to work forever and I wanted more. So whilst this one technically didn’t happen, I did start The Usual Saucepans so all’s well that ends well. Perhaps I get a half tick, since the intention was there.
4. Go on a proper holiday
I went to New York in June 2010 and that was the last time I’d left the UK at the beginning of 2012. I love travelling, and have a fair list of places and countries to my name, so this lack of travel was something that was really bugging me. But without the funds to do anything about it I was rather stuck. This year with a job and a regular income I was able to put a bit aside and use it to go see friends. I went on a little trip that took in Moscow, Vienna and Bratislava within 15 days. Big tick.
3.5 out of 4 - I’d say that was pretty good.
But that was all last year. So I’ve spent a fair while recently thinking about what I should be doing this year. Someone suggest that I try acting more like a grown-up, but I’ve decided to pass on that one on the basis that it sounds rather dull. I had plenty of other ideas, but they were all a little bit woolly, I could easily justify how I’d successfully completed them before the end of the month, so they are not good enough. I’ve decided then, to go for three simple, and interesting challenges that are achievable (but not too easy), educational and above all important to me as a person. Here are my three goals for 2013:
1. Learn how to properly use my new camera
My first proper SLR (a.k.a. my Christmas present from various people and myself) arrived in the post this morning, and whilst I know how to use the basic funtions I really want to be able to take much better photos. This means that 2013 is going to be the year that I properly get to grips with photography.
2. Become a proper food blogger
Some might say this is a bit of a cop-out because I already have a food blog, but I don’t think I’m there yet. I want to start taking part in blogger challenges and get much more involved with the food blogging community. Again, there’s no time like the present, so 2013 it is!
3. Eat better and more locally
This one sort of links into the other two, but I made the decision a while ago that this year I would try to eat in a healthier and more sustainable way. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to be some sort of vegan-dredlocked-hippie (I couldn’t think of much else that would be ‘less-me’), but with one of Edinburgh’s best farmers’ markets on my doorstep, another only 15 mins walk or so away, and a whole array of independent, local shops around me it seems ridiculous not to take advantage of these offerings! It might not be practical all of the time, but where possible I’d like to give it a go.
And there we have it, my three challenges for 2013. What do you think of them and what are you planning? Tell me in the comments below!
Edinburgh-dwelling, baking and food-obsessed, twenty-something adventure enthusiast. Runs on liberal amounts of coffee, cheese, cake and gin; bribable with same.
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