It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
It’s 1 January. The day I set myself some goals for the year ahead.
2022’s goals may not have gone according to plan, but whilst I didn’t achieve my explicit goals, I did reach some big milestones.
I’m a home owner now. I’m back in a job that I feel excited about. The stage is set for a good 2023 for me… at least, I hope so.
Just like the last 5 attempts, my goals have to be specific, measurable and time-bound. I’m creating multiple goals so if one goes off course, I’m not tempted to throw in this endeavour entirely. The definition of success for any individual goal is completing at least 80% of the goal, and overall is 80% across the goals. My progress will be tracked in the open, to keep myself accountable1.
My goals for 2023
1. Save some money
Last year I set myself the target of saving an average of £400 per month. Then I bought a maisonette in South London! Whilst I’m delighted to now be paying my own mortgage and not someone else’s, it did mean a mortal wound to my savings target.
So, now I’ve spent my life savings and then some, I need to make some of that pot of gold back up again!
My goal this year is therefore as it was last year: save £400 a month.
Success measure: £5,000 saved
2. Pay off my student loan
After almost a decade, I’ve reached the point where the Student Loans Company have told me to switch to direct debit to repay my student loans instead of taking it from payroll. This is great news!
If the repayments go as scheduled, I’ll repay my student loan entirely by next summer. By interest rates are going up, and it’s costing me more to pay off the loan each month than I’d get from interest on the savings.
My goal, therefore, is to accelerate my repayments so that by Christmas 2023, I no longer have to make the payments.
If you’re thinking that sounds like it might inhibit my ability to complete my first goal: you’d be right! Which is why I’ll have to be incredibly disciplined to achieve it. Given I have no choice about making the minimum payments, I’m treating this as a stretch goal to my broader savings target.
Success measure: Student loan repaid in full
3. Write more
I’m hoping that a more calm 2023 is before me, which should give me time to return to writing a bit more. I’m hoping to achieve a goal I have reached in some previous years; writing an average of a blog post a month over the next year.
Success measure: write 12 blog posts
4. Close my activity rings
After a strong start to keeping fit in 2022, things fell by the wayside as the stress of moving into a new home set in. Despite that, I still managed to achieve my activity goals in 2022, and I want to get back to it properly in 2023.
As defined by Cupertino, my aim is to ensure I:
- stand for 1 minute every hour, at least 12 times a day
- do 30 minutes exercise a day
- burn 500 calories a day
My goal is to do each of those 3 things at least 5 times a week.
Success measure: close my activity rings at least 5 days a week all year
5. Weigh less
Autumnal stress eating and too much Christmas lebkuchen was not kind to my body in 2022. I spent a very, very diligent 2021 losing 10 kilograms, and I’ve regained 7 kilograms in the last 3 months.
As I write this today, I weigh 77 kilograms. My goal is to weigh 70 kilograms by the summer, staying comfortably above my healthy minimum weight, but enabling me to get back into shape.
Success measure: 7 kilograms lost
Starting now
5 goals. 365 days. The challenge starts now!
You can follow my progress with my goals by visiting my goals dashboard.