Goals for 2014

Before I set goals for 2014, I reviewed my goals vs. actions for 2013. Amusingly, I did not remember setting them or writing them down (but Dropbox  stored them just where they should have been); surprisingly, I did accomplish most of them, at least in part.

I have not posted my annual goals publicly for some time. January 2008 may have been the last time, and that was only some of them. It’s not that I have not set goals; it’s just that they’ve become more personal, more specific. In 2013 my goals had themes, each with one to many specific metrics. Of course the most important goal was in the job/career category. I have already written about finding a professional opportunity that matched just about everything that I was looking for. It still does. Everything else was secondary to and perhaps dependent on this predominant and essential goal. I had other goals related to:

• fitness (FAIL and yet not really – is maintenance a fail?)
• language (learn Spanish – FAIL – complete and utter fail especially since this has been on my list since at least 2008)
• firearms training (SUCCESS – get Colorado CCW, get a pistol, practice)
• travel (FAIL – my travel was only job seeking or job related, only USA – but tied to financial reality – I’m OK with this fail)
• relationship  – ha! you think I’m going to write about this?! I have one that matters to me that started back in 2009 but my only metric is “keeping it real.” That is seeing what is and making sure that “what is” makes me happy today. I have absolutely no destination or annual goal except to enjoy it and not draw it into the land of fiction or societal expectations.  Success. I continue to see and enjoy what is.
• FSOT –  I’ve been imagining the life of an FSO, especially the economic officer track, for a few years. I toy with taking the written exam (and have registered but backed out a few times) and starting the arduous process  should I pass. I think I’ve come to the place where my desire for this path will be re-explored at age 50 or 55. They continue to accept candidates until age 59, so there is time. I love the idea of being reassigned somewhere new every few years, and being encouraged (compelled) to learn a new language just as often. I find the experiential potential of this path very enticing, but I have no urgency to move toward this goal. 

My goals for 2014 are largely the same as 2013. Ever and always the job category is first. I enjoy mine and plan to dedicate most of my energy to excelling at it. Do you need to know how much money per month I’d like to save for what purposes? I continue to have fitness goals. I started down a path toward fitness when my grandmother developed macular degeneration likely secondary to obesity and perhaps adult onset type 2 diabetes (c. 2004). I did not want to go blind and committed to a year of back to back body for life challenges to turn my lifestyle around in 2004/2005. At this point, in terms of “fitness”, my health risks are minimal. And seriously, do you need/want to know my vanity goals related to what I think my upper thigh should measure at what body fat percentage level? My original goals were health focused – I’d like to keep my vision until I die vs. vanity focused – I’d like to see ab definition into my 50’s or at least still in my late 40’s. And yes, Spanish is still on my list and I just got Rosetta Stone, because THIS TIME is going to be different. My relationship goals are unchanged.  I continue to be worried about personal security – whether via continued firearms training or better online data protection like LifeLock.  And there are so many more places I want to see and go, provided those travel goals mesh with the reality of my ambitious savings goals.

Clearly, some of my goals for 2014 are diametrically opposed: save X $ per month vs. travel to Y exotic lands and explore….Both are savings goals and only one will win for 2014.

I still want to see my abs and I should be able to say so on a beach in Mexico at some point in 2014.