Responding to Goals Set Last Year
Last year I set goals to achieve by the end of this year. It has now passed the time I set them last year so I am going to review my goals and see if I achieved them.
Have a new job
This one was more "have a job" as I was a full time student (still am) and had a home business (still do) and wasn't currently working but I had decided I want a job. I was aware of how people judge people for not having a job so I didn't word it completely accurately, though I should have because that stigma helps no one and I should have been vocal about that instead of wording my goal to hide the situation.
Did I achieve it?
Yes. I did get a job and I am moving forward. I am currently on break from the job though over the holidays and the boss is not sure when we will start again after this.
Save up for a house
Did I achieve it?
No. This has not yet happened, however I am heading in the right direction for this to happen and getting better financially as well as productivity wise, and being better productivity wise can help with financial goals.
Have 50 patrons on Patreon
Did I achieve it?
No. I actually deleted my patreon part way through this year as only my partner was a patron, and I opened up the related discord to the general public. It did not seem worth it at this point, but may be worth it later on.
Lose 5kg
When I set this goal I was 96 kg. Over the course of the year I gained more weight, which was the opposite of this goal. I also discovered I have ADHD. I suspected this months before I finally got an answer. And this does relate to weight, in more than one way. My mum and I decided to do weight watchers. The first couple of weeks on Weight Watchers was hell. The reason.... I had been subconsciously self-medicating undiagnosed ADHD with chocolate for years. And suddenly not doing that, due to how many "points" chocolate is, was not exactly an easy thing to do. Still undiagnosed but suspecting ADHD at this point, I managed to do it and get past it and I did do about 10 weeks of (mostly) losing weight by following weight watchers before things changed again.
And why did it change again?
I got diagnosed with ADHD and I got medication for ADHD. Medication "sped-up" my metabolism and I started losing weight quicker. I also very quickly discovered I needed to eat and drink more or I'd feel sick. That made the point counting aspect of Weight Watchers redundant for me. I lose weight still but eat more than I would manage to fit into the points they allow (especially since the points allowed drop as I lose more weight). I am still losing weight, and at the moment this is a positive as I need to lose more weight, however I even still lose weight when eating relatively poorly in terms of weight loss (not necessarily poorly nutrition wise as there's lot of foods that have a lot of nutrients but aren't weight loss friendly etc and also if I ate really badly weight loss wise I'm sure I wouldn't lose then) so I do need to be aware of this as my weight gets lower so I don't flip it eventually and become underweight instead (which is a potential issue with medications like this). At the moment weight loss is a positive thing though.
However even though the points became redundant for me, weight watchers was useful for other reasons. Going to meetings forced me to remember to weigh myself. I didn't really care about what the people running the meeting thought, so it didn't help with accountability (losing weight so I didn't have to deal with their opinion of me gaining weight), but it forced me to remember. I'm now weighing myself at home instead on the Wii Fit (and adding back on what it took off for clothes as it is more accurate to what I weighed at WW - as obviously we weren't all naked at the meeting but since the Wii removes weight for clothes it acts as though you are naked). I am handling the lack of the meetings "forcing" me to remember but putting "Weigh myself on Wii" in my EpicWin app for every Saturday and aiming to weigh myself around the same time of day each time. You can read my previous review of the EpicWin app here: https://steemit.com/apps/@birchmark/level-up-those-stats-and-your-productivity-epicwin-app-review
Weight watchers also let me compare various foods as they have a part in their app where you can scan things to see how many points they are. Though I am not currently counting points, it makes it easier to compare foods and work out how they contribute to or hinder weight loss. The website and app also has a lot of recipes, which is useful.
Did I achieve it?
Yes, when I made these goals last year I was 96kg. I set a goal to lose 5kg, gained weight and then lost weight, and when I weighed myself as the date I set the goal passed, I weighed 89.6 kg, leading to a net loss of 6.4 kg.
Make an episode of my cartoon
Did I achieve it?
I did not do this, but I am working on a different series that I feel is a better use of my time and creativity than the one I was referring to when I made this goal.
The series I am intending to make combines gaming and animation. It is Pug Bee which you may have heard of before if you read my posts about my entry into one of the game jams on here, and she is also my icon / profile pic currently. It is a big thing to do as one person, and it isn't going to be a quick process, particularly combined with other life responsibilities etc, but I do now know strategies to work with my brain to make it easier to tackle large projects like this and I am excited about this project.
Start Making a Video Game
I entered the Steemit Jam making a game based around my character Pug Bee. I did nothing else in this regard though.
Did I achieve it?
I did achieve starting making a game, technically, as I made the start of a game during SteemitJam, however I didn't start a game that I made any progress on besides the game created for the SteemitJam and that didn't get finished.
Get Better at Overwatch
One of my goals was to get better at Overwatch. This is tied into my ORTI series, which you can see here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTdx2tlqgSoTTsRkSPRqi3Q8UqWF1jX3m
The ORTI series involved letting people vote for who I play as each month and recording matches documenting my progress.
What happened to ORTI?
The ORTI series is currently behind in editing and publishing as work and study got in the way of getting this done unfortunately.
I will be editing and publishing the September / October and October / November videos soon (the November / December video is unfortunately missed due to study etc). I will also be making a video to cover the whole year's progress. This series will continue after this year, but as an occasional thing where I occasionally ask for your votes on who I play and make videos on that instead of as a monthly thing as I do have other commitments than just my creative work, BUT I also have some really exciting creative ideas I want to work on as well and I think continuing this series in a less structured way will allow me to do all of these things better.
Did I achieve it?
I feel I did. I can still improve, but I feel I have improved so far.
Get Better at Overwatch was the last goal on my list. So now what?
Setting Goals to achieve by this time next year
I find that goals are not the best way for me to try to achieve things, but they help to direct the strategies that actually do help me achieve things.
In no particular order:
I find that recording what I get done each week helps and I have a productivity checklist thing in OneNote for this.
I find that rewarding myself regularly helps.
I find that exercise and meditation helps.
I find that medication helps.
I find that eating more protein helps.
I find routines help.
I find that apps like EpicWin, Alarmy and Forest help.
I find that setting alarms and working for a certain amount of time helps (similar to Pomodoro but not quite the same strategy).
I find that making time to avoid burnout helps.
This doesn't mean these strategies and treatments always work. Sometimes the ADHD wins. And that's okay. That happens. Sometimes it is an off day, and that's all it is, but sometimes it suggests changes need to be made to strategies, and that's okay too.
Strategies such as routines can be based upon goals. By routines I don't mean time based things, but more tying one activity to another i.e. if I do work on something creative for my business, I then exercise and then so 15 minutes of study. My OneNote document also has goals for the categories I record what I got done in and if I achieve them all I progress up a "level" and it gets harder with greater expectations. What I set as goals and categories can be informed by these much longer term yearly goals. Annual goals don't really work with ADHD since it comes with time blindness and essentially the sense of time is "now" and "not now" but when they inform these smaller goals, routines and practices they can help (and then just give us something to compare when the time comes - but not if they are a source of shame as shame helps no one).
So what goals do I set for this time next year?
Lose 8 kg
Reach the point my business (Birchmark) is making $300 + per week
Pass all the courses in my TAFE diploma that I do this year
Save up for a house
Make an episode of Pug Bee
All of these goals will be supported by routines, reward systems, mini-goals, recording of progress, the use of apps and tools to help me achieve my goals as well as self-care that keeps me in good health and therefore in the best position to pursue my goals
Do goals work for you? What goals will you be setting in the future? Are you going to wait for new years to set goals and do it at other times? What strategies do you use other than goals?
LINKS
Birchmark Website / Portfolio: http://birchmark.com.au/
Dlive: https://dlive.tv/birchmark
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BirchmarkAu
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Birchmark/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Birchmark_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birchmark/
Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/birchmark?asc=u
Threadless: https://birchmark.threadless.com/
Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/Birchmark
Discord: https://discord.gg/3ZZbbBs
Please consider commenting, upvoting or resteeming this post if you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!