Your typical New Year's Resolutions Post

kbarrett (48)in #life • 7 years ago

Hey fellow Steemians! I know I'm a little late getting my resolutions posted, but I wanted to get them out there. Not because I think everyone is clamoring to know how I live my life, but because I think that accountability can be maintained when you make your goals public.

New Year.jpg

Each year when I'm thinking about my New Year's resolutions, I'm trying to keep overall growth in mind. These aren't some "New Year, New Me" resolutions. I am who I am. I just want to grow into the man that I know I can be some day.

Having said that, I usually pick 3-5 goals based on certain topics - personal growth, athletic goals, financial goals, and learning something new.

2017's Resolutions consisted of the following:

Personal Growth - Reading 1 book per month Failed
Athletic Goals - Make running a habit again, set a PR on squats Succeeded
Financial Goals - Save $1,000 and pay off my vehicle Succeeded
Learning - basics of languages Failed

Not too shabby. I started off pretty strong on the book and language front, but ultimately my passion to stay dedicated fizzled out about 3 months in. For those first 3 months though, I stayed relatively consistent, reading 4 books and practicing Duo usually 3-5 times per week for about 20 minutes each. I've now realized that while making time to read a book a month is absolutely manageable, learning a new language without a need for it is difficult to stay consistent with. I had no one to practice with, I wasn't traveling any time soon, and I didn't have co-workers that speak it. That makes for some hard times to stay focused and strong willed.

My athletic and financial goals fared far better. I consider myself an athlete, so improving upon that was by far the easiest of my goals. Not to mention that fact that I started my athletic career as a runner. While getting back into the swing of things was difficult, I'm not the type to complain about being bored while I run, like most people. I also became obsessed with doing heavy lifts this past year and plan on continuing that into 2018.

Setting financial goals are always the easiest thing to accomplish, because it truly is shear will that will enable you to be successful. Everyone is capable of meal prepping instead of eating out at restaurants. We're all capable of ordering water instead of soda or alcohol with our meals when we do eat out. We don't need to have 5 drinks when we go out with friends. You don't need to buy new clothes, new bags, or a new watch. You don't need 5 different movie channel subscriptions. The list goes on and on.

Sure, every now and again there will be emergencies. I had a gas leak on my Tahoe that cost me $1,300 to fix. Definitely wasn't expecting that. I actually got out to my car yesterday to find that someone ripped the door handle off the passenger side door... there's another $280 that I wasn't expecting. Finally, this booger of a dog has the worst medical bills of any pet I've ever owned... another $750 in vet bills that my girlfriend and I are splitting so we can keep him happy and healthy.

But emergencies aside, we can all make better financial decisions if we're trying to accomplish something.

Alright... so, 2018 goals!

Personal goal - While this isn't going to be a measurable goal like reading a book per month, I've decided that I want to work on myself. I want to assume the best in people until they prove me wrong, instead of assuming the worst and waiting for them to prove me right. Part of my personality (and overall brain development) is to overthink every situation and every move that people make. This often times leads me to develop a predisposition towards people that is negative, and I carry that assumption until they prove otherwise. I want to stop doing that. I want to start thinking that people have the best intentions instead of the worst. I want to meet new people and I want to make new friends.
I'm not saying its going to be easy, but I think to grow, it's a necessity.

Athletic Goals: Going heavy! I want to be able to hit the following weights for 5 reps:

Squats - 300 lbs
Bench Press - 225 lbs
Overhead Press - 135 lbs
Rows - 200 lbs
Deadlifts - 400 lbs

Now, these aren't some insane numbers... but I'm not a big guy either. I'm sitting around 185 right now, with probably 15 lbs of body fat that could come off pretty easy given a couple months of meal planning. I'd like to be able to reach each of these numbers at a sub 180lb weight. Whether that's 173 or 179, as long as I'm under 180, I'll be happy with myself.

Financial goals: Pay off debt! Specifically, I would like to finish 2018 with zero credit card debt and only $5,000 of student loan debt left. I actually plan on posting a few personal finance articles related to the spreadsheets that I've created and how I use them to track my expenses.

Hobbies: I've been an avid defensive shooter and proponent of the 2nd Amendment for years, but this year I would like to get more involved on the competition side of things. Because I've never been to a comp, I'm not sure how I would stack up against some of these shooters. Having said that, participating in my first competition is my main goal. After seeing how I stack up against other shooters will determine my ranking goals for 2018.

So there we have it! It's now written in stone, so to speak! I'm hoping that there are a few of you out there that will help me stay on track along the way!