I’ve been hemming and hawing over writing a 2013 goals post primarily because 2012 was such a complete loss– at least when it comes to my finances. My only glimmer of success was my biking goal; I did end up averaging 80 miles a month. My blogging goal was tepid, if I can even call it that. Using my JetPack stats, the numbers look good on a bar graph, but I’m pretty sure it measures page views and not unique visitors which means it’s tricking me into thinking I’m doing better than I actually am.
Which brings me to 2013; how can I set goals that I can actually accomplish, measure and still make sure they’re meaningful?
My finances are tricky; my income fluctuates from one year to the next making it challenging to set a budget. However, I know what the minimum is that I need to bring in to pay all the bills and have a teeny, tiny bit left to set aside for savings. Using the zero-balance method that I’m trying out this year, I should be able to save my regular up-front amount, boost it by $50, and then save whatever’s left at the end of the month. It’s not a great strategy, but it will have to do for now. So, as a modest and possibly attainable goal, I’m predicting on saving $2,400 in an ER fund and an additional $2,700 in long term savings this year. Making adjustments throughout the year should also make attaining this goal a real possibility.
Blogging is my hobby. I do it because I enjoy doing it. If I can’t post 3 times a week on this site (because I’m also posting on Bike Lane Living), well that’s just the way it goes. It’s turned into a nice little side income. If I can increase this income stream this year, that’s great. Notice I’m not really making this an actual “goal” because I have other things on my plate.
Since biking has become a habit for me, I don’t need to set a goal for it. Instead, my personal goal this year is to learn how to cook 3 dishes for dinner (okay, so this wasn’t my idea but Mr. LH is really tired of being the sole cook around here.) Ideas are welcome, especially if they are easy to prepare and simple enough to follow for those of us who are a disaster in the kitchen.
I’m trying to change my thinking; instead of a laundry list of things I want to accomplish this year, I really want to focus on what I’m actually accomplishing and take it up a notch.
What goals have you set for yourself? Do you have a recipe to share?
8 Comments
In your case, what I think you should do is drop the idea of setting a list that you work from throughout the year. As you’ve pointed out, there’s too many variables that change over time. Instead, come up with some goals that you want to achieve over the next three months. Focus on those, see where you stand, and then create some additional goals at that time. Repeat every quarter, and I have a hunch you will end up having a very productive year.
@Money Beagle – I think that’s a good strategy, readjust every three months. That would definitely make a difference in the end result.
For blogging goals, I think I also decided that I always want to post at least twice a week, but more than that… it would be nice, but blogging is a hobby and not a job. Family, job, friends, health — these things all come first. So maybe that separtes me out from the blogger big dawgs, but *shrug* I’ve got other stuff in my life!
@TB – It’s a hobby for me too that just happens to earn a little extra income that I’m happy about. I do as much as I can and am just fine with that (for now.) 😉
I wish I had a recipe to share! How about grilled cheese? 😉 I have New Year’s resolutions, but I don’t stick to them. They’re squishy so that I don’t feel bad at all when I go and change them a couple months later. If I have goals as hard-and-fast rules, I’m bound to think of myself as a failure when I don’t reach them. What I really need is just a set of directions and then as I approach the target, I’ll adjust based on what’s currently going on….
@Average Joe – That’s a good way to approach resolutions – keep them flexible enough to go with the flow. I like the idea of directions, that way I can still set a target or goal and tweak them as needed. Grilled cheese could work, but the bread would have to be gluten free and I’ve yet to find good gluten free bread. But thanks! 😉
We wrote out our list a few weeks ago. We have already started making progress. One of the things is finding more balance with our time and so far we are doing ok. I hope we can keep it up. We have written our goals down along with a plan for each that we will review each month. I think it should work pretty good.
@Miss T -Finding balance is important. I think I really need to just keep myself in check every month or so and tweak as I go along.