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  • 2010 goals

    So it’s officially a brand new year. Who can believe it? I hope everyone had a wonderfully relaxing holiday and that 2010 is bigger, better and brighter than 2009 for you.

    I found it really great having a list of set goals last year, which I could come back to on the blog and update/mark off as I accomplished things. So I’m doing the same thing again, setting both financial and personal targets. I honestly believe that goal setting enables you to move in the right direction, otherwise, I would never step back to reevaluate what I want and how to get it. And what better way to stay accountable than by making them public?

    GOALS

    • Save 20 per cent of my income
    • Try one new (to me) dinner recipe each week. That’s going to require some organisation, so the idea is to draft up a meal plan in the middle of the week before hitting the supermarket on the weekend.
    • Run once a week. Right now, the only exercise I get is walking to/from the bus twice a day, and any walking around I might do on a lunch break.
    • Make an upwards career move.
    • Celebrate our anniversary – it usually gets overlooked in the pre-Christmas week. I also want to try and exchange gifts on all special occasions (he likes to both give and receive actual presents, as opposed to, say, me paying for his car audio to be installed).
    • Donate to charity. Sure, it defies all SMART goal setting, but I don’t feel I can put a set dollar amount on this. Rather, I’ll give what I can when I can, and to whoever or whatever charity I decide on at the time. Whether I’m giving time, money, or food to a foodbank – something I think I prefer, since I know that it’s all going towards someone who needs it, rather than admin costs or the like – I get a) the warm fuzzies from doing so and b) I believe in karma.
  • New goals

    My goals for the rest of the year:

    • Learn to drive our car (it’s a manual).
    • Pick up my guitar again.

    I am LOVING the fact that my after hours time is now my own. No more staying up late reading. No more studying. No more spending all hours working on assignments. Plus, it’s coming up to summer, so the days are even longer! The possibilities are endless.

  • I want to be the kind of person who…

    Inspired by Saving to Pay Down my Home!

    Basically, I want to be one of those people that has their shit together. I definitely don’t think it’s possible to be supremely successful simultaneously in all aspects of life, but some areas of my life are severely neglected right now.

    I want to eat better. This means meal planning and taking more care grocery shopping, and it’s going to mean increasing the grocery budget. This kind of clashes with…

    I want to travel. Around NZ, and overseas later on. It’s going to mean a lot of saving – starting up a travel fund once I start working – and getting a handle on the budget. Still, money is limited, and I’ll have to prioritise between travel, groceries, eating out, general saving, clothing. Unless T randomly strikes out job-wise, things aren’t going to change drastically once I graduate. We’ll be a little bit better off, with a bit of breathing room, but there definitely won’t be room for luxuries.

    <div xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/3539161615/"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href=I want to be greener. I’d like to start up a compost heap again, but it’s way too easy just to dump scraps down the in-sinkerator! Still, it’s better down there than in the rubbish bin.

    I need to get fit. I’m not a gym kind of person, but I think I should aim to go running once a week. I’ll start off slow.

    I want to be better organised. I think I’m going to go back to a physical diary and try that out for a while. Right now everything goes into my phone calendar, but I think my system could be better. And seeing as I’ll be spending all my working hours in front of a computer, I might start using my Gmail calendar too.

    I want to catch up with friends more often. At least once every other week! Will schedule this and try to make arrangements ahead of time, rather than seeing if anyone is free on the spur of the moment.

    What areas do you want to improve on?

    (Photo / Mike Baird)