2014 Goals – December update of my 2014 goals
At the start of November, I posted my 2014 New Year Resolutions. It probably reflects my personality (I may be a little impatient at times), but I couldn’t wait to get started. I recorded my 2014 Goals (personal and financial goals) early and started working towards them straight away!
Check out my November update here.
2014 Goals – December update
In summary so far:
Year to Date progress
2014 Goals – Top 3 successes
Goal 3 – Although I only just beat my monthly aim of 60% (in December I saved 60.4%), I was happy that I was able to meet this target in a Christmas month, where I spent a week skiing on a stag do in the Alps. Despite these expenses, I was pleased to still meet this goal.
Goal 5 – Another good month for the rental property with no unexpected expenditure putting me ahead of my target.
Goal 9 – Another £500 saved towards the wedding. However, my fiancée and I have decided on a venue for the wedding and have provisionally booked it. 30th May 2015 will be the big day, so we are both VERY excited.
2014 goals – Top 3 Failures
Goal 1 – Although the net income saved was in line with the target, the increase in the net wealth for the month was not in line with expectation. I did manage a positive month (despite my share investments falling slightly), but this was still way below the monthly target. This month dropped me below my year-to-date target, so I will have to cut back a bit in January (hopefully supported by good market returns and additional income) to pull this back up!
Goal 10 – I would love to use the accident as an excuse for not meeting this goal, but I think that my laziness is much more of a contributing factor. I’m going to try and do 150 or 200 sit ups each day in January to start getting back in line with this goal.
Goal 11 – Again, Christmas and a week long stag do has greatly impacted my eating habits and I have missed this goal by eating over 2500 calories on 7 days in December. Hopefully, joining everyone else in their January health kick can get me back on track with this one.
2014 – New Year “Goals” not New Year’s “Resolutions”
I’m really pleased that I have recorded my 2014 New Year Goals early this year. It has meant that they are documented and are something that I am viewing as a long term project.
For people starting to set their goals for 2014, I would encourage everyone to view them as “goals” rather than “resolutions”. Make them SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.
Apparently, January 17th 2014 will be the date that most people will fail their resolutions.
Failure is an interesting word in this sense. If you do something wrong, it doesn’t mean that you have failed. This is the problem with the New Year’s Resolution. One mistake and you have “failed”. This isn’t how life works. And, it isn’t how long-term goals work.
So, start setting goals, not resolutions!
I used to set pass/fail type resolutions, and invariably, eventually they always seemed to fail. I assumed I just didn’t have the commitment to see things through, but then realized it was because there were no incremental steps to achieving big goals. Now I set goals with measureable interim steps along the way. I sometimes don’t quite reach the ultimate end goal, but there is definite marked progress because I laid out a sequence of mini goals that would lead to my objective. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.
Good luck on all of your goals for 2014. I try to set goals instead of resolutions, too. It feels like I’ll succeed more easily than a resolution.
Congrats on setting a date for the wedding! I’m excited for you guys. Also this is an incredibly detailed goal and tracking list, good for you. I don’t track goals in this much detail each month but instead set smaller goals each day/week that I try to accomplish towards my larger goals.
Very interesting post. Yes goal setting is a good exercise (like situps-ha) but being realistic and knowing we cannot get them all done is at the heart of this growth tool. Really liked your list and I need to work on mine.