Goals for 2025
Just like I do every year where I go back and review the highlights of the year just passed I also like to spend a bit of time thinking about the year ahead and set some goals so that I am always working towards something. I have found that always having goals keeps me focussed mentally and gives me a sense of purpose, accomplishing something also gives me a level of satisfaction and a personal little win so that positive feeling is something I enjoy chasing.
So here we go, in no particular order, my list of what I am wanting to accomplish in 2025
Learning to surf: So early on in the year the kids and I were on holidays and decided to go and have a surfing lesson, some pretty harmless fun. The problem was is that we really enjoyed it and so we wanted to have a few more goes of it. Anyhow after getting emotionally invested in it I became addicted to being out in the ocean and clearing your mind while surfing, the only problem is that I am pretty bad at it so the goal is to get good enough at it that I can go for a surf and actually surf rather than just get beaten up by the waves.
Running: I’ve written about it a few times on the blog, last year I completed my first marathon having decided to take a break from triathlon. Unfortunately me time wasn’t as good as what I wanted given I’d been injured so this year I have to achieve what I didn’t last year. Marathon time of under 3:30, a half marathon time under 90 minutes, 10km under 40 minutes and a 5km under 20 minutes, working backwards if I can start to achieve the smaller ones then the bigger ones should look after themselves
Learning a language: I started learning a language last year (German) because I had read an instagram post somewhere that said if you spend 10 minutes each day learning a language over the year that’s 3650 minutes, or around 60 hours and that seemed like a good use of 10 minutes. So by the end of this year I would have liked to have kept my streak going on Duolingo but to have also developed enough that I can actually speak a few sentences in an interaction (I’m already not too bad at reading).
Roasting coffee: Lots of people have hobbies, some people knit, some people bake, some people like to do things in the garden, for me my little hobby had been coffee roasting. I genuinely enjoy standing next to the roaster and fine tuning the roast to get the perfect flavour from the beans and so this year I want to get back into roasting having not done a batch for around 12 months.
Planning and organisation: This is an interesting one and something that I have only started to look at more recently. A few years ago I found that I became extremely productive when each day I created a to do list in a notebook and then when the task was completed I crossed it out with a highlighter. Unfortunately I dropped that practice and I got sick of buying new notebooks so I am wanting to move to a digital version AND I want to find some better ways of doing it. At work people use things like Jira or Teams to create tasks etc to manage things, I’d like to do something like this but for life in general
Regular blogging: Everyone playing along at home would know that my blog has started and stopped a few times and that I go through cycles of uploading regularly and then drop off. The disappointing thing is that I really enjoy writing an article and I like the creative process of trying to think up new things to write about. Unfortunately I am not really good at setting aside the time to write a half decent article, so similar to learning a language if I was to spend 10 minutes each day (on the train) writing an article then I could probably publish one every week. SO maybe I should make that goal more specific, 48 blog articles for the year (measurable goals)
Reduce my golf handicap: Okay my last one is something that has been hanging over my head for a while and it’s actually really annoyed me. Currently my handicap for golf is just over 30, and I hate that because I feel like I am better than a plus 30 golfer, but the handicap doesn’t lie and so I would love to get out and focus enough to be able to bring it down to under plus 25. The challenge is that playing frequently takes time out of other goals because golf is a pretty slow game to play plus there is the practice element, but with good prioritisation and a smart action plan I think I might be able to achieve it, could be that I start playing every weekend from October to try and close this one out..
So there we have it, some goals for the year. I think I will try and do a regular update every few months to discuss each ones progress and any actions I am taking to achieve them. I’d also be open to people providing input into anything that might help achieve them as well as I know I’m not an expert at these things, but most of all I like that I have written them down and shared them, because that drives a level of accountability (so yes please ask me how I am going with it).
Michael