2018 Goals--What Am I Aiming For?

My goals for 2018 are not super-ambitious.  Mostly because the biggest goal on my radar for this year and the next two is obviously completely my dissertation.  And since I'm posting this at the end of January--I think it's clear, I'm not prepared to take on too much.  But since I made goals for 2016 and 2017, it follows that 2018 needs some direction as well--I think these serve as good balances to my year-in-review posts that I've done for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.  So, here's what I got!

It's good to have goals, right?

So I'm breaking them up into physical health/training and intellectual goals because that's just how I do things!

Physical Health/Training

Half marathon

I didn't run any half-marathons in 2017.  I'm a bit sad about that because I really like this distance and the longest I ran in 2017 was about 11 miles.  That clearly needs to be rectified.  Ideally, I want to do another half-marathon in under 2 hours, but realistically, I'll take just completing a half-marathon.  So if you're reading this and are looking for a partner in crime--let me know!

Marathon

Again, I don't know if I'll have the time for this, but with my Friday classes in my program coming to an end in the spring, it leaves me a bit more time in the summer and fall.  I want to do another marathon to see if I can break the 4:30 time (that's 4.5 hours to be clear).  I think I have honed some of the mental skills to do it--I just need to train a bit more and test it out.  

Triathalon

Ok, I know, what you're thinking--"not super-ambitious" but am throwing in a triathlon after saying I want to do a half and full marathon.  There's a method to my madness.  The triathlon would be a sprint or Olympic.  Challenging, but not hugely so if I'm already doing a lot of running and cycling (which I have been doing more of as part of my commuting to and from work).  I think this would also help me with training for the marathon as it will mix up my workouts a bit and not wear out my legs to quickly.  

1200 miles

I know--I know, I'm sounding ridiculous right now.  But this past year, I almost made it to 1100 miles and if I continue to regularly run to and from work as well as the training, this isn't a ridiculous amount but is likely to be a byproduct of the training and commuting.  See--all I'm doing here is stacking my goals to overlap and inform one another.

Get and stay under 230

So I gained about 15 pounds in the fall semester because of the stress of the doctoral program and my qualifying paper deadline.  I knew this was happening and I was ok with this.  I'm an emotional and stress eater but I made the deal with myself that so long as I was still working out, I would be ok with letting the eating go a bit ridiculous (and it was ridiculous!).  But I'm back on track after creeping up to 240 pounds and closing in on 230.  I would like to ultimately get down to 210, but so long as I stay under 230, I will be happy.  I know what I have to do, which is stay consistent on Weight Watchers, which is a great short-hand for figuring out the right balance for what I need.  

Intellectual Goals

Read 20 books

For regular readers, this sounds ridiculous--20 books?  I just read 200 books last year.  But I mean reading 20 textual books.  I think I came close last year but much of my reading is graphic novels and audiobooks.  The rest of the time, it's articles and book chapters.  However, I got back into the habit of reading fiction--half hour before bed most nights.  I want to level that into completing 20 physical books a year.  Like the next goal, I also think it will be an important balance to all the academic stuff I will be processing in the year to come.

More creative writing

I know I will be doing plenty of academic writing but like last year, I have a bit of a bug to write some other types of writing.  That includes writing for my blog but also I've found I am enjoying writing short pieces--either short stories or short-short stories and want to continue to do that for the next year if only to give my writing chops some creative outlets in contrast to the less creative but still intellectually demanding writing I need to do.

Continue journaling

I started doing a daily journal in June, 2017.  This year, I've added 3 daily questions to it that I answer about the previous day:  

1. What did I learn?
2. What would I have done differently yesterday?
3. What was something good that I did yesterday?

In addition to capturing my experience, I really like these questions as a means of making me think more deeply about how I am doing on a given day.  

Be significantly further in my dissertation

This seems obvious given how the program is designed but I'd love to be talking to you this time next year about actually doing the research study that I've designed (and begging you for help in making it happen).  

So there they are.  Some seem like givens since I am already set up to accomplish them, but they are important and I want to make sure I identify what those goals are.  The others, crazy as it may seem, are goals that are likely to help me meet the other goals.  I guess we could call them companion goals?  I see them as supporting or creating the energy and mental space to accomplish the others.

What about you?  What kind of goals, hopes, plans, etc do you have for 2018?  

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