Mid-year progress report

Back in January, I wrote a post about my goals/resolutions for 2013.  With the year more than half over, I wanted to check-in to see how I was doing.  I realize this is probably not very interesting to anyone else, but fear not, regular programming will return soon ;-)

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First up are my Overall Goals for 2013.  While these are still good habits I want to work on, the general terms of most of the goals makes it hard to measure progress (or in the case of most of these, lack thereof.)

• Wake up with my alarm clock (or set it later.  Really, what good is 30 extra minutes of "sleep" interrupted every 9 minutes?)

I am still very much a snooze button abuser.  During the week I usually make a conscious effort to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but still have a hard time waking up in the morning.  Both of my parents are early risers and I keep waiting for the morning gene to kick in.

• Do the dishes and other small, annoying tasks as they arise.

Blah, blah, blah.  While admirable, I no longer think this is important enough to warrant a "goal."  I am bored writing about it, so I can only imagine how bored you must be reading about it.

• Apply "use it or lose it" to clothes, accessories and other household items.  

I am continuing to work on this, especially when it is likely I will be moving in a couple of months.  I could probably cut my wardrobe in half, and not miss a whole lot (the process of doing so however, would be agony.)  My jewelry and other accessories take up more space than I would like them to; again I probably consistently wear fewer than half of the things I own.

While this is definitely not my closet (way too monochromatic and void of any metal dry cleaning hangers) I am going to try the backwards hanger trick to see if it will help me part with some stuff.

Via

• Focus on one thing at time to be more productive overall.

This was more important while finishing up grad school, but I continue to start multiple tasks only to end up with a big mess on my hands before I complete any of them.  Productivity's worst enemy remains the same, school or no school in the form of the Internet! 

• Plan for the "big rocks," or big tasks/goals and let the "pebbles" fill in the gaps.  Some "big rocks" for 2013 include:
• Two (or more) running events

I ran the Martha Jefferson 8K in March; and I am on the wait list for the Charlottesville Women's 4 Miler at the end of August. 

• Spring break/Beach Week trips 

I've gotten to do a decent amount of traveling in 2013 so far, and hope to do a bit more before the year is through.  Highlights include Chicago for the APA Conference, a Mountain Lake graduation trip, DC/NoVA, and Alaska with my family.

Intrepid master planner hikers near Mountain Lake, VA.

• Scheduling time for paid work each week

Meh, this didn't really work out the way I planned during the school year.  Especially considering I still have some outstanding hours to finish up.  This is not entirely my fault however, as projects failed to get off the ground and my supervisor's research was suspended to welcome a new baby.

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Now, the fun part!  In addition to my overall goals, I made some monthly goals for 2013.  I keep track of these using different colored symbols on a calendar in my kitchen.  In contrast to the overall goals above, I know exactly where I stand with these.  Having a visual reminder and set number for each makes a big difference!

* After all the Christmas and New Year's cards, January was a freebie.

Although I have been keeping a color coded calendar since 2012, this is the first time I have ever tallied my progress.  There are a few things I found interesting (again, I am probably the only one.  Is anyone else still reading?)

• My exercise goal is 40 minutes at least 4 times per week.  While I didn't make this goal every month, my total was dead on!  My new goal should be to beat February's total.
• I am not sure I can call myself a food blogger anymore with so few recipes cooked in the last 6 months.
• But, not too shabby in the blogging frequency category!  The weekly recap posts make it much easier (and clearly reveal my preference for dishes that don't require recipes.)
• The "doing new things" category could use some help, however it's likely I have done a few other new things that didn't get marked on the calendar. 
• Doing OK with the correspondence, but still barely making a dent in my Japanese 100-yen store stationary collection.  Also, it seems like every time I mail something, the rates have gone up again, making Forever stamps the only way to go.

For anyone who has made it here to the end, I really hope one of your goals for 2013 was to spend more time reading blogs.  You're doing great, and thanks for stopping by!