Tag Archives: Goals

First 101 in 1001 Update

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Welcome to the Ignorant Historian! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

If you were paying attention to my 101 in 1001 list, you would remember that one of those goals was to blog an update monthly. While I started and will end my list mid-month, I will be blogging updates at the beginning of each month about the previous month’s progress. It’s just how I think.

Overall, by the end of December, I had completed 2 goals. With partial progress on a number of other goals, I am 5.17% done with my list, which is awesome. I know that I’ll reach goal fatigue at some point, so it’s good to have some breathing room.

I’ll just be mentioning goals that I’ve been working on. So here’s what I’ve been up to.

7. Watch 10 movies I’ve wanted to see. 1/10

Went to see Les Miserables with my parents while I was home over Christmas. So good!

10. Host a game night. – Completed 12/15/2012

The first goal I ever completed, as I hosted a game night for my birthday!

13. Wear earrings at least 20 days in a month. 10/20

Working on it, and am halfway there. I’ve been wanting to get back into the habit of wearing earrings, and this has definitely been helping.

14. Reread (or listen to the audio of) 20 books. 1/20

I finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe for my niece, which is a reread for me.

29. Walk 10,000 steps/day for a week. - Completed 12/28/2012

It was such a good idea to do this while I was home in Kansas. Of course, I didn’t quite think that at the time when I was walking out in the single digit windchills, but it was good to get moving again.

39. Floss everyday for a month. 13/30

Hopefully I’ll make this a habit as well.

45. Journal 500 times. 22/500

You may notice that journaling 22 times in 17 days means that I journaled more than once a day. I was just in a journaling mood. I won’t be keeping up this pace, though, which is fine.

47. Blog 303 times. 12/303

This includes a couple of scheduled posts.

48. Read the Bible through in 5 different versions. 173/5945

I started with the NIV which has been good. It has been really good to shake things up a bit.

49. Memorize 101 verses. 2/101

52. Make a list of 101 things I’m thankful for. 27/101

This has been harder than I thought, which means I’m out of practice.

55. Write 101 letters or encouraging emails. 43/101

Christmas cards have given me a great start.

58. Donate $1001 (above what I give to the church). 90/1001

I feel really awkward posting about this. I should have thought about that before.

59. Donate 101 things. 4/101

Funny story, this. All evidence points to the fact that I donated a few Christmas presents accidentally. I re-bought new stuff, but you bet I’m counted those items as donated.

60. Throw out/recycle/donate 50 other things. 1/50

Got rid of an old unmentionable.

61. See my niece 6 times. 1/6

Yay!

63. Volunteer 101 hours. 1.5/101

72. Have  $X in savings. 10.7%

I did not save 10.7% of my goal, but I’m 10.7% of the way to it from where I was December 15th. If that makes any sense.

74. Pay down student loan to below $X. 2.68%

78. Wear a skirt or dress to work 50 times. 1/50

I really love doing it, so glad to have this incentive.

82. Read 250 books. 10/250

The readathon helped.

84. Visit a national news site 101 times. 6/101

85. Visit a local news site 101 times. 2/101

87. Memorize a poem.

Decided to memorize William Knox’s “Mortality” and have started to memorize the first stanza.

92. Save $10 for every task completed.

Saved an extra $20 for the 2 tasks already completed.

30 before 30 Update

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It’s been a couple months since I’ve done a 30 before 30 update. I have just over 3 months left to work on these goals! I have highlighted the goals based on the likelihood of getting there (green=good, yellow=maybe, red=no). I have completed 3 more goals since I last updated!

1. Read the Bible twice through. 2349/2378 chapters = 99%

I’m very close. Will be getting there in the next couple of days!

2. Memorize Colossians.

This won’t be happening. I have started, but I want to not rush this. Also have other verses I want to memorize.

3. Lose 50 pounds.

50 pounds is not going to happen because as of right now, I’m about a pound over where I started a year ago. But, given the year I had, I’ll take it. I’ve been making a concerted effort to work on my health, and anticipate at least getting partial progress on this goal.

4. Save $2,000. Completed 3/15/2012

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

7. Pay down my student loans to $XX,000.

This won’t be happening, barring some windfall in the next couple of months. I have actually changed my financial goals since I wrote this list, so I’m actually further ahead than I had hoped to be, but paying down this loan has not been high on my priority list.

8. Write What about Emotions (working title).

This probably is not going to be happening. Just haven’t been making the time to work on it, and don’t anticipate this changing in the next couple of months. I probably will be putting this on my next goal list (thinking about doing 101 in 1001 after I hit 30!).

9. Read 160 books. 146/160 = 91%

Will be getting there this month or next.

10. Read 5 classics. Completed 2/20/2012

11. Swim a mile (again). Completed 8/31/2012

This is probably my favorite thing on this list right now…it just feels like such a victory. It has been 6 years and 60 pounds since the last time I did this. I definitely have work to do, still!

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

13. Celebrate our 30th birthdays with Dana.

Not sure when we’ll get to celebrate, but it’s not going to be between our 2 30th birthdays as I had thought. I’ve been very thankful to have seen her twice in the last year, though.

14. Cut caffeine down to only one Diet Dr Pepper a week.

This is definitely a maybe. Doable, sure. Wantable? Perhaps not. I have a great job right now which gives me all the Diet Dr Pepper I want during working hours. Working on my health has lowered my desire for Diet Dr Pepper, though, so that might be what kicks it.

15. Sell 100 copies of The Journal. Completed Summer 2012

This was actually a big goal for me. But after doing some thinking, I decided I’d rather give people the opportunity to read the book than to make money on it. I’ve made a little money on it (not quite offsetting my costs), but over 400 copies have been downloaded.

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

17. Fast 16 days. 2/16

This will not be happening. Due to some health issues, I don’t think it’s wise for me to fast as I had planned…at this point. I’ve talked to my doctor about it, and she says to follow my body on this one. If I can get my blood sugar under better control, this will be an option again. Just another reason to work on that.

18. Pray through Operation World. 35/246 = 14%

It embarrasses me how quickly other things take precedence over prayer.

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

22. Write in my journal 100 times. Completed 2/23/2012

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

24. Have an empty to-read shelf.

Very close!

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 26/70 = 37%

Totally doable if I just do it.

26. Bake bread.

I need to put this on my to-do list soon.

27. Make my own laundry detergent. Completed 8/5/2012

This was fun, and it’s worked for me. I had to half the formula the Duggars use for obvious reasons…

28. Finish recording the Chronicles of Narnia for my niece.

I’ve definitely slowed down on this one, though I want to at least get one or more done for her birthday/Christmas. Not going to rush it, though.

29. Walk 4 miles on the treadmill.

This was a filler goal, and you can tell. I really don’t care to complete it, but I might hop on a treadmill one day and do it. Or not…we’ll see.

30. Read the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon. Completed 4/20/2012

Back to School

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It’s that time of year…back to school time! It’s always been one of my favorite times of year.

No, I’m not going back to school. I’ve been out for almost 4 years and while I certainly won’t rule out going back, it’s definitely not on the 5-year plan. Still, this time of year, though a bit arbitrary for the non-student, feels like a fresh start.

I want it to be a fresh start.

I need a fresh start.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve slowly been focusing on eating better and making some other changes. Nothing huge (yet) but baby steps.

But I’m ready to start making a few strides in the right direction.

Here goes.

Photo by José Goulão

Making Progress: 30 Before 30 Update

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I still have lots of work to do, but I feel like I’ve made good progress on my goals this past month. July has/is going by so fast with vacation and everything, but I hope to keep up with this progress!

1. Read the Bible twice through. 1817/2378 chapters = 76%

4. Save $2,000. Completed 3/15/2012

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

9. Read 160 books. 120/160 = 75%

10. Read 5 classics. Completed 2/20/2012

11. Swim a mile (again).

I went to a water aerobics at the invitation of a friend last week, and it’s made me itch to get back to swimming laps. Will be getting back to this soon and am really excited about it.

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

In fact, I’m about to work my 4th election on Tuesday!

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

18. Pray through Operation World. 28/246 = 11%

I’m going to use the Olympics to encourage myself to pray for the nations.

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

22. Write in my journal 100 times. Completed 2/23/2012

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

24. Have an empty to-be-read shelf.

I’m definitely making great progress on this one, on track to finish just before my 30th birthday.

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 20/70 = 29%

27. Make my own laundry detergent.

I’ll be doing this once I get back from vacation, so probably early August.

30. Read the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon. Completed 4/20/2012

Just a Kick in the Seat of the Pants

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I’ve really not done a good job on my goals in May. It doesn’t make much sense to post this, except as a kick in the seat of the pants for myself.

So, here’s how I’m doing as of May 31st:

1. Read the Bible twice through. 1590/2378 chapters = 67%

4. Save $2,000. Completed 3/15/2012

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

9. Read 160 books. 105/160 = 66%

10. Read 5 classics. Completed 2/20/2012

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

18. Pray through Operation World. 21/246 = 9%

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

22. Write in my journal 100 times. Completed 2/23/2012

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 17/70 = 24%

30. Read the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon. Completed 4/20/2012

Catching Up in Bullets

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  • I’m not giving up blogging. Really, I’m not. I’m just not in a place where I can post as regularly as I did before. I’m not going to commit to any specific posting schedule. I want to ensure that everything I post here is worth posting.
  • And that’s all that I’ll say about that.
  • My garden is growing well. It always amazes me how fast it grows. I already have quite a few blooms and a few (very) green tomatoes.
  • I’ve been working on a crude drip system in order to waste less water to runoff. Old milk jugs with a pin hole in the bottom have worked well for me.
  • Speaking of wasting less, I’ve not turned on my A/C yet. I was *so* close last night, but my fans saved me. I made my goal to make it until May. Now, I’ve decided to up my goal to wait until it’s 95 outside. We’ll see.
  • You might think I’m crazy (I’m not denying it), but I just can’t see wasting resources (both “mine” and the world’s) and polluting just to be a little more comfortable.
  • I’m still loving my job. We’re still growing, so we’ve hired a couple of new people to do tech support. It’s been fun being one of the knowledgeable ones.
  • Personal goals haven’t been going so great. Working on coming up with a better plan for this summer.

Over Halfway

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Well, I’ve passed the halfway point from my arbitrary start date and my 30th birthday. I’m not really halfway through my goals, but I’ve been working on them. It’d be nice to at least finish 25 of them. I did complete one more in April, so I’ve now completed 12 of my 30 goals.

1. Read the Bible twice through. 1532/2378 chapters = 64%

4. Save $2,000. Completed 3/15/2012

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

9. Read 160 books. 102/160 = 64%

I read a *few* books this month. At this rate, I’ll be at my goal before the end of the summer…but I don’t really plan on keeping up this rate.

10. Read 5 classics. Completed 2/20/2012

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

18. Pray through Operation World. 17/246 = 7%

I’ve started making a more conscious effort to work this in to my day.

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

22. Write in my journal 100 times. Completed 2/23/2012

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 14/70 = 20%

30. Read the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon. Completed 4/20/2012

 

8 Months to Go

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I’m almost halfway through my 30 before 30 challenge. I finished one more goal this month and made some progress on a few others. Still don’t know if I’ll complete them all, but the goal is to try! Here’s my progress as 0f the end of March:

1. Read the Bible twice through. 1344/2378 chapters = 57%

2. Memorize Colossians. 5/95 = 5%

Yay for progress! I’m working hard on making the verse that I memorize stick…takes a lot of work, but is worth it.

4. Save $2,000. Completed 3/15/2012

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

9. Read 160 books. 75/160 = 47%

I anticipate this number will jump this month as I’m giving up TV. Then again, I’m currently rereading Atlas Shrugged.

10. Read 5 classics. Completed 2/20/2012

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

15. Sell 100 copies of The Journal. 48/100 = 48%

Big jump this month as I gave my book away for free. I still count that as a “sell,” because they still had to take the time to “buy” it. I did sell some more physical copies in there, too.

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

17. Fast 16 days. 2/16 = 13%

18. Pray through Operation World. 8/246 = 3%

Just added this in to my daily routine. Glad I finally did.

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

22. Write in my journal 100 times. Completed 2/23/2012

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 12/70 = 17%

Speaking of letters, 4 years ago today I wrote a letter to Mikey the Spider.

30 Before 30 Update

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It’s been a couple of months since I’ve updated my status on my 30 Before 30 goals. That’s probably because unemployment hasn’t been much of an impetus to get to work on these goals, though it could have been. Oh well, it’s a new year!

I now have completed finished 8 goals, which isn’t bad at all. At this point, there is only 1 that I think won’t happen as I’ve had to alter my financial goals somewhat. Other than that, I think everything is quite doable!

Here is my goal update as of December 31st:

1. Read the Bible twice through. 630/2378 chapters = 26.5%

3. Lose 50 pounds. /50 pounds = 6/50 = 12%

Yeah, the holidays and general busyness wasn’t good for this.

5. Publish The Journal. Completed 12/26/2011

6. __________. (find a new job) Completed 12/28/2011

9. Read 160 books. 39/160 = 24%

I’m a little behind on this goal, but I have no doubt I’ll get there. Just blame crocheting and general laziness for a poor reading month in December.

10. Read 5 classics. 3/5 = 60%

Yay for audiobooks, otherwise I wouldn’t be this far. Now that I’ll be employed I won’t be listening to audiobooks as much, but surely I can get in two more classics this year.

12. Work a polling place during an election. Completed 10/11/2011

15. Sell 100 copies of The Journal. 2/100 = 2%

I’m grateful for every copy that I sell! And I only had it for sale for 6 days as of this update.

16. Make an author website. Completed 12/20/2011

17. Fast 16 days. 1/16 = 6%

I wish I had taken advantage of my unemployment to fast and didn’t just get caught up in the busyness. Still want to work this into my life regularly.

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking. Completed 10/7/2011

20. Decorate my apartment for Christmas. Completed 11/25/2011

I really enjoyed doing this one! Now I just have to undecorate…

21. Meet my niece. Completed 12/27/2011

By far the most satisfying “check” on this list.

22. Write in my journal 100 times. 46/100 = 46%

I’ll soon have this finished as I’ve committed to writing in my journal every day in 2011. So far, I have!

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. Completed 11/9/2011

24. Have an empty to-read shelf.

It was really almost empty and then Christmas happened. Love that. Will finish what’s left before December!

30 Before 30 Update

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Another month down, another update on my 30 before 30 goals! Once again, I only report progress on the goals that have progress to report.

I’ve now fully completed two of my goals, and as you can see, I’m well on my way to finishing more.

1. Read the Bible twice through. 421/2378 chapters = 17.7%

3. Lose 50 pounds. 8/50 pounds = 16%

I actually probably lost more so far, but I was a bit bloated when I did my final weigh-in this month. That’s okay. During October, I was pretty bad about exercise (It’s cold! I lost my job!), but no more excuses. I only continued to loose weight as I ate out less to save money.

4. Save $2,000.

I’m not sure if it “counts,” but my severance pay helped me reach this goal. I guess I won’t count it if I’m not able to keep it over $2,000…time will tell.

6. __________.

Well, I can no report that this goal is “find a new job.” I had already hoped to look for a job with new challenges come next May, but the layoff certainly forced my hand on this one. Unfortunately, it’s not yet complete! Patience, right?

9. Read 160 books. 23/160 = 14%

I knew it wouldn’t take me long to catch up on this one.

10. Read 5 classics. 1/5 = 20%

I didn’t actually specify that these had to be new-to-me, but they do. I did read A Passage to India this month though.

12. Work a polling place during an election.

The first goal to be completed, and I’m glad I did it. I will likely be working a few more elections in the next year.

17. Fast 16 days. 1/16 = 6%

Not quite where I should be on this, but I’m working on it.

18. Pray through Operation World. 4/246 = 1.6%

I hate that I haven’t been making this a priority. I’ve been praying, but if I am honest, I’ve been mostly praying about me and the situations I am in (unemployment, future plans, friend relationships). It’s good that I bring these to God, but I’m not the only one who needs prayer (though I desperately do!).

19. Spend time on Yom Kippur fasting, praying, and thinking.

And a second goal completed! This was an excellent thing to do, and I hope to do this each year.

22. Write in my journal 100 times. 29/100 = 29%

All the uncertainty at work plus some things that God is working in my heart definitely made for a lot of time spent journaling. I’m making up for lost time!

23. Make a baby blanket for Bean. 34/50 pieces = 68%

Glad that I’m almost done with this, as I have grand plans for more crocheting projects.

25. Write 70 encouraging letters or emails. 2/70 = 3%

Uh, yeah, that’s rather pathetic. I hope to make more of a priority of this.

28. Finish recording the Chronicles of Narnia for my niece. 26/110 chapters = 24%