Have Dog, Will Travel!

Warning: this is a long one.

Posting a guide to making powerful, definitive New Year’s Resolutions seems to be the thing to do-nearly every major blogger on the Net has offered this kind of advice in the past couple of weeks. Here are suggestions from the blogs I read daily:

My friend Alan from The 9 to 5 Alternative put up a post one year ago exploring the benefits of setting concrete, quantifiable goals. Here is an excerpt:

“Instead of “getting in better shape,” why not try to run a mile under 7 minutes or do 20 pull-ups without stopping? Instead of “eating better,” cook a balanced meal at home twice a week. If you want to do something advantageous for your life, there’s probably a way to quantify it. Goals that are well-defined are much easier to tackle psychologically!”

J.D. from Get Rich Slowly, a practical financial planning blog offers, a similar post, emphasizing the creation of goals, rather than resolutions. I tend to agree with this approach; in my opinion, resolutions are made to be broken. I recognize that my will power isn’t the strongest, so I need concrete, tangible goals.

Finally, Chris Guillebeau, author of the The Art of Non-Conformity (highly recommended as my favorite blog on the Net), encourages folks to conduct an annual review of the past year, before setting out on the path towards success after the clock strikes midnight. This makes sense. Why not correct previous mistakes, before adding potential errors onto the pile with new, sweeping resolutions?

So without further ado, read on for my annual review and plans for 09.

What went well in 2008:

1. I graduated from college, finally freeing myself from the past 17 years of forced bondage to the classroom. Of course, now that I’m done, I see education in an entirely new light, and look forward to someday returning to it.
2. I’ve finally realized a degree of success with my SEO consulting, and there’s encouraging, sustainable growth on the horizon. After experimenting with several different business models, I’ve created something that begins to transform what I’m doing from a service into a product. This is essential for “scalability”-if you need to constantly tailor your service to fit each client, the roadblocks to substantial, geometrical growth are impossibly high.
3. I spent the summer in Boulder, Colorado, making tons of new friends that I hopefully will keep in touch with for a long time. In fact, my buddy Chris is coming down to BA in just a few weeks.
4. I successfully moved to Buenos Aires for the summer (winter for most of you folks freezing in the Northern Hemisphere), dog in tow. I’ve set myself up with a solid base here, and improved my Spanish to the point of comfort (with fluency looming in the distance).
5. I’ve curbed my alcohol consumption, and am now just your average “social drinker”.

What didn’t go well in 2008:

1. I didn’t graduate college; though I walked across the stage, I remain two credits short of a diploma (ie, 98.5% of the way to 120 credits). A severe disconnect has developed-participating in the graduation ceremony has convinced me that I have a bachelor’s degree, but the Tulane Registrar begs to differ.
2. My main side project of 2008 flopped, taking about 4,000 dollars down the drain with it. Real Abroad was a great idea-the problem lay in my execution. At the same time, the lessons I took from it were well worth the money. Learning these lessons at 22, rather than 32 or 42 or 52, was priceless.
3. I flirted with serious exercise several times, going as long as three months before quitting.
4. I spent about 2 months at home (ie, Westchester) in September and October in between my summer in Boulder, CO and my summer in Buenos Aires. (Love you, Mom). That was my longest stretch since I graduated high school in 2004.
5. I started strong with this blog in November, but have since let it falter.

Planning for Next Year

From The Art of Nonconformity:

“Next, I start looking towards the future, based on goals that are set by category. Here are the categories that I use:

Writing, Business, Friends & Family, Service, Travel, Spiritual, Health, Learning, Financial (Earning), Financial (Giving), Financial (Saving)“

Here’s my list:

Writing:

1. Outside of the writing I do for clients, this blog has to be number one. That means posts at least twice a week. I know this can be a useful, interesting resource for others if I put the necessary work in. I’m doing interesting things, and I can express them well, so if I make it a priority, I should be able to find success. I’m hoping for 100 readers subscribed by RSS when 2010 (2010?!?!) rolls around in 12 months. By February, I hope to have completed a redesign of the blog as well.
2. I should be doing more personal writing. The one resolution that I can remember from 2008 was to have a short story published on the back page of the NYT Magazine. I submitted two pieces, but obviously they weren’t good enough. I’ll need to do much more. I plan to post these pieces on the blog.

Health:

1. Maintain constant physical fitness regimen (minimum of exercising 3x per week), even when traveling.
2. Get back to my peak physical form (circa lacrosse season 2003, junior year of high school). This one isn’t as concrete as I would like, but it’s a start.
3. Run a half-marathon.
4. Start yoga.

Travel:

1. Continue to realize my dream of the Endless Summer, residing in the Northern Hemisphere June/July and the Southern Hemisphere December/January.
2. Though these plans have yet to be defined, I’m hoping to purchase a Round the World ticket for this June, July, and August. If that doesn’t work out, I plan on spending at least 2 months in the Northern Hemisphere outside of the States, in either Europe or Southeast Asia.
3. Whatever happens, I hope to hit 10 new countries in 2009. That seems like a pretty reasonable number, as there are several new countries I plan on visiting in South America before I leave in April or May.

Financial (Income)

1. I have a monthly income target picked out. It’s certainly doable, but I’ll have to work harder/smarter than I have in the past year. That’s not a bad thing.
2. Streamline my systems according to the lessons taught by the “lifehacker” gurus (Tim Ferriss, Zen Habits, etc.)

Financial (Giving)

1. Aside from token gifts to hungry wooks at music festivals, I didn’t really give much to charity in ‘08. Now that I’m out of college and making more money, I hope that’s something I can change.

Financial (Saving)

1. This is a big one. My goal for 2009 is to put at least 30% of my income away for investment/long term savings. This seems like a reasonable figure, due to the fact that I’m living in Argentina. A lifestyle comparable to the one I have maintained in the States costs roughly half as much. Of course, I’ll also be spending time in the States, which will be more expensive. Factor in travel, and you’ll see expenses start to rise quickly. Obviously, this goal is tied directly to how much money I make.
2. My spending has at times in the past been pretty absurd (see Monster Truck, Porsche, lots and lots of money in OZ/NZ in 2004 for reference). I’ve been getting better about reining it in, but there is certainly room for improvement.

The next step in Guillebeau’s formula is setting down the “Actions Required for Each Goal.” I’ll keep these private (I can’t give away all my secrets, can I?), but this list is easily the most important of all. Without action, these goals will remain goals, rather than successes.

So that’s it, for now; the rest of the work is all on the backend, hidden from view. I plan on updating this list quarterly, and will post the reviews (hopefully in a distinct section of the blog after the redesign is complete). Check back for my progress!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.