Hello!

At the beginning of 2019, I wrote a post called 19 Things For 2019. I chatted about how I went with these goals in my Mid Year Goals Check In post, and in my 2019 Things For 2019 Wrap Up post.

Today I’m here to set 10 Goals For 2020. Yes – I’m not doing 20 things for 2020 because that’s a lot!! I found it was hard to keep track when I had so many, and I was unable to really focus in on each, so I’m setting 10 this year.

Here. We. Go!

1. A goal in 2019 was to start to drive, which I achieved (health issues previously stopped me from this). This year, I want to be able to drive to several places in particular that are close and would be good to be able to get to by myself:

    • my friend’s house, which is not that far (via the fish & chip shop, of course, because that’s our staple!!)
    • the three local shopping centres
    • the physio clinic where I do Pilates
    • the gym
    • the local school I volunteer at

*The furthest destination is one of the shopping centres, which is 5 kms.

2. Write at least 2, 000 words per week (including my novel, short stories, poems or articles (not blog posts), but at least 1, 000 for my novel)

3. Produce at least 1 fully edited short story/article per month.

4. Submit every short story/article I write for publication.

5. Post on my blog once a week at the absolute minimum, and add the book reviews to Goodreads

6. Play the piano. I learned to play all through primary and high school. I still feel like ‘I play the piano’, even though I can’t remember the last time I did! By the end of this year I want to be able to play at least 1 song as well as possible. Potential song ideas include: Dawn by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lua by Bright Eyes, and Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel (which would be awesome to play with my friend/s who play violin/cello (you know who you are…!). Any other suggestions?

7. Be more present during meals. I have a tendency to wolf down my food because I like to eat it hot rather than lukewarm. I then get to the end of my serve and feel like I haven’t taken the time to really enjoy the yummy flavours, so I have another (unnecessary) serve (leading to increased POTS symptoms, which I obviously want to avoid). I want to slow down, enjoy and not overeat.

8. Going to the gym is something I’ve really missed but it has felt unattainable for a long time because of my health. However, due to some progress with my clinical Pilates (which I talked about in my wrap up post), it seems a little more realistic to give it a go. Subsequently, my mum and I have signed up at our local gym! Baby steps is key, but I’m excited to try.

Instead of saying my goal is ‘go to the gym 3 times a week’, or ‘get fit’, I want something more specific so that I have something tangible to reach for. It is quite hard to decide this as I don’t know how my body will handle any increase in the amount of exercise I do over the year. These are my targets so far:

  • 20 – 30 minutes walking (on the treadmill or outside). I won’t put a distance, speed or incline goal within this – walking is hard for me because fatigue and/or pain set in pretty quickly, so 30 minutes (not necessarily all at once, it could be split up with breaks) would be a major achievement.
  • Improve my body fat/muscle composition. I had a Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry scan done in April, and my percentages are currently not in a good range.
  • Hold a plank for 1 minute (and if I could do this twice with a short break in between, that would be mind-blowing!).

I have a ninth and tenth regarding my long-term future, which I won’t share at the moment.

Last year I had a word that embodied my goals. This year I have chosen ‘progress‘. I feel disappointed with how far from last year’s word, ‘achievement’, I feel. My 2020 goals are specific and I intend to keep to them. That said, I want to be aware of and focus on the process of getting to the desired results. I need to remember that it’s all well and good saying ‘I want this’ or ‘I wish I could do that’, but I won’t get where I want without putting the hard yakka in. Sounds obvious, but I find, especially with writing at the moment, I dream but could do more.  

So those are my goals for 2020. All my goals that I set in 2019 still apply and are things I will continue to work on (except taking out my belly button piercing – did that!). There’s quite a few in this list of 10 that seem big to me and slightly daunting, but I think they’re fairly realistic challenges.

Have you made goals for the year? I’d love to hear about them!

Happy goal setting – I know you’ll do a fantastic job in 2020!

 

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4 Comments on 10 Goals For 2020

  1. I intend to keep in touch more with friends, take more opportunities for me and the kids to do things (push the limits). I’m taking Poppy to watch Portsmouth FC in Feb. There’s even an opportunity for her to do training on Southampton pitch for charity which I’m debating for purely selfish reasons (rival teams lol)

  2. Good luck Gem,I hadn’t set myself any goals but you have inspired me. Will have to have a think and come up with some. Improving my fitness and get serious about learning to play my ukelele is my start of my goals for 2020.
    Here’s to”progress”

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