I decided to stop setting New Year’s resolutions many years ago. Instead I decided to start focusing on getting things done as they came up. If I wanted to try a new diet I would start it that day. If I wanted to learn a little bit of a new language I would start that day. I never saw the point of waiting for some new year to do something. With that being said, the calendar year itself is an excellent opportunity to measure and track your goals.
These are my goals *not New Year’s resolutions* for 2011.
Blogging related goals.
No more BS posts.
I post way too much crap sometimes. I get desperate and feel the need to put something up on the blog just for the sake of it. I want to strive to put up as many quality 1,000 plus word posts as possible. If I do this then hopefully the popularity of Studenomics will increase and I will have more readers.
More research.
I plan on reading more books and content in order to conduct the research needed to provide quality posts. I want to include more empirical proof and not just anecdotal thoughts. Research is also an excellent excuse to read more and to educate myself on topics that I’m absolutely clueless about.
Become more interactive.
I want to leave more insightful comments on other blogs. I want to engage in conversation with my blogging peers. After all we’re in this together.
Grow the blog.
Yes I wanted to avoid being vague but I can’t help myself. I want to grow this blog. This is where my career-related goal comes into play. I don’t want to set any income goals. but I do hope that this blog becomes popular enough that I can pick and choose job offers that come my way.
Personal Finance plans.
I haven’t really shared much information about my personal finance situation here at all. I’m just not a huge fan of being transparent with my finances. I would rather research and write quality articles for you guys. I’ve just always figured that you don’t care about my financial situation.
A few big things that happened for me in 2010 financially:
- Finished college debt free. Through working full-time, investing my money, and saving my money, I was able to graduate from college debt free. This is much easier to do so here in Canada though I’m still proud of this accomplishment.
- Got the keys to my condo. By picking up my hours in the summer time I was able to put down enough money for a downpayment on a condo.
Some financial goals for 2010:
Save enough money to travel long term.
I’ve set a target date of September to go on my first long term travel expedition. The current location is set for Australia. I still haven’t figured out how much money I need to have saved up because I plan on finding working on all of my excursions.
Save 10 grand.
You can call this savings, an emergency fund, or whatever you want. I just want to save 10 grand. Not much for some, but an extra 10K in my bank account one year from now is a good thing.
Rent out my condo.
When I leave for my long term travels I want to sell as much of my possessions as possible and to rent out my place. This will really make travel easier for me.
Personal goals.
Time to get a little personal. It was a really great year for me personally. From greatly improving my networking skills to meeting many cool new people. Life is really about the people you surround yourself. Some personal goals for me are:
Find work.
I’m actually torn as to what I plan on doing with myself in 2011 in terms of a career. I have a good job at the moment but it’s not where I see myself in the future. I plan on applying for jobs. I just don’t know what I’m looking for exactly. I’m worried that I might end up finding a job that will force me to put all travel plans on hold (has happened to many of my friends). I really need more direction here.
Travel more.
Okay– more meaningful and long-term travel/vagabonding. As mentioned earlier I want this to be the year where I start my long term travels. Along with this I want to sneak in many shorter trips so that I can get into the habit of traveling.
Night life/dating.
Frankly this is the reason this post was delayed two days. I get distracted easily. Not sure how to put this section together without losing all of my female readers. I want to continue doing what I did all of 2010. Going out with friends and meeting a variety of new people. I’ve mastered the art of going out without killing my budget. Instead of cutting back and making ridiculous resolutions to “stop going out” I plan on optimizing my spending so that I could go out more. There’s only so much you can pick up from the tv or a book. You need to get out there.
Those are my goals for 2011. I got a damn good feeling about this year. 2010 was the best year of my life. It can only get better because the year will be as good as I make it to be. What are your goals?
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You’re right. There’s just one major issue here: you’re well established in your career. I doubt some 23 year old walking in through the door will be given 6 weeks of vacation in his first year. I’m also the type of person that becomes heavily immersed in projects. As you have said before, nobody leaves their dream job. I would never leave a job that pays well and I enjoy to visit random places in the world.
1. Lose 20 pounds by the end of the year – lose 10 by July 4th.
2. Volunteer for a charity at least twice a month.
3. Build up the emergency fund to at least $15,000.
4. Max-out 2 Roth IRA’s for 2011.
5. Pay off at least $8,000 of our mortgage principal.
6. Make AT LEAST $15,000 through blogging.
I completely know what you mean about not wanting to get into a career and asking to take time off.
My friend took two separate 6 months leave from work, one to go to europe, and the other to go to asia, and I wish I did the same
I think in the end.. it MIGHT be more economical to do it all in one go because you’re saving on airfare (instead of taking a flight somewhere every year, which is what I do.. sometimes twice a year..)
Hey, who knows, you might meet someone while traveling (which is often the case) and then you won’t need to go out so much for nightlife, hence saving you even more money!