Goals: Year in Review
Self-assessment for goal achievement
Goal Self-Assessment
What’s the most important part of setting a goal? Achieving the goal or doing the thinking it takes to figure out what you want in life? I’d argue that figuring out what you want is more important because once you clearly state it and get it on paper, you will eventually make it happen.
Looking back at previous goals
I’ve been setting goals annually for over 20 years. I have never achieved all of them. In the beginning that was painful. Now I know that some are aspirational with a high probability of failure and some are directional where even a little progress in the right direction is better than nothing. Most were accomplished eventually.
These were my goals in 2024:
Swim in a cenote
Visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza
Teach daughter to ride bike
Net worth >$X
Passive income >$X
Run >10 miles
Kid-free trip with wife
Get other daughter doing something active
Put houses in trusts
Learn to swim
Hike 3-4 14ers (14,000 ft mountains)
Skeletal Muscle >42%, Body Fat <12%
Play Guitar
Financial Independence / begin fractional work
Launch consulting business / website
Pretty good list right?
Goal Attainment
I hit my three financial goals (#4 Net Worth, #5 Passive Income, and #14 Financial Independence / begin fractional work) which is a major achievement. I swam in a Cenote (#1-photo below) and visited Chichen Itza (#2) both of which have been on my bucket list for over 20 years. One of my literal, physical and mental high points was having coffee during sunrise at the top of Long’s Peak, my first 14,000 ft mountain ascended in Colorado. I began the hike at 1:30a and returned to my car 12 hours later.
Goal Fails
Last year I failed achieve #6 Run > 10 miles, #9 Put houses in trusts, #10 Learn to swim, #12 Skeletal Muscle >42%, Body Fat <12%, #13 Play Guitar, and #15 Launch consulting business / website. However, failure to achieve the goal doesn’t mean I’m a failure. I went in knowing I wouldn’t achieve every goal on the list.
A deeper dive on the fails:
#6 Run >10 miles; I did months of running and two runs over 5 miles which is better than nothing. Because of this goal and a whole lot of hiking, I was able to accomplish goal #11, hike >=3 14ers with ease.
#9, Put houses in trusts; I had lawyers prepare the deeds. I now need to complete the process with the city. This one probably should have been on my To Do list instead of my goals because it just wasn’t that important to me.
#10 Learn to swim; I swam 2x/wk for 4 months, read a book on swimming, watched >4 hours of videos and took a $400 all-day course. I put in a lot of effort but I still suck. Goal failed but progress made.
#13, Learn to play guitar; this is a recurring failure for me. I’ve seen improvement but don’t routinely make the time it takes to actually get decent at guitar. Its supposed to be fun but it feels like work. Does that make me a failure? A pathetic, no-music-talent, loser? Kind of, for now but I’m okay with that. Sort of.
#15 Launch consulting business / website; I actually launched the consulting business and am at capacity. I began working on my website and started populating it but haven’t completed or launched the site so this goal is not (yet) achieved.
We have to be willing to fail when we set goals. I’m happy that I made progress on every goal on my list and that is better than nothing. Also, I’ve learned about the time commitment needed to learn to play guitar or swim well, my aptitude, and what I am willing to put in which I couldn’t have known before I started. This year, learning to play guitar is not one of my goals but swimming is still on my list. Will I pick up my guitar, yes, but I’m prioritizing other things that take a lot of time which I expect to bring me more joy.
My Favorite Goal
Which goal stands out the most? One would think its #14 Financial Independence (FI) / begin fractional work. I must admit, at age 47, I’m feeling really great about achieving that one. My wife and I were able to reach FI and I was able to transition from full-time work to part-time work doing what I love because I want to not because I have to and that makes the work even better. Hitting this goal was years / decades in the making. I’ve been building toward it for so long that its achievement became inevitable and perhaps even a little anti-climatic. Thus, the goal that stands out most, my high point of the entire year…#3 Teaching my daughter to ride a bike.
If you asked me at the beginning of 2024 which goal would be my high point, I wouldn’t have guessed teaching my daughter to ride a bike. What made it so great? The same thing that makes achieving many of our goals so great:
The build up; this has been on my list for years.
The reluctance; my daughter wanted to be able to ride a bike but didn’t want to go through the pain of learning.
The persistence; Watching my daughter try and fail, give up, try and fail, throw her bike down in frustration, take a break, come back, fall down, get back on the bike, try again, get a few pedals, fail, start over. Tears were flowing. Fingers were pointed. Accusations were made. It went like this for 8 tear-laden hours over two days.
My behavior; I’m usually pretty impatient. In this case, I was patient, I was encouraging, I was on call for any help needed, I sat on the sidelines to assist for anything, I was the dad she needed in that moment. I watched and participated as it all unfolded.
The goal attainment: When my daughter finally put it all together and rode 10 pedals without falling, we both shouted in excitement. After that there was no stopping her. She was turning and coming back in no time. We went for boba and bowling to celebrate (her requests, not mine). All the suffering made the success that much better.
Her post-attainment memory loss; I’ve been trying to get my daughter to ride a bike for years. She has pushed back HARD all along for a million different reasons. Mostly they come down to fear; fear of failure and fear of getting hurt. A few days after learning to ride she said: “Dad, you know it really wasn’t that hard to learn to ride a bike.” How quickly we forget! Things are only hard until we know how to do them. In this case, because I was along for the ride (oh, yes I did!), I was able to set her straight and remind her that she did a very hard thing but like all hard things, with time and effort, they become easy. Don’t you just love a teaching moment?
A summer of freedom; Once she learned to ride a bike, my daughter used her new skill throughout the summer to visit friends, head to the park and explore. She enjoyed a great deal of happiness as a result of putting in the work. Every time she walked out the door with her helmet on, I felt so proud.
When asked about her highlight for the year 2024, my daughter doesn’t hesitate to say it was learning to ride a bike. For me, that’s what goals are all about, doing the things we know will bring more joy, happiness, satisfaction and self-esteem to our lives. We can do hard things!
Getting what you want in life
Setting goals is synonymous with figuring out what your want in life then going for it! While we may be able to put our head down, plug away and realize great success over time, putting thought into what we want and when we want it makes a big difference.
Goals help with decision making. Invitations and requests for our time that don’t help us achieve what matters to us are easier to say no to when you can look at a list of goals and realize that saying yes to someone or something else takes away from what is important to you.
Setting goals does not guarantee they will be achieved but does put us on the right path. You won’t get everything you want, no one does, but perhaps you will get closer to what matters to you and that is worth the upfront thought, the sweat and tears, and hopefully the eventual celebration when you can say it wasn’t that hard after all.
Have you set your goals for 2025 yet? If not, don’t wait, read this post and I’d love to see some of your goals in the comments: Setting Goals in 4 Easy Steps
What are some of your past goals you are most proud of and why?