Reviewing my #19for2019

At the beginning of 2019 I set myself 19 goals rather than one New Year’s Resolution. Now we are almost at the end of the year so it’s time to do a review of how I went!

I was doing great until I stopped tracking my progress. For the first 5 months or so I kept a detailed chart and it helped keep me on track and remind me constantly to keep working at my goals. Once I let that go it was harder to stay focused on those goals. But I still think I went okay.

Here are the results:

1. Start swimming lessons with Archie – Achieved! He has participated all year and made the most amazing progress. For the first 6 months of lessons I bitched and moaned every week because it was a hassle and he didn’t seem to be enjoying it or getting anywhere. But then he started loving it and making great progress so now I look forward to it every week and I’m proud of myself for sticking with it.
2. Rejoin Rotary – Achieved! I have joined a Rotary club again and I am enjoying being back in this community organisation where I can help make a positive difference in the world while making good friends at the same time.
3. Write an e-Book – Not yet. I didn’t get around to this one but it’s still a long-term goal.
4. Learn & use Pinterest better for my blog – Not really achieved. I dabbled. I’ll get back to it.
5. Catch up with a friend at least once a month – I think I would have achieved this but I stopped tracking it so I couldn’t be sure. Tracking this one definitely helped me to make social plans when ordinarily it wouldn’t have taken priority in my mind. And I think I’m getting better at doing this now.
6. Run my first workshop/seminar for Fly Life – Not yet. Maybe 2020! I had big plans, but then life got weird and this got sidelined until I can put all my energy and focus into it.
7. Get my backyard sorted – Not yet. My backyard still looks like a sad little neglected desert. Maybe 2020. I thought I’d be able to do a lot of this myself but as is always the case when men get involved, it got too complicated and I lost interest. I just wanted to stick a raised garden bed in a corner, but no… first we must install drainage and blah blah blah… too hard.
8. Get security screens installed – Achieved! Well, my husband really achieved this one but only because I nagged enough so I’m still claiming the victory.
9. Have a weekend away by myself for writing – Not yet. Still definitely on my list though.
10. Plan a surprise weekend away for my little family – Achieved! We had a lovely weekend I would like to do something like this more often.
11. Read 25 books – Overachieved! At the time of writing this post I think I’m up to 28 and now I’m trying to see how close to 30 I can get, but I don’t think I’ll quite get that far.
12. Declutter my house – Definitely not achieved! Every now and then I would work towards this a little bit but it was a drop in the ocean. Still so much work to do on this one!
13. Cook a new recipe once a fortnight – I think I would have achieved this one or at least come very close to it. I have been trying heaps of different recipes and really enjoying cooking. It’s a bit harder now that I’m working full time again, but I still try to throw something new together as often as possible.
14. Attend a blogging/business event – Not yet. This one will remain on my list.
15. Have my women’s health check up – Achieved. I got this one out of the way early in the year.
16. Move more – steps, yoga, swimming, SOMETHING – I did pretty well with this one, particularly while I was tracking my progress. I was going for walks most days before I started working full time a couple of months ago. Things have slipped a bit since then so it’s something I want to focus on again in the new year.
17. Weekly gratitude practice – Not really… tracking this one helped but then I just kept forgetting. It makes such a difference though, so again, one that I will continue to work on in 2020.
18. Write every day – Nope. I need to identify my barriers to this because I just found it really hard! But it’s still something I would like to be able to do.
19. Experience something new with Archie every week – tracking this one was helpful because once I stopped tracking it I forgot to keep searching for new things. Also, when I went back to work full time it became much harder to fit new things in every week. But we did pretty well with this one and discovered some new places and fun activities!

Overall I did pretty well with my #19for2019. Focusing on this list for the year truly made me enjoy life more. The year had its challenges but looking back on what I achieved and what I enjoyed showed me that it was a pretty great year overall.

Achievements don’t have to be huge or impressive. Tiny positive tweaks are still life-changing.

Now to start planning my #20for2020!

What were your goals for 2019 and how did you go with them? I really love to hear about other people’s goals, so please share with me in the comments. Are you setting any new goals for 2020?