Having just completed my review of 2015, it is time to leave the past twelve months and project ahead for the dozen to come.
Rick will be providing his goals in a separate article (or I may simply amend this one when he’s got his down on paper).
To assess my progress from last year, it is worth considering whether I lived up to the goals I put forth.
| Goal | Grade |
|---|---|
| Financial | Pass |
| Fitness | Pass |
| Musical | Fail |
As we can see, I achieved my Financial and Fitness goals but fell short Musically. It would be too easy and downright false to simply say I “didn’t have the time” since, I believe, everyone has the time for whatever they prioritize in life. Ultimately, I simply didn’t put in the hours to develop my acumen with the piano.
This leads us to the 2016 Goals portion of the article. Given that I came up short on the Musical side of things last year, it’s worth noting that I really wasn’t specific at all about how I would achieve those goals to begin with. As such, I’ll be adding specifics about how I intend to hit my goals this year.
Goals:
- Financial: I would like to, again, earn a four-figure sum from freelancing personal finance articles. Beyond that, I would also like to earn a minimum of $100 from photography, whether from writing about it in photographic publications or from actual pictures sold. There are a huge selection of sites out there offering a chance for freelancers to sell their photos. Since I purchased a nice Canon camera last year, I would like to take the next step and produce some professional work.
- Diversify: More as a corollary to Goal #1, I would like to broaden my stock investments. I have a lot of dividends coming from the telecommunications and financial sector which is likely a result of having some powerful oligarchies in place in Canada. However, to mitigate the downside of dividend cuts in those areas, I need to deploy new capital elsewhere.
- Fitness: My personal best marathon time is currently 3h46m. I would like to drop this time to 3h35m or so. During my last marathon, I was holding a pace that would have seen me finish in 3h30m or so until I eventually tired somewhat around the 30km mark. This is going to come down to running a minimum of three times per week during training season while also maintaining a healthier diet. I would like to see my half-marathon time hit 1h35m from 1h38m.
- Musical: Okay, let’s try this again. There is a website called “Yousician” which offers a way to learn the piano. I believe this will be a useful resource for me to use since I don’t have a personal trainer/tutor to guide me along the learning path. My goal: Commit to 15 minutes three times per week. So, yes, I realize it’s only 45 minutes per week, but it’s around 40 minutes more than I have already been doing. If I do more, great, but that will be my baseline.
Most of all, the goal will be to continue to write and share this journey with the readers of this website. The writing process itself improves the writer as I become more committed to the tenets I preach here.
Thank you to everyone who has frequented the site and found value in what we have shared. We hope you will keep coming back as the comments and E-mails we receive make this a rich, rewarding experience.
Let’s raise our glasses to another year of increased passive income and intentional living!
– Ryan
What goals are you planning to achieve in 2016? How will you improve your life in the months to come?
Pictures courtesy of pixabay.com
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this goal on my blog over and over again, but I’m determined to make this year, the year I really put consistent effort on my blog. I had been so focused on trying to boost my career at my previous work. Combine that with long work days that started at 6:30 am, it was very difficult to work on the blog on a consistent basis. Now that I work from home for a portion of the week, I have trying to spend a couple of hours working on the blog prior to starting my work day.
Another goal of mine is to get blog business cards. As I start to network more, I realize it’s more professional to exchange business cards, than just writing your email on a scrap piece of paper and handing it to someone. I didn’t think I would ever get that serious, but after having a somewhat turbulent 2015, I proceed into 2016 with caution , but at the same time I have a fire lit in my belly to make up for the past several years.
I took piano as a kid for about 5 years. I don’t remember ever liking it to be honest. I hated playing for people at family parties and all that practicing when my friends were out having fun.
Karen,
Blogs, like much else that we do, tend to produce results based on effort put in. We enjoy reading your content and look forward to seeing how you’re able to craft 2016 into a memorable year. With the additional time you have to devote to this, you should be on good footing.
Business cards will definitely help with a professional image. Do it frugally. VistaPrint has worked well for us in the past, so give it a look.
Thanks for stopping by!
– Ryan
Ryan,
Great set of goals my friend. I played piano for a good chunk of my life and you have the right mindset needed to learn how to play successfully. You will never master it if you don’t practice regularly. 15 minutes 3 days is WAY better that 45 minutes one day since the repetition makes such a huge difference. I would love to read more about and see these videos that you are learning from. The concept blows my mind considering I visited my piano teachers house once a week and that was crucial for me. But that was before the internet day. One other piece of advice is don’t just settle with playing a basic concept well once and moving on to the next step. For each step of the process, take the time to master it until you are able to play a scale or a song from memory. It may seem pointless, but once you move on from it and stop practicing that step you’ll be shocked how fast you forget it.
Best of luck in your studies! It will be a blast and the results of your hard work will shock you.
Bert
Bert,
Thanks for stopping by and reading about the year to come here at GRB! Like you, I took piano lessons when I was very young and had to visit the teacher’s house once a week to have lessons. Being able to learn an instrument from the comfort of home is very appealing (not to mention, free!), so there’s really no excuses not to follow through.
Once I get some experience and can play a few decent tunes, I’ll be sure to post a video.
Take care!
– Ryan