In 2012, I posted a list of the 101 things I intended to do before my 30th birthday. As of last Saturday, I am done. My time is up. And, just like I’m happy to be 30, I’m happy to be done with this list. Similarly to many of my blogger friends who started 101 lists around the same time, I found myself pretty disinterested in this project by the end. Setting goals is good, but many of these items were too specific for who I was when I wrote it and as things changed in my life, the list didn’t. Even as I just went through some of the items, I’m amazed I was able to accomplish some of the super specific ones. I didn’t complete all of the items, but that’s okay. My list pushed me to accomplish some things I wanted to, but might not have accomplished otherwise. My next list of goals, however, is going to be shorter.
Completed Items (54/101)
5. Go without makeup for a week (6/28/14-7/5/14)
6. Leave a 100% tip (2/14/13)
8. Update my passport (October 2012)
9. Participate in Black Friday shopping at some ridiculous hour of the morning (November 2013)
10. Consign or give away 20 items (January 2013)
11. Take a personal day to do something fun (5/18/2012)
13. Create a photo book of my summer 2011 vacation (7/2013)
14. Learn how to apply eyeliner (2014)
15. Join/start a bible study group (2/6/2012)
18. Get together with at least 3 college friends (3/2-3/4/12, 7/5-7/7/13, 8/19/14)
20. Make and send a photo Christmas card (2012)
21. Give everyone locally made Christmas gifts (2012)
23. Go on a trip with my sister (Montreal, 4/25/14)
25. Make a recipe book for my sister (9/29/12)
27. Hike Mount Greylock (9/8/12)
31. Go indoor rock climbing (Central Mass Rock Gym – August 2012)
32. Begin practicing yoga again (July 2012)
34. Go to Canada (Montreal, 4/25/14)
36. Travel by train (8/15/12, to HLS 2012 in Boston)
39. Go to Katz’s Delicatessen (5/18/12)
40. Eat at a David Chang restaurant (5/18/12)
42. Go to the Troy Farmer’s market (1/18/14)
43. Go to a wine tasting (8/16/2012)
44. Make a perfect loaf of bread from scratch (challah-3/3/2012)
45. Bake a birthday cake (6/24/2012)
47. Surprise my coworkers with baked goods (December 2013)
50. Make pierogies from scratch (Christmas 2013)
51. Grow my own tomatoes (2013)
52. Host a cookie swap (2/10/2012)
53. Can jelly or jam (7/26/2012)
55. Make sangria (8/4/12 non-alcoholic)
56. Try 5 new restaurants in Berkshire County
57. Buy, try and cook with Sriracha
58. Mail someone baked goods (Ryn-3/12)
60. Create and share 15 original recipes
61. Decorate the outside of our home for the holidays (December 2013)
62. Save enough money for a house down payment (April 2013)
63. Buy a house (April 2013)
66. Complete 3 projects posted to Pinterest (2/7/13)
68. Have a complete set of Fiesta for 12, including lunch plates and mugs
71. Watch Gone with the Wind (5/2014)
73. Attend a Steeple Cats game (7/12/12)
74. Go to a performance at Tanglewood (7/3/12)
75. Return to the Big E (9/28/13)
76. Attend Gordon College homecoming (10/6/12)
77. Attend a free local college concert (Williams College Gospel Choir – 11/10/12)
78. Host a party (5/11/13)
81. Attend a poetry reading (August 2014 – Word X Word Festival)
85. Earn my special education certification (1/23/14)
88. Write all of my lesson plans a week ahead of schedule (September 2012)
93. Add 5 new quality food blogs to my reader (My New Roots, How Sweet It Is, Food 52,What’s Gaby Cooking, Oh My Veggies)
97. Post to the Food in Jars Flikr pool (1/13/2014)
98. Participate in Pimp My Preserve (2012)
101. Participate in a blogger penpal exchange (HLB Tea Exchange 10/2012)
Partially Completed Items (8/101)
3. Keep the kitchen table clean for a month – it was pretty clean for various periods of time, but a full month? I don’t know…
33. Run an entire 5k (no walking breaks)
35. Visit 2 more (new) states (Minnesota 9/13)
37. Explore Albany, NY – We spent a lot of time in Troy, which is good enough for me.
67. Find a way to display my elephant collection – some elephants have found a home, but not others.
70. Watch the first 50 movies on IMBD’s top movies (47/50-click for details) – so close and I thought I was going to make it, but September was way too chaotic to make it happen
80. Go to 3 local productions (2/3)
95. Learn to use my new camera – I know more than I did in 2012…but I’m still not shooting on manual…
96. Read 5 food related nonfiction books – I read a couple, but not 5
Items that Should Have Been Completed, Had I Been More Intentional (16/101)
1. Pay off at least 1 student loan
7. Leave 25 Operation Beautiful notes
16. Write a letter to myself to be opened in 10 years
17. Memorize a Psalm or other bible passage
22. Write 15 snail mail letters to friends
30. Be able to touch my toes
41. Get postcards for states I’ve visited but don’t have cards for (CT, PA, NH, etc.)
48. Eat only locally grown/made food for a day
49. Successfully can applesauce
59. Cook using tea as an ingredient
72. Go a week without watching TV, Netflix or Hulu
89. Write 5 guest posts (2/5)
90. Conduct and post an interview
91. Do 5 vlogs
92. Write a “day in the life” blog post
94. Do a “what I ate Wednesday” post
Items I Lost Interest In (11/101)
2. Participate in NaNoWriMo
12. Own real diamond earrings
19. Spend 2012 going through this decluttering/organization calendar
26. Take a Zumba class
29. Read The New Rules of Lifting for Women
54. Make and perfect my own tea blend
69. Beat Portal 1
82. Read 7 Pulitzer Prize winning books
84. Complete an entire MIT Open Courseware course for a subject I teach
86. Take a grad level science class–and pass
99. Move all recipes to Recipage
Items I Was Unable to Complete (10/101)
4. Unplug from the phone, internet and television for a weekend
24. Visit each of my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on both sides at least once
38. Visit the Susan B. Anthony museum in Rochester, NY
46. Host Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner
64. Get a chest freezer or second refrigerator
65. Refinish a piece of furniture
79. Go caroling
83. Attend a game for each high school sport
87. Create full year curriculum for all classes I teach
100. Back up my blog (but this is on my priority list!)
If anyone wants more information about why or how specific items did or didn’t get done, I can certainly share more, but I felt like this post was long enough. Thanks for sticking with it all the way to the bottom!
Yay! I am always finding myself in this phase too. I make lists for the person that I am right now, not necessarily the person I will be in 6 months or 2 years. What I think I will want to work on is based on my past likes and dislikes, but so many random/ chance happenings occur in the between times. For myself, the act of making the list and stretching myself to try new things, including keeping a learning attitude is the main point.
I also have read so many differing opinions on goal setting that sometimes my brain is a shouting match of competing voices trying to reconcile different best practices. Make them, don’t make them. Make them specific, make them broad, stretch goals, or no…etc.
On the other hand, next year I will probably stop making New Years Resolutions and jump on the one word trend, or possibly move toward a focus on different spheres of my life – similar to the attitude championed in this article I read over the summer. This is currently how I organize my weekly to-do lists into these different spheres of life.
http://hbr.org/2014/09/work-home-community-self/ar/1