Goals 2018: Final Update
Before I publicly state my resolutions for 2019, it's appropriate to review my resolutions from 2018.
1. Stay Smaller
My stated goal was to be at 210 pounds or less at the end of the year. I was at 214 at my mid-December physical. My weight was actually on target until Thanksgiving hit and I fell completely off the "don't eat food I didn't bring to work" wagon.
Using the penalty system of "$25 for every time I eat at work" plus the cost of what I spent at the diner, that total is... $546.72. Ouch. That's (20 missed days $25 penalty per day) + $46.72 at the diner. That amount will be dedicated to charity over the next few months.
Having said that, I'm still down 18 pounds from where I was at the start of 2017, and the amount of money I spent at the diner in 2017 and 2018 combined is one third of what I spent in 2016. That's good.
On the bad side, the $500 is dramatically more than I had to donate to charity under the same penalty scheme in 2016 and 2017 combined. Good for charity, but not a sign that I held the diet. Granted, 20 missed days is less than one every two weeks, but it's still not great.
Overall grade: B-. The weight largely stayed off, the money spent at the diner stayed down (if I'd allowed myself the $50 buffer I had in 2016 I'd have had money left over), but the missed days went up.
2. Declutter House
I wanted to go through stuff. From the original list, these were done:
- bookshelves - still have boxes to get rid of, but went through them
- graphic novels
- CDs - still have boxes to get rid of, but went through them
These were partially done:
- clothes (did one full dresser)
- upstairs closets (cleared out linen closet with M's help, recycled old computers from another closet)
These weren't done at all.
- kitchenware
- garage
- china cabinet / built ins
- file cabinet
That is about 4/9, which looks like a C to me, and that's only because prior efforts failed completely so the curve is generous.
3. Commit Not Particularly Random Acts of Communicative Kindness
I had fancy custom postcards made, I sent more than 200 out for birthdays, each laden with at least one and occasionally two handwritten haiku, and virtually all were on time. You even read them all. As a bonus, I also sent out a number of sympathy cards.
A+++.
4. Build the Bucket List
Three lists were completed:
Place to visit (and I even did one).
House stuff - 1.5 completed.
Musicians to see
The only other bucket list I thought of creating was "restaurants to visit in Cleveland", which is both less important (there are always new ones to try) and more important (because I can act on it most easily). I'm calling this a B+.
5. Summary
I think this grades out to a B average. I'll take it.
1. Stay Smaller
My stated goal was to be at 210 pounds or less at the end of the year. I was at 214 at my mid-December physical. My weight was actually on target until Thanksgiving hit and I fell completely off the "don't eat food I didn't bring to work" wagon.
Using the penalty system of "$25 for every time I eat at work" plus the cost of what I spent at the diner, that total is... $546.72. Ouch. That's (20 missed days $25 penalty per day) + $46.72 at the diner. That amount will be dedicated to charity over the next few months.
Having said that, I'm still down 18 pounds from where I was at the start of 2017, and the amount of money I spent at the diner in 2017 and 2018 combined is one third of what I spent in 2016. That's good.
On the bad side, the $500 is dramatically more than I had to donate to charity under the same penalty scheme in 2016 and 2017 combined. Good for charity, but not a sign that I held the diet. Granted, 20 missed days is less than one every two weeks, but it's still not great.
Overall grade: B-. The weight largely stayed off, the money spent at the diner stayed down (if I'd allowed myself the $50 buffer I had in 2016 I'd have had money left over), but the missed days went up.
2. Declutter House
I wanted to go through stuff. From the original list, these were done:
- bookshelves - still have boxes to get rid of, but went through them
- graphic novels
- CDs - still have boxes to get rid of, but went through them
These were partially done:
- clothes (did one full dresser)
- upstairs closets (cleared out linen closet with M's help, recycled old computers from another closet)
These weren't done at all.
- kitchenware
- garage
- china cabinet / built ins
- file cabinet
That is about 4/9, which looks like a C to me, and that's only because prior efforts failed completely so the curve is generous.
3. Commit Not Particularly Random Acts of Communicative Kindness
I had fancy custom postcards made, I sent more than 200 out for birthdays, each laden with at least one and occasionally two handwritten haiku, and virtually all were on time. You even read them all. As a bonus, I also sent out a number of sympathy cards.
A+++.
4. Build the Bucket List
Three lists were completed:
Place to visit (and I even did one).
House stuff - 1.5 completed.
Musicians to see
The only other bucket list I thought of creating was "restaurants to visit in Cleveland", which is both less important (there are always new ones to try) and more important (because I can act on it most easily). I'm calling this a B+.
5. Summary
I think this grades out to a B average. I'll take it.