Hello everyone,

2019 was an amazing success and a lot of that was because of this amazing group of people! I want to start this post by saying thank you for being here, following my journey, and supporting me.
 
This year is going to be a bit different for me (to be fair most years are different than each other, that's life). Last year was focusing on finishing out a couple really big projects; a degree, student loans, Japan trip. This year there isn't any huge goal that I need to focus on in my home life. I could choose a couple big goals and start running for them. Instead I'm going to take some time to breath, look around, try some new things, enjoy where I am. When a proper big goal comes to me I'm sure I'll go after it with my normal vigor. Until then I want to spend some time on activities that resonate with me.
 
With that being said, here's the Round 1 list!
 
Health - Exercise with the adventure ring for 20 minutes or get 8k 5/7 days each week. Pack lunch 5/5 days each week. A general goal to eat more fruits/veggies/natural fiber. 1 new no meat recipe per week.

Time with SO - Weekly movie night to go with our already weekly DnD night.

Hearth and Home - Desk upgrade. See about computer upgrade (time and money budgeting). Roof arrangements.

Organize/Declutter - 7 items from the living quarters go to a new purpose each week. 7 items from the basement/garage to be removed or find a permanent home that isn't a random bag or floor each week. If the items are used in a new upcycling project that counts!

Social Media - Blog post each Friday about new recipes or my upcycling project or science paper writeup. ROW post and interact with others posts on Wed and Sun each week. Interact on Quora and Goodreads once per checkin.

L&D - Read one scientific paper per week. Try out one Masterclass per month.

Writing - Get artists for Cookies to Crumbles webcomic. Finish needed edits for said book. Review all of my short stories and make a game plan to polish and send out one a month. Send out three short stories this round.

Reading - 13 books within the following categories with a minimum of one in each; nominated for the Stokers, Paris Travel, anthologies I own, indie book/publishers in need of online reviews, finances.

Local Community Involvement - Read the newspaper. Go to the town meeting at least once. Interact with the town services on social media.

Helping the internet community - give away something each week to help someone. (Item/time/software) 13 of each of the following; Google Map Reviews, Amazon Reviews, Wiki Updates, items related to activism.

Helping Local Writers - Setup 3 library workshops and 1 author reading for the year. Put together information and outline for author reading best practices.

Finances - Learn about investing in the stockmarket. Start long term plan for retirement. Look over phone bill and see about options. Make arrangements for Student Loan of mine that ended up under my dad's name. Check on finances monthly and keep within $200 of budget (already wrote up the budget over the break).

Environment - Better recycling and less garbage. This will probably composting and getting better information on what can be recycled/reused for each checkin. Ask for items instead of buying them. Buy food from local farms in the summer. Consider a CSA again.

Upcycling - The goal is not just to upcycle but to make something that is intrinsically useful/cool enough that it won't need to get upcycled again. The amount of time that this is going to take depends on which project it is and how long it takes to get the supplies, particularly since I refuse to buy non-expireable items. (IE If I have to buy glue because mine went bad that's ok but I'm not buying a block of wood.) That's a lot of qualifiers on this goal, but that's what I feel like I need to do. With these qualifiers in mind I'll try for three projects this round, and hope that I end up with more.
                 
You know I thought I was taking it easy before I started to write out all of the actions on my mind, but it looks like I'm still aiming to be crazy productive. Ah well, I'm not one to back down from a challenge. These are the actions I think are worth my time, and I'll do my best to do them all!

Reporting them will be a bit different as well, since I'd like to go for a more visual style, but that's for a different post. Thanks for reading!
​
Shannon
 

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 

I had high aspirations but they were shot down by a head cold. I was up but wasn't able to concentrate on much of anything. (Or able to breath.) So this is a minor checkin. I think mostly this is my body saying that I really actually need to dedicate myself to relaxing and recovering before starting to get into any more goals. I think with my Japan trip and me trying to finish so many of my goals before then added a lot of extra stress. The traveling itself was a ton of fun, but also a bit stressful. Then dealing with the time zone changes, that took a lot longer than I had given myself to actually get used to. 


Which is to say, I need the time to relax. Thus this is my last checkin for the year. I'll see about getting a couple more things done before Friday to clear my mental space, but otherwise everything that didn't get done is forgiven, a Christmas present to myself, and it's time to enjoy the season. 


AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) I had the outline and then started to write but realized I didn't know enough about the characters and that put a damper on things quite quick. After some more thinking and maybe a character interview I'll come back to this. 

2) Posted on FB with some pictures. Joined a couple upcycling groups to post in as well.

3) Nothing, as planned, thus a success. I used the reading time to catch up on my webcomics. 

4) Nothing. Sleeping makes me sore with this cold, I wasn't going to do more.

Bonus) Still thinking about them and nothing particularly new came up. I'll probably post my Round 1 goals soonish and modify them if needed after the holidays. 

​
Are you ready for the holidays? What are you doing to celebrate what's happened this year?

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 


Another great checkin here.  Keeping the goals smaller and allowing more time to relax is absolutely helping me, particularly with the end of the year rolling around. 



AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) Reasonable success. Got an outline for the short story which I'll be turning into a first draft at writers group later today. Not sure if this is even the story I want to submit to the anthology, but it certainly seems like fun and worth writing either way!


2) Sidways success. I wrote up the project needs and action plan. Then I went into the basement to find out if I had the items that would be needed for the project. I found a reasonable amount and am still missing two bits which I will be asking for online at some point this week. But in the process of doing this I started to drastically clean the basement. As much as I've been happy having less stuff in the living areas of the house there's still plenty in the basement to go through/needs to find a home. So taking about two hours to sort through things and setting the stage for the upcoming year/crafting projects. Despite not that much leaving the basement it's significantly better organized. Plus I vacuumed, which it really really needed. 


3) Stretch goal completed! I finished reading the whole book and that clears my queue for the year! That doesn't mean that I won't be reading of course, just that all books read during vacation are completely of my choice with no guilt or 'should have's' about it. 


4) Reasonable success by playing adventure ring two times out of four and got 8k at least one day this week. Simply not feeling it today, and with the basement cleaning I'm not sure it's needed either. 


Bonus) Major success! I did a full writeup of my ROW goals for next year and printed it out. I already started writing all lover it with some updates and details that didn't get written down on the first draft. Absolutely the right thing to do! In fact I also thought of a fun visual way to track my progress during next ins next year that I'll be trying for a bit. Hopefully it's motivating!



INTENTIONS/MINIGOALS
1) Write first draft of short story. Transfer to computer. Print off. Review/edit. See about getting a beta reader.


2) Put out the request for items for this and the next project. Stretch goal to start a small project while I wait for items to come in. (I found four while cleaning the basement.) 


3) Nothing. This is complete! (Isn't that a nice thing to say?) 


4) Play adventure ring for 20 minutes 2/3 days. 


Bonus) Keep thinking about goals and updating as ideas come up. 


How about you, do you get distracted by cleaning or cooking when working on other goals? How do you remind yourself that there was a primary goal to work on? 

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 

​This turned into a really great checkin. I think I choose the right amount of items to work on, but I also didn't have a ton planned outside of these goals so I could do them and take time to relax which I really needed at this point in the year. 

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) Major success! The new hard drive came in, I did a backup of the original drive onto the new one, then restored the drive. It ended up taking 20 hours due to all of the stuff that I have on it, but it's all back and accessible. I also have an extra hard drive that I can use to backup my computer or just move files around, a nicety for sure. (So thankful, my files are safe and I didn't have to pay for a one time use software to recover them!) 

2) I mean, it was a success, but mostly it's was taking the time to do some research. Two major options stood out. The first is to take a two tier table that I got from a neighbor who was throwing it out and turn it into Lego play area. The second is to take an old knife holder, which I have from my last knife set but don't use, and turn it into a kit area for my sewing machine. Of the two the second would require the least amount of supplies up front, so I'll be doing that one first. 

3) Major success! Completely finished reading one of the books and am up to 30% on the other, up from 12%. 

4) Success! I did play the adventure ring every day. Two of those days was 20 minutes, yesterday was 10 because I was tired, sore, and wanted to get to bed a little earlier. 

Bonus) Surprise surprise, major success here too! I found out that Aaron Sorkin has a Masterclass and was instantly sold on the yearlong subscription. I had already been thinking it over because Neil Gaiman also has a class on their, but I've read a lot of his online material and wasn't sure that the class would have new tools for me. 


INTENTIONS/MINIGOALS
1) Realized that I have a short story that's due by the end of the year so I need to get working on that instead of my previous goals. An outline would be reasonable, stretch goal of first draft by next checkin. 

2) Determine project needs and write a little action plan. Put out request for any items that I might be missing. Stretch goal to start to work on project.

3) Minor goal to make progress on book. Stretch goal to finish reading the book.

4) Play adventure ring every day for 20 minutes. 

Bonus) I think I'm ready for a whole goals writeup. I have an outline currently. I need to review it, think about how I want to divide the goals throughout the year, and then it'll be good. I'd like to print it out and then look it over occasionally for the rest of the year, to see if it continues to resonate.


How about you, are you prepared for the holidays?

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 


AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) This was annoyingly delayed. The hard drive issue that I had earlier has not been fixed after multiple different attempts. I can see the data on it still, which is the main reason that I'm not really in a tizzy. I just got in a backup external hard drive and additional cord. Fingers crossed I can rescue the information that's on it. Once I do I plan to work on the short stories again. If I can't I'll start to find out where the last backup is and get them downloaded from there. All in all, I took care of some top priority items to try to facilitate this goal and it didn't end up happening. 


2) Major success! Actually this one was a little easier since my hard drive was down. I didn't have 40gb of pictures to go through to find something old and fun. Instead I took all of the pictures my family sent me and the ones I had uploaded from previous years to Shutterfly and went from there. Overall it took the usual four hours but with less headache and the SO and I were playing a fun new game called 'For the King' at the same time. 


3) Success! Read a good chunk of each book. It's nice to really see/feel the progress in both. For the one I think it helps that I've allowed myself to skim over some of the more boring descriptive paragraphs. (It's just not my thing and probably never will be. I'm a reader because I wanna know how people think. If I wanted to know what it looked like I'd watch a movie.) For the other I have to be in the right mindset to pay attention to it, since it's much crunchier than other comedy books.


4) C+. I got around 6k for two days and maybe 2k today. But I did get my adventure ring out again and did four rounds of that, equaling 20minutes of solid exercise. I know I should be doing more, but with the weather and the snow, well, I did get the adventure ring for a reason so I need to focus on that more! I did do pretty well with making meals/packing lunches, thus the + on the C. Gotta have both!


Bonus) It's amazing how talking to the right person at the right time can put yourself in a whole different mindset. Feeling much more optimistic about my goals for next year and really trying to keep in mind that the goals are things that I care about, and I'm only measuring them against myself, no one else. With that in mind I'm thinking of some more fun/important to me goals such as leaving online reviews (contributing to society), recycling properly/upcycling (helping the environment), and more movies (some special dedicated time with the SO). Still considering writing goals and more personal development sections, that'll be for the next couple weeks.



INTENTIONS/MINIGOALS
1) Have a lovely time hosting the TGIO party tonight. Finish fixing the hard drive issue. I'm sure that'll take a lot of time, and I'd rather work on the short stories when I have time over the weekend anyways, this these will be the focus. 


2) Go searching through the internet and my stuff in the basement for the next crafting/upcycling project. Starting next years helping the environment goals by not buying anything new! 


3) Read another chunck of each of the two books that I'm the middle of.


4) Adventure ring every day for 20minutes. (Unless I hit 8k, which hasn't happened recently.) Continue to prep meals/bring meals to work. I was going to get that meat CSA, but really I don't have room in the freezer currently for either the meat or the meals that I would make out of the meat. Therefore I'm going to eat the stores down some more, then all the new meat will be locally sourced. 


Bonus) More consideration on goals for next year. Possible focus on writing and personal development goals. 


How about you, have you planned your goals for next year? What do you do to make sure they align with your visions? When do you check in with your visions to make sure that they're still what you want? #askingthetoughquesitons 

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 

This wasn't one of my best checkins. I didn't leave enough time to deal with the snowstorm, and there was trouble at work which had me staying late. Again not getting as much time to work on this as I was hoping. 


AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) Didn't touch this. To be relooked at this weekend. 

2) Put together 50 pictures, but did not decide on Mix Books or Shutterfly yet. Another decision for this weekend.

3) Completely finished travel novel, which in turn finished out my 52 books for the year well ahead of schedule! Exciting stuff!

4) Did not do the adventure ring at all and barely any walking. I did some shoveling by hand to get to the snowblower. The shoveling made an old back injury act up, so I was in some pain yesterday and today, and have been trying to be kind to myself in response. Today got back to 6k steps, so I'm hoping that's a step in the right direction. (Pun intended) 

Bonus) I did start to write down goals for next year. Still considering the longer term plan, and then adjusting what I have.


INTENTIONS/MINIGOALS
1) Goal one is to take one that's completed and send it out. Goal two is to choose one of the ones that need revisions, read it over, and make a plan for improving it.

2) Make the whole of Grandma's calendar and order it this weekend. I want to make sure there's enough time to get the calendar in before the end of the month. 

3) While my goal was 52 books this year, which is completed, I have one book that I'm borrowing from a coworker that I would like to return in the next two weeks. I have another book that I've been in the middle of for a while and I'd like to finish before the end of the year, as a way to clear the queue. I'd like to read a section of both by the next checkin. 

4) A simple 8k a day. Stretch goal of adventure ring twice this weekend.
​
Bonus) Continue to think about life goals and five year goals and how those relate to my 2020 goals.

For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. 

Hope everyone had great holidays and safe travels! 

AFTER ACTION REVIEW
1) Success! Just managed to hit 25k which was the updated goal of mine for this. I want to put more time and effort into the outline before taking another crack at writing this novel, and I wasn't willing to put forth the effort that NaNo asks to get another rough draft that needs to mostly get tossed out. I want to get to keep getting to the next stage, which I got to last year, of getting a draft I'm willing to send out to the beta readers. I want to send my drafts to people without feeling like I'm wasting their time by not giving them my best. It's time to step up the game on my first drafts. 
2) I got the photobook! There are a couple things that I learned about the new printer MixBookos, such as the text can be smaller and still readable, and to pay attention to edge of the page in relation to the pictures. Overall it turned out well and I'm happy to have it done/ready to show off.
3) Read at least three more chapters of the travel novel. This is the last one I need to finish to hit my 52 books for the year, so I'd like to finish it this week.
4) I totally didn't do the Adventure Ring while traveling, but I did do more walking than expected because a couple family members were playing Wizards Unite. So we went for a couple family walks and had a good time connecting that way. 


INTENTIONS/MINIGOALS
1) Right now I don't want to get into a big project, but I do want to continue to work on furthering my writing career. After thinking about it for a bit I think the answer is to look at my short stories again. Goal one is to take one that's completed and send it out. Goal two is to choose one of the ones that need revisions, read it over, and make a plan for improving it. 
2) Put together ~50 photos for Grandma's calendar. Decide if I'm using Shutterfly or Mixbooks for this project.
3) Read more of travel novel.
4) Adventure Ring every day. I'm sure the snow will impede my daily walking.
Bonus) Start to write down possible goals for next year. I've already been considering a couple different options but I need to re-imagine what I expect out of myself and my year, then see if the goals still fit. This is going to be a continuing goal for most of the month. I consider December an important reorienting month, and this year even more so.