On January 1, 2019, I created the following goals. I accomplished some and failed at others. Today, I am reflecting on my success (or lack thereof) as I plan for my personal and professional goals in 2020.

Restatement of 2019 Goals

1. To become more grounded, less anxious, I will take deep breaths, recognize my emotions and pause before I react to stimuli such as words, emails, and actions.
2. To build my talents in language mastery, I will study Chinese again. My first step will be completing the HSK workbook L4 with the help of an online tutor, once a week. I will listen to the Chinese language podcast once a week. I will use Rosetta Store, YouTube, and DuoLingo for immersion.
3. To improve my technology acumen, I will complete the Treehouse Front-End Development course this year.
4. To improve my technology acumen & credentials, I will finish the Google Display Ads certification.
5. To grow in my hobby & brain plasticity, I will finish the Udemy Fingerpicking course and I will start the Udemy Guitar Course.
6. I will grow revenue overall in my businesses to $X (confidential) this year.
7. To write & publish my first book I will dedicate the first 30 minutes of each morning to this purpose.
8. To ensure that I stay balanced in my life I will spend at least two hours each day investing in my wife and our relationship.
9. To grow my personal wealth, I will dedicate 20 minutes, 3 times per week for budgeting and evaluation using Personal Capital as part of my “defensive strategy”.
10. To improve and grow my business, I will work to actively shift my efforts to continued work on the business and actively protect against work done in the business. Additionally, I will actively pursue podcasts, books, and other resources to help me achieve these ends and improve as a business owner capable of scaling.
11. To remain physically fit and healthy, I will make sure I incorporate at least 3 strength training workouts and 2 cardiovascular workouts per week.
12. To eat healthily, I will stay a vegetarian.
13. Be present.
14. Read. (English)

How did I do?

1. I’ll give myself a B- on this one. I am proud of keeping this top of mind all year. But, I was inconsistent in its application.
2. I’ll give myself another B-. I used DuoLingo consistently, but tutoring and the HSK goals fell off completely.
3. A+ on this one! I completed this goal!
4. A+ again! Way to go Keegan! Lol
5. D… Only made it part of the way through the Udemey Fingerpicking course.
6. B. We finished shy of where I think we could be but made drastic improvements this year that will pay off in the years to come. We got better and that was important.
7. I think I’ll give myself an A- on this goal. For the most part, between 7 am and 7:30 am most days I was writing or editing my book.
8. A+, right dear?
9. A+ again. This became an important part of my routine. I only experienced one month of negative personal cash flow this year.
10. I get an A for effort, but a B for execution. I was well-intentioned but inconsistent with the steps necessary to win on this goal. There are some things I should have delegated or outsourced that I did myself. That may not have been the wisest use of my time and our company resources.
11. You get an A Keegan, even though you stopped lifting in September. When we found out my wife was pregnant we started walking and running together to stay healthy. These workouts became a bigger priority than my vain strength training goal. So, this is an A because I definitely worked out 5 times a week this year on average, just different workouts than what I expected.
12. Woo-hoo another A+. Over two years of veggie life at this point.
13. B. Nope, did not do this all the time. Probably will inform next year’s goals.
14. A+? Lol, this was a funny goal.

What I learned about goal setting this year

After reflecting, some of these goals needed some more defined metrics for success. However, they all helped point me in the right direction and lead me closer to being the person I want to be.

I hope goal setting is like strength training. Maybe in 2020, I’ll be even better at goal setting. I guess we’ll see tomorrow!