2020 Goals: Q4 Update – Final Results

What a year! A pandemic! I remain incredibly thankful my family was not impacted by unemployment, and for the most part did not contract COVID-19. 

If you have been following along on my goals, please know – even if you merely survived this year, I am proud of you! It was a difficult year for so many and there were so many social, political, and economic upheavals. 

Let’s see how my goals went, eek!  

List of Goals:

1. Business Goals
   • Have a blog!
   • 2 more fitness certifications
2. Finance Goals
   • Emergency fund of $3,000
   • Pay off all credit cards
3. Health Goals
   • Crossfit average 3x per week
   • Lunchtime average gym 2x per week
   • Run 1 mile/week
   • Stretch average 3x per week
4. Family Goals
   • 1 child-free date night with the hubs monthly
   • 1 family outing monthly
5. Personal Goals
   • Read
   • Knit

Business Goals

My business goals remain mostly unchanged.

1. Launch blog by the end of January 2020. 
   Accomplished:
   Pick a paid host
   Establish a “niche”
   Share with at least 2 friends – shared with 5!!

Incomplete:
2. Establish an email list for the blog functional by March
3. Create at least 1 blog post/month – only 7 in 2020
4. Have at least 1 blog post/category by Mary
5. Obtain 2 new fitness certifications

Really did not pour as much of myself into this blog as I originally intended. But, I have something in store for 2021 to hopefully get this to where I really hope to be! 

Finance Goals

We are accomplishing our finance goals!

1. Have $3,000 in accessible Savings by February 2020 
   Accomplished!

2. Pay off all credit cards by year-end
   Incomplete: current balance is hovering around $6,000. Not much improvement since Q2. My husband used his personal credit card to purchase Christmas gifts and we both used the joint AmEx for Christmas as well. Additionally, my debit card was compromised at the end of Novemeber and I didn’t receive my replacement until mid-December, so I defaulted to using credit cards or cash. We prioritized keeping those credit cards at a zero-balance.

It is year-end and we did not incur more debt! 

Health Goals

In Q2 I was able to make fitness more of a priority once the dust settled from the adjustment of working from home full-time. It was definitely an improvement in this area!

Goals:

1. Crossfit: average 3x per week
2. Lunchtime gym: average 2x per week
3. Run: 1 mile per week
4. Stretch: average 3x per week

If you’re into maths like me then:
3x a week on average = 156/year
2x a week = 104/year

Outcome:

1. Crossfit: 121x
2. Lunchtime gym: 29x
3. Run: 31.48 miles
4. Stretch: 131x

It’s looking like I will never return to my lunchtime gym again, but who knows what the future will bring.

As for the rest of my fitness goals I missed them all:
Crossfit by 35
Running by 20.52 miles
Stretching by 8

Not terrible, but not fantastic. I was hoping to hit at least 1! Being pregnant I will likely modify these a bit for 2021, even though I really want to keep them as is. 

Family Goals 

I’m proud to report we crushed this goal! 

Date Nights:
October: We went to La Cucina after we closed on the refinance of our mortgage for a lower rate.
November: We managed 2 this month! First, we went out to get me a new phone (which took much longer than anticipated) and got a quick dinner at our favorite pub after. We sat at the bar, which was weird given the COVID regulations in MA, but it was nice to see our old barkeeps 😉 Second, we went to Citizen Crust with another couple. The food was eclectic and delicious.
December: We also managed 2 nights out this month! We got dinner with another couple at one of our go-to spots, it was amazing as usual. On NYE we went to another couples house and had Chinese food played Scrabble, and watched the ball drop. It was perfect for my pregnant self!

Total for the year: 12+

Family outings:
October: Me and my daughter were finally able to start her swim lessons this month! It has been amazing. It’s 1x a week for 30 minutes. It’s just enough structure for her and a great skill to have. As a whole family we went did our basic Fall duty as New Englanders and went apple picking. C.N. Smith Farm was wonderful and had my favorite apple: Granny Smith. Additionally, as a family we went to my parents house on Halloween with my siblings and their families. My parents had a fire outside to try and comply with COVID regulations and the kids (and adult kids) had a great time! This was also the afternoon I revealed my pregnancy to my siblings! I wore a skeleton costume with a little baby skeleton in the stomach-area, it was perfect <3
November: Thanksgiving was our big family outing. We again went to my parents house with just my siblings and their families. It was different without the extended family, but still a great day.
December: The holidays make it so easy for family days. For Christmas we went up to North Conway to my in-laws second home. My husband’s siblings and spouses/kids were all there as well. It was a fantastic long weekend with lots of cousin time for the little ones.

Total for the year: 12+

Personal Goals

All incomplete
Goal was 6 new books, only 2 read. Neither were self-help or finance related.

The second goal in this area was crafting, specifically knitting.

1. Finish 2 started knitting projects 1 by January 31, 2020 and 1 by February 28, 2020. 
2. Stretch goal: knit 3 baby blankets. One of my SILs is pregnant and 2 of my friends are. That’s 3 preggos! 2 are due in June and one is due in May. Obviously my SIL takes priority and she is one of the 2 due in June. 
3. Super stretch goal: knit an adult sized blanket for my SIL (my husband’s sister) to gift her at Christmas.

Despite some last ditch efforts to speed read and knit, neither was complete. I definitely need to reel in my personal goals for 2021!

In case you weren’t paying attention, only one goal was completed in entirety. What did I say at the beginning? If you shoot for the moon and if you miss at least you’ll land among the stars? Yes. The Family Goal was the best. Prioritizing date nights and family time is very important to me and I will definitely be continuing this into the next year. With the little addition to our family arriving in May, I couldn’t be more excited to include another bundle in the mix. If I thought 1 was fun 2 will be a blast! 

Since this is the first year putting my goals out there – like really out there, it was a great experiment to test the caliber of goals I set. I definitely have a better grasp on where to scale back and were to push myself. 

2020 has come to a close, I think regardless of the year you had, we are all glad to see it go. 

How did you do? Feel free to share! I look forward to my 2021 goals and to see what I can accomplish!

Leave any updates for me or questions in the comments!