My Goals for 2012

I tried to look for my 2011 goals so I could reflect on them, but alas, I've been a bad blogger this past year and I didn't even write a post about goals in 2011.  I guess you could say I accomplished all of them!

Well, I'm going to jump right into them since my first goal plays nicely into the above fact:

1. I'm going to be a better blogger.  I've set goals numerous times about how many times I'd post per month, or this year, or whatever... and I've never met them.  So this year, my goal is simply to be a better blogger.
2. I'm going to finally reach my target weight of 185, maybe even 180.  I started 2010 at 240+, started 2011 around 215, but made my way back up to 235-240 by August.  I finished 2011 around 205 though as I found a new way to think about food that has helped me a lot.  I think the remaining 20 lbs should be pretty easy to drop in the next year, and if I keep losing, then so be it.  You can read about my lifestyle change, and how I think it pertains to permaculture and homesteading over at my other blog, www.paleopermaculture.com.
3. I'm going to read 50 books this year.  I'll start by explaining how absurd that goal is, and then explain how I'll accomplish it.  Last year, I set the goal of reading 25 books, and I read a meager 11.  But moving to Olympia from Tucson, starting a new very demanding job, and meeting the love of my life all happily got in the way of reading.  This year, not only are some of those things settling into place for me, but I've expanded my definition of "book."  I've decided to count the novels that I listen to that are serialized into podcasts.  If I decide to restart my audible.com account (for which I have very little time I think, so it's unlikely) then I would count those too.  I also have started reading a monthly homesteading ebook that is roughly the size of a 20 page newsletter, but I'm going to count those as well.  My deciding factor is whether or not goodreads.com lists the publication.  If they don't it doesn't count, for instance they don't list magazines, so those won't count for me.  All in all, I'm probably cheating a little, but it'll help me read more in the long-run I think.
4. I'm going to keep trying to build passive streams of income.  So far, since I wrote a goal about that in 2010, it has amounted to barely more than $100.  But, I'm getting more and more ideas and (I think) more and more savvy about how to implement them, so eventually something might take off.  I'm going to keep at it at least.  To be fair, and set a concrete and measurable goal, I'm going to try to make $10000 in one month this year (counting my regular hourly job income and any other streams of income).  The sooner the better obviously, but even December would be great.
5. I'm going to keep plugging away at trying to grow my Land Fund.  Student loans, increased cost of living in Olympia, and eating healthier (which is unfortunately more expensive) have all eaten away at the expendable income I thought I'd have, so the Land Fund has been sadly forsaken.  If I can get passive streams of income working for me, they'll definitely get funneled that direction, at least in part.  You can always help too!  Click on the Land Fund FAQ page above and read about what it is and what I'll do with it.  
6. I'm going to try to pare down my belongings in many categories close to the bare minimum, such as clothes, stuff that lies around that I don't use much, even kitchen appliances.  I have some guidelines, such as "have I used this item in the last 6 months?"  If I haven't, I'm going to get rid of it.  Or try anyway.  Sometimes I have a sentimentalist attachment to something, or the homesteader mentality of "that could come in handy someday."  Unfortunately, until I have a place of my own with vast space for storage, those come-in-handy-someday items are more of a burden than a blessing.  So I'm going to work at donating, selling, or just recycling a lot of what I'm weighed down with right now.  For a little more thought on this, read my recent post on purging some clothing.
7. I'm going to spend more time outside.  I had some good adventures in 2011, but not nearly as many as I wanted to have.  Now that I'm a little more settled into the changes in my life I should have more time to get outside, both on wilderness-type excursions, and to do projects like gardening and other homesteady-type things.

That's all I have for now.  I know it's not very many, but I think that some of them are lofty and will require a lot of attention.  If I think of anything important to add, I'll update in this post or another.

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading!