I want to be enthused about the fact that 2020 is ending, but I know the reality is that 2021 is not suddenly going to be easier. The virus will not disappear overnight, and those we have lost will not be returned to us. For the average person, there is not much we can do about this. We must stay resilient and move on with our lives as best as we can in 2021. As such, it is time to wrap up 2020 and look onward to 2021 and what my goals and ambitions are for the new year.
Things that went well in 2020
Let us start with a few positives and look at what went well for me in 2020 in terms of my goals and resolutions. I set these at the start of the year, and you can find more information about them in this post and how you can be successful with your goals in any year!
2020 was a big year in my photography. Not only did I upgrade my camera and get some other new gear, but I decided to try and take it a step further and selling my first prints and making moves to become ‘professional’. Whilst I am still a way off this point, hence the inverted commas, I am confident I will be able to do more with my photography in 2021. My only 2020 photography goal was to do monthly trips with my friend (@homemadebycoco) to take photos. Due to the coronavirus, we did not do this every single month, but we did it most months and given the circumstances I am happy to say this was completed. You can find lots of photos I took during these trips on my Instagram page!
One of my goals was to walk to work every day (unless the weather was atrocious) which was probably my easiest goal of the year as I spent most of the year working from home! I probably worked from home for half of the year, and in September I returned to the office for every other week. I wanted to do an event for a charity of some description for 2020 as well. An easy option for this was to do an exercise challenge, and I ended up doing a 500k Steps in 50 Days Challenge. The lack of exercise I was doing during the lockdown and the months following it prompted this decision and the whole thing went very well. I crushed this challenge and raised money for the British Heart Foundation at the same time! Read more about this challenge here.
I wanted to read or listen to 12 books over the year which is a goal I easily completed. Audiobooks have changed the game and I read/listened to so many more books than I ever used to. I think the final number was around 15 books for 2020, although I must admit I did not record every book I read. Compared to Michael from a couple of years ago, 15 books is a crazy achievement!
I am pleased that I managed to complete all my financial goals for 2020 as well, albeit because not only were they simple but thanks to not being able to go out as much I saved a lot more money than I was expecting to! All of the staying in also meant I managed to meet around half of my Warhammer hobby goals!
The less successful parts of 2020 and how they will change my 2021 goals
There were a few goals for 2020 which did not happen for me. Whether due to a lack of motivation or an inability due to factors beyond my control (Coronavirus) some goals were not met. I will not dwell too much on these, although there is always a lesson to be learned.
Perhaps my most disappointing flopped goal of 2020 was wanting to write and post 24 blog posts over the year. I only managed to get 10 posts out – 11 including this one – so fell quite short of what I had intended. I will not beat myself up too much on this. It has happened, even if it was not what I wanted. I was hoping to get a lot of posts out this year but with everything going on I rarely felt like writing something for public consumption. For 2021, I am going to switch it up a little bit and instead of focusing on the number of posts, I am going to aim for a certain number of views. I have set the target of reaching 500 views a month for two consecutive months on my website. This might not be conventional, but because I will be directing potential photography clients to this website as well, I think this might work better to motivate me to maintain the website.
Another goal which was not met was going on holiday with my friends. This did not happen because of the Coronavirus. This was annoying but unpreventable, it just was not safe to do any serious travelling this year. As the year has gone on, my wanderlust has grown and grown. I can not wait to be able to travel next year, and I am considering some solo travel – depending on how brave I am feeling.
There are two goals that I set for myself in 2020 which are tasks I wanted to complete at least twice weekly. These were meditating and practising French. I did a fair amount of both, but not regularly enough or frequently enough to meet these goals. I think I have made good strides in both areas. Perhaps my inability to complete goals which require a set number of actions within a certain timeframe, continuously for a year, should be a learning point for me in future goal setting.
I had a few hobby goals around Warhammer I was unable to complete as well. Partly due to the scale of the tasks (there were a lot of models to build and paint), partly due to motivational issues, and partly due to the fact I kept buying new models! These goals I will take forward into 2021, with them now being more realistic to complete.
My fitness suffered a lot in 2020. I started to get back on track with things like the step challenge, and then frequenting the gym and doing exercise more regularly (which you can read about here), but generally, I did not have a great 2020 health and fitness-wise. I probably moved further from my weight goal than closer to it. In 2021, I will look again at this goal with new vigour and I will be finding new ways to keep motivated.
My 2021 goals – scaling my expectations
2021 will be an interesting year. I would imagine most of the year will still be consumed with issues surrounding the Coronavirus, and then the world might look a bit different after it has eventually been controlled. I want to and need to be more realistic with what I can accomplish this year.
I am taking a slightly different approach by keeping my initial goals for 2021 quite limited. As time goes on, and things become clearer and other goals are met, I will revise and add to these goals as required. I am planning to review things quarterly.
We have already mentioned that I am still wanting to get control of my weight as a goal for 2021, I still have loads of Warhammer hobby stuff to do, and I have a new goal of views for my website.
Over the past year, I have realised that I need to start saving some serious money to get a deposit for a house/flat. A big goal for 2021 is, therefore, to save a third of my take-home pay each month towards this deposit. Whilst one year of saving is unlikely to be enough to get a house, I am excited about the future in this area.
I have already mentioned in my last post about my intention to completed RED January, raising money for charity. I have put this down as a goal for 2021 to ensure its completion, and I can imagine that there will be more similar events to test and build my fitness whilst raising money for a good cause.
The rest of my goals all have to do with photography and my hopes at building a small empire business from it. Namely, my goals for 2021 in this area are to get my first paid work as a photographer, to make 20 (more) sales of my online prints on my store, and to reach 1500 Instagram followers. Follow count might not be the end all be all, but it is nice and should help me get the message out a bit more this coming year. Hopefully, this will be the year I do great things with my photography, so you can expect more posts about it throughout the year.
I hope you enjoyed reading up on my goals for 2020 and 2021. It was a shorter post than it could have been, but with the year as it has been, I think it is almost better to just move swiftly on with higher hopes for 2021!
How did your goals go in 2020 and what are your 2021 goals and plans? Let me know in the comments below!
