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Groundhog Day Resolutions - February 2022

January's primary goals

1. Finalize my 2021 major goals

Last year was a bit of a goal frenzy, so this time around I'm keeping things simple and limiting my major goals to just 3.

2. Finalize my 2022 secondary goals

Like my major goals, I've really cut down on secondary ones. I was drawing a bit of a blank for what to set, so I stuck to things I really wanted to do. My thought process was pretty much "it's better to whole-ass a few things than half-ass a lot".

3. Set up the 2022 goals hub

My 2022 hub page is now online.

January's secondary goals

1. Publish 4 posts

January was a lot busier than I expected, which meant my writing took a big hit. AKA I didn't write anything.

Primary goals for February

1. Publish 3 posts

February is a short month so I'm going a little smaller with this goal. I'm still feeling a bit of writer's block, but I've noticed that I feel worse when I haven't written for a while.

2. Plan my ultra-marathon

I have an event and training plan in mind - now I just need to figure out the details. I've done a couple of half and full marathons and I'm pretty comfortable with what's involved, but this one feels like a whole new thing and it's making me a little nervous.

3. Decide on a retro game to write

One of my major goals this year is to publish a retro game. Most of my games have been retro-themed, but I've never actually built something on a retro platform. I'm targeting the Atari ST as that's what I grew up with and I know its capabilities fairly well. I just need to settle on an actual idea and go from there.

Posted in: GHD, GHD 2022 | Comments (0)

Groundhog Day Resolutions - January 2022

I usually spend the first month of the year figuring out what I'm going to do and getting myself organized. This year is no different.

Primary goals for January

1. Finalize my 2022 major goals

I set a lot of goals last year and fell short on most of them. Although on paper I still completed more goals than 2020, it didn't feel particularly good. This year I'm limiting myself to a smaller number of more important goals.

2. Finalize my 2022 secondary goals

There were a lot of filler goals on my list last year, which meant I just didn't bother with them. I'm keeping things more focused this year and keeping my secondary list shorter.

3. Set up the 2022 goals hub

Looking back at 2021 there were a lot of goals where I didn't add much detail, which didn't help when it came to working through them. By February I want all of my goals - primary and secondary - to have detail pages.

Secondary goals for January

1. Publish 4 posts

I didn't write as much as I wanted to last year, so I want to start the new year in a more positive way.

—

This year I'm sticking to the word focus for my goals. I've always struggled with this, and it feels pretty darn awful to look back at a year and feel like I've achieved nothing.

Posted in: GHD, GHD 2022 | Comments (0)

Groundhog Day Resolutions - 2021 Review

My 2021 Groundhog Day resolutions did not go as well as I'd hoped. There were still some bright spots, but I can't help feeling disappointed about how the year went.

Major Achievements

Released a new game (kind of)

I released Splodey Boats 2000 in January. It's a rewrite of a game I created in Flash for Ludum Dare #29. Since Flash is now deprecated I rebuilt the game using my own game framework.

It's not the most exciting experience in the world, but I'm happy with how it turned out. You can read the post mortem for more details on how it all came together.

Beat both my running personal bests

I am never going to be a fast runner, but I still wanted to improve my times. I took about an hour off my marathon time and 15 minutes off my half marathon. I ran more miles this year than 2020, which isn't bad considering I stopped running regularly after completing my half in October.

Minor Milestones

In no particular order:

Disappointments

I struggled with writer's block for a lot of the year; I even took a few months off writing GHD updates which is pretty unusual for me. At the start of the year I was much more confident about my writing, but that slipped away and I just couldn't seem to create anything worth publishing.

There were a lot of goals that I didn't even get started on. Just looking at the list now I can't help but be annoyed that it's December 31st and I couldn't even put the effort into some of the smaller ones.

Stats!

Major Goals Achieved: 41%

Minor Goals Achieved: 33%

Primary goals set in my GHD posts:

Month Goals Set Goals Achieved Percentage
January 4 4 100%
February 3 2 67%
March 4 4 100%
April 3 1 33%
May 1 1 100%
June 3 3 100%
July 3 0 0%
August 0 0 -
September 0 0 -
October 2 2 100%
November 3 3 100%
December 3 3 100%

Secondary goals set in my GHD posts:

Month Goals Set Goals Achieved Percentage
January 1 1 100%
February 3 3 100%
March 3 1 33%
April 2 2 100%
May 2 0 0%
June 1 0 0%
July 2 0 0%
August 0 0 -
September 0 0 -
October 0 0 -
November 0 0 -
December 0 0 -

Overall Monthly Stats

Totals Goals Set Goals Achieved Percentage
Primary 39 23 59%
Secondary 14 7 50%
EVERYTHING 53 30 57%

Summary and Looking Ahead

For the last few years I've achieved about 70% of the goals I've set. I went into 2021 with the idea that if I set more goals, I'd get more done. After all, completing 70% of 10 goals is better than 70% of 5 goals.

That approach seemed like a good idea at the time, and in some ways it worked well. Goal-wise I completed more primary goals than I set than in 2020, but overall I feel really disappointed with what I actually did.

I think part of my disappointment is because most of the goals I achieved didn't really build up to anything - they were just some stuff that I did. This was mostly because I rushed and set goals that seemed like they'd be interesting and achievable, rather than because they built towards any sort of target.

2022 contains a milestone birthday for me - I turn 40 in October - so I'm feeling a little more reflective about the New Year. 2021 was supposed to be about creation and contribution, and although I did both I don't feel like I did enough of either.

My focus for 2022 is just that: focus. I'm going for a much smaller set of goals, but they're all ones that I feel will build towards something greater over the next few years.

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Groundhog Day Resolutions - December 2021

December is finally here. This will be a brief GHD post as I'm working on the end-of-year one.

November's primary goals

1. Finish another primary goal

I completed another two sessions of deliberate practice, which took me past the minimum I set myself for the year.

2. Finish one secondary goal

I read two books in November to complete my "read more" goal.

3. Start planning my 2022 goals

I have a list of 2022 goal ideas ready; some are new, others are goals from years ago that I never completed.

Primary goals for December

1. Finish planning my 2022 goals

2. Set up the 2022 goals section of the site

3. Write my GHD 2021 summary post

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Groundhog Day Resolutions - November 2021

October was my first month back on GHD goals after some time off. It went okay.

October's primary goals

1. Finish one primary goal

I spent some time working on improving my processes. This is something I've written about before and it's definitely something I overlook.

My primary focus was on improving my daily workflow; things like automating common tasks and learning more about the tools I use every day.

There are still improvements I'd like to make, mostly around my daily habits, but so far I'm happy with the changes I've made.

2. Finish one secondary goal

I ran a half marathon in October and it went much better than my first attempt. I was still a little slower than I would have liked, but considering I flew back from the UK 3 days before the race I'm pretty happy with my performance.

Primary goals for November

1. Finish another primary goal

There are a couple here that I can get done if I focus on them (and I think focus will be a theme for next year).

2. Finish one secondary goal

Some of these are month-long goals and probably won't get done this year, but there are one or two shorter ones I can work on.

3. Start planning my 2022 goals

I rushed my goal setting for 2021 and I think it shows. I'd like to take a more considered approach for 2022 and concentrate on things I actually want to do instead of what sounds good.

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