Goodbye 2021: 2021 Goals Check-In & My New Goals for 2022

It’s one of my favorite parts of the new year: seeing how I failed my goals!

Jokes, jokes. I actually really like reflecting on my year, even if I didn’t do as much as I’d hoped to, as well as setting goals for the new year. There’s always something very lovely—and funny—about the undying hope I have for myself and my abilities each year, despite all the failures.

I did not achieve most of my 2021 goals. And I’m okay with it! Of course, I would’ve loved if I had accomplished more, but all of my goals have the same ultimate goal: to make me feel satisfied. And I felt that way in 2021 without these things, which I think is actually quite cool of me. (I still want to achieve my goals though.)

2021 GOALS

READING

• Read 100 80 books. ✓ I had to lower my goal, but I did manage to read 80 books!

• Read more diversely. ✓ Honestly, any despair I might have felt over failing all my other goals can be cancelled out by the joy I feel for accomplishing this. It just makes me SO happy!! I love reading all these new books and I can’t wait to do it again in 2022!!! 
• Review at least 50% of what I read want to. ✓ I reviewed 38 out of the 62 books I wanted to review (61%)! Some of them were really short reviews, but they were reviews!

WRITING

• Draft a novel. ✗ Yeah this was a complete fail. The most I did was write a short story (which I’m very happy about! but it’s not a novel).
• Write poetry again. ✗ I did start it back up again in the first half of the year, and worked on a singular poem in the last half, but that was pretty much it.
• Write more in general. ✗ I am so sad about this!!! I think it’s just been really hard for me to write creatively because of lack of time, energy, inspiration, and impostor syndrome, so unfortunately writing was the last thing on my mind for 2021.

BLOGGING

• Reach 3,000 followers. ✗ I said halfway through the year that I didn’t think it was a feasible goal anymore, so I don’t really care that I didn’t reach it!
• Rebrand. ? Does it count as a failed goal if I don’t want to do it anymore? I’m gonna be nice to myself and put a question mark instead of an X because there are… so many other Xs…
• Write posts in advance. ✗ After literal years of saying I need to start writing posts in advance and failing, I’ve just given up on this goal. This is me giving in to the fact that I will always be working on posts at 1am the day they are supposed to go up.

LIFE

• Continue learning Thai! ✓✗ Now this is a failed goal that does make me sad! I’m giving myself half credit for the progress I made with familiarizing myself with the alphabet, getting introduced to tone rules, and practicing my handwriting, but I didn’t do anything in the last half of the year. 
• Listen to and play more music. ✓✗ I didn’t listen to as much music as I wanted to, but I did listen to a bigger variety of artists, which was my ultimate goal! And we aren’t even going to talk about how I did not once touch the piano this year… I feel physical pain writing that…
• Sleep and drink more water. ✗ I definitely could have done better. Like, so much better.

NEW 2022 GOALS

READING

• Read 80 books. I really am going to try to read shorter books throughout the year, so I’m questioning if that’ll help me reach 100 books as usual? But I think I’m going to stick to 80 for now, since I don’t need that unnecessary stress of seeing Goodreads tell me, “You’re behind by 10 books!”

• Continue branching out. I am honestly so excited to keep reading all these new (to me) books! I’ve also created a little challenge for myself that I’ll write a post about in a few weeks to help me with this, and I can’t wait to complete it.
• Explore annotating! I want to continue tabbing and leaving sticky notes in the physical books I read, because it truly makes me feel closer to the text! I’m not yet at a point where I’m comfortable writing in books but I feel like I will be by the end of the year (since I’ve already caught myself wanting to underline certain lines…).

WRITING

• Work on a novel. Just like last year, I want a long-term project that I actually commit to! Even if I don’t get to start drafting it, I at least want to come up with Something and work on it throughout the year.
• Write at least 2 short stories. I really like writing short stories, because it requires less commitment and I feel like it challenges other writing skills I don’t typically use for longer works. So I’d love to complete some during the year!
• Write more in general. I’m hoping that in 2022, I can prioritize my creative outlets, especially writing because I miss it sorely.

BLOGGING

• Post consistently. After the nightmare that was my blogging last year, consistency is something I’m really hoping for. Specifically, I’d love to post at least 4 times a month, but I think there might be some months where that isn’t feasible for me. So just staying consistent overall would be ideal!
• Review 75% of what I want to. Moving my reviewing goal to the blogging section, since I think it fits better here! But I truly love writing reviews so much and I feel like I never prioritize them, so I hope I can remedy that in 2022.
• Find and interact with new blogs! I really miss regularly reading blog posts and leaving comments, so I hope I can bring that back this year. A lot of the blogs I currently follow are inactive too, so I definitely want to find new ones to give love to!

LIFE

• Continue learning Thai! I slacked last year, but I’ve already started picking it back up again. Since I set up an actual notebook in 2021, I’m actually motivated to fill up the pages. And I think the hardest part is making myself sit down and actually focus, but once I do, I realize how much I love learning languages/Thai! 

• Reduce weekly phone screen time. I’m already failing this, to be honest, but that won’t stop me from trying for the rest of the year! The amount of time I spend on my phone is honestly abhorrent, so I’m really hoping I can cut it down in 2022.
• Set and stick to routines! I work much better with some form of structure or routine in my life, whether it’s ones I repeat daily or one I make just for a day. So I’m hoping that I can consistently set effective, realistic routines for myself, and then actually stick to them and don’t lose focus!

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how did you do on your 2021 goals? what are some goals you have for 2022? how many books are you aiming to read? if you have any language learning tips, let me know!!