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
10080 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
readwant 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!
80 books is great. Writing post in advance never worked for me but I hope I can change that this year. This year my goal is get Netgalley ratio manageable. Wish you great 2022!
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thank you! i wish you all the luck in writing posts in advance <3 and managing your netgalley ratio is a great goal, good luck and happy 2022!
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Don’t be too hard on yourself with the goals you didn’t reach in 2021. Reading 80 books is such a great achievement and you did well on other things too, even if it didn’t turn out the way you had hoped exactly. I think the intention behind setting the goals matters :) I hope you can do all the things you want to in 2022 and will enjoy doing them! I also want to get more active in blog hopping and reading other people’s content again. I’ve seriously been slacking. Happy 2022!
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thank you, kat!! i’m definitely trying to be happy with whatever i managed to do—small progress is still progress! i’ve seen lots of bloggers hoping to become more active again, so i hope we all can find some blogging energy this year haha. hope you have a wonderful 2022! <3
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proud of you always, but especially when you’re nice to yourself <3
buddy reading with me ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
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i love you alwaysss <3
2022 buddy reads during melanie reading comeback ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
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Good luck May, these are great goals! 🥰 I really want to write more poetry this year, I have ideas but it’s just getting them down on paper that’s the problem.
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thank you so much, stephen! wishing you all the luck with writing poetry—i also have ideas but get stuck when i stare at the page! hopefully we can get a few poems written this year <3
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Congrats on meeting your reading goals! I also keep hoping that I will plan ahead and have posts ready ahead of time but it doesn’t always turn out that way. I’m also up until 1AM finishing a post that will then be posted that day…hahaha
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thank you! i have truly lost all hope for being able to write my posts in advance lol but maybe one day i’ll surprise myself! wishing you all the luck with not staying up till 1am writing your posts haha <3
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Lol…thanks for the luck. I will need it.
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Good luck with your 2022 goals, May! 💕 I’m also planning on continuing to read out of my comfort zone, as I have enjoyed doing so for the past 2 years 🥰 I didn’t set myself any writing goals this year, as I pretty much failed all of my 2021 ones and don’t think I’ll be able to do much writing this year 😅 I hope your writing goes well, though! 😊
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thank you caro!! i’m so glad you’ve also been able to read out of your comfort zone, and i truly wish i’d been able to do it before 2021 since it’s brought me so much joy! and i feel like i’m in the same boat—i still made myself some writing goals but i’m trying not to expect to much after seeing what happened last year haha
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I realized halfway through last year that I wasn’t hitting a lot of my goals – and I think that’s okay! Sometimes our priorities change (or have to change) and we have to move with it. Happy 2022 – and best of luck with your new goals!
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that’s what i realized halfway through 2021! and definitely—who we are and what we need to/can do changes throughout the year ❤️ happy 2022 to you too!!
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Amazing. You had quite a year in 2021. I’m glad to see what you plan to do and the ideas that wrattle around your head for this year 2022!
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thank you so much! i hope you have a lovely 2022 as well 💓
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honestly you did pretty decently on your goals even if there were a lot of X’s! the ones you hit are big goals and the ones you missed you at least attempted! I’m horrible at annotating books, I can never remember to keep sticky notes or pens with me when I read but I’m happy it works for you. Good luck on your 2022 goals!
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thank you!! i’m definitely trying to remind myself that any progress is still progress ❤️ and i used to be like that with annotating, but i have a little pouch with all my annotating things that’s been helpful. happy 2022!
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i could cry. i missed your posts so much. i missed my opinions being demanded by the mango queen. i’m never leaving the blogging world again.
these are amazing goals and you should be proud of yourself for how much you did in this hellish year too!! i hope 2022 is a magical miraculous best year ever for you, specifically ✨
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i could cry. i missed YOU so much. i missed the feeling of joy i get seeing you in my wordpress notifications
i love you and i hope you are also proud of yourself for all the things you managed in 2021!!! have a wonderful lovely 2022 ❤️❤️
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omg yes I hate opening up goodreads and seeing ‘you’re 4 books behind on your goal for the year’ and it’s why I always set a smaller goal, but on the other hand, the serotonin of being 4 books ahead is unmatched! I’m also hoping to write more this year! I feel you on being lost, uninspired and the impostor syndrome but I’m hoping to go ahead despite it all and write again even if I don’t like what I write at first. All the best with your goals and hope you have a great 2022!
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yes!! i’ve been really bad at reading so far this year and i think if i had to see like “3 books behind” already i would’ve felt so unmotivated lmao. and that’s exactly what i’m hoping for with writing!! i think i’ve built up all this pressure and lots of standards for myself in my head, so i just need to let go of all those and just write. i hope we both have good writing progress this year! <3
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Best of luck in all of your goals, May! I share one in wanting to write much more this year, so I hope the writing muses and routine gods are much kinder to us than they have been recently!
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I’m very late to this, but all the best of luck for your goals this year, love, I know you can do this! I’ll be rooting for you and hope that you’ll get to write more this year, too. It’s also one of my goals. And I hate it when goodreads stresses me out ahah that’s why I lowered my goal by the end of last year, as well and hope to have a more attainable one this year. All the best of luck! :)
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