Review of 2013 Goals

It only took me until August to write down my goals for
2013.  I’ve been busy this year, and seemingly more productive.

I find setting goals for my life at the beginning of the year helpful – writing them down reminds me during the year of what I am trying to achieve.

In grey are my original goals – in black is the reality.

1. Continue to do well at work and beat targets.  At some
point though I do need to increase how much I earn.

I pretty much kicked the arse out of my targets at
work.  Refreshing to have a goal all about work, I am enjoying my job and
getting good results.  Goal achieved.

2. Studying.  I really want to continue to learn web
design, in particular CSS3 and also Photoshop.

I have studied sadly infrequently as work tends to get
in the way.  Only if I get up at 530am do I get time to study – you probably
don’t need to guess this is rather infrequent.  However I have learnt a decent
enough amount of CSS now to make much more modern looking websites than I could,
and I have made inroads into learning Photoshop too, with some designs
completed.  Goal part-achieved.

3. My web sites.  Start updating Ubereadoolische every
week and see where I can take it.  Also design and implement www.jameswinfield.co.uk.

I update www.ubereadoolische.com once a month at best and haven’t
started jameswinfield.co.uk though I do own the domain.  Started www.frackingforum.co.uk
instead. Goal part-achieved, at best.

4. DJing.  Last year I DJ’d out four times, twice for me
and twice for others.  I really want to step this up now I have had my first few
sets under my belt and are much improved.

I have definitely upped the stakes in the DJing, I am
now getting fairly regular bookings at around one a month which is perfect.  My
set after the boat party was the first one that I did really well and had quite
a lot of compliments from.  I am getting somewhere.  Goal definitely
achieved.

5. Free House Project.  It’s a lot of work and it costs me
money but I think I need to have another crack at this.

I made a vague attempt back in January and it fell at
the first hurdle.  The dream is still there but there is no point in doing it
without the right venue.  The two main reasons I was doing it was because nobody
else was doing underground house music on a regular basis in Reading in 2012
(one or two occasional exceptions) – this is no certainly longer the case.  Also
it was the easiest way to get a DJ set – I am hardly lacking opportunities to
play out now.  So goal not completed.

6. Weather Forecast For Reading Page.  Started on around
35 likes – aim to get at least 100 by the end of 2013.  I need to devise a
marketing campaign.

I didn’t do a marketing campaign.  The weather did that
for me when it snowed, when the heatwave began and when the “worst-ever storm”
was on its way.  From 35 to 230 followers.  Goal smashed.

7. London.  Now and again I have this craving to live
there, and I think I should at least investigate how much it would cost, what I
would need to earn to live there, what accommodation I could afford, etc.  I
love the house I am in and am settled but if close friends keep moving away then
maybe maybe.

I did not look into this.  The lure of London faded as
I became more settled during the year – the resurgent nightlife in Reading being
a big factor.  Goal not achieved but I don’t care.

8. Clubbing.  I think clubbing 12 times is a reasonable
target.  Maybe sneak Cocoon In The Park in too.

Enough clubbing trips to keep me satisfied, I am happy
with it being more occasional now as I have other priorities, as much as I love
clubbing.  If you count Reading then I went clubbing 20-30 times – if not then
about 8 I think.  Goal achieved.

9. Ibiza.  DO NOT GO!  I must go on holiday to somewhere
different.  Assuming I can actually afford a holiday.

Yep.  I went to Ibiza. Nowhere else.  Goal failed but
who cares – I went to Ibiza and had a jolly good time and only had to listen to
the new Daft Punk album 527 times.

10. Get On My Bike.  I need to get less unfit.  I should
buy a bike and start ramming into some pavement cyclists.  “These are my
pavements now”.

Probably my least-likely goal but I bought a bike.  I
changed the seat height.  I sat on it.  The bike still hasn’t gone anywhere. 
Goal half-achieved.

11. Badminton.  Getting fit part two.  Finding someone to
play with is not exactly easy.

I didn’t find anyone to play with regularly.  But I
did have one game.  Goal part-achieved.

12. Eat Less Gravy – Ha ha only joking but I want to step
up recent efforts to cook properly (ie following a recipe and trying new
things), from once every 2-3 weeks to at least once a week.

I probably did eat less gravy and I cooked way more
new meals, at least one a week on average conjuring up some very nice food and
discovering crazy foods like peppers and mushrooms.  Goal devoured like a pint
of thick gravy.

13. Lose weight – I started the year at a hefty 95kg so a
fall to 90kg would be nice and now I actually believe I can lose weight, unlike
last year where I believed it was impossible. 

I did lose a little bit of weight – I varied between
91kg and 95kg, so if you average that out at 93kg then I have lost a little bit
of weight but not as much as I wanted.  Goal 40% achieved.