The Twenty-Something Series: My 2020 resolutions and goals

What is it about the phrase 'New Year's resolutions' that always sounds so tedious? For me, it always conjures up a half-hearted feeling of 'I say I'll do it but by the second week of January it's a distant memory'.

(And, yes, here I am, writing a whole post about them. Bear with me.)

First - let's talk about goals!

Last year, I spent time setting goals for 2019. The year before, I'd kept a monthly list of goals and to-dos, which ended up being a bit more structured in 2019 because of that year-long list of goals. I also ended up creating a vision board, which was a way more useful exercise than I expected it to be.

I like feeling productive and busy. Setting goals helps me do that, and stops me procrastinating so much.

So obviously when it came to the new year this time around, there I was with my journal and felt-tips and ready to start my goals for the new year. And, this time, a few resolutions. 

My goals are broken down into different categories: personal, learning, creative, and career. Admittedly, there's some crossover in the creative and career ones where it's mainly to do with my work as an author, but it feels nice to remember there's a distinction between the two. And it's nice to remember what I count as work, and what I count as a hobby. 

As for resolutions...

I wrote this post recently about some habits I'd changed over the last year - things I'd started or stopped doing, and some habits I wanted to work on this year. 

While my goals are things I want to achieve throughout the year, things I want to do, I see resolutions more like habits I want to change somehow. 

Three of my resolutions for 2020:

1. Cook something new from Antoni Porowski's 'Antoni in the Kitchen' once a month - I got this for Christmas and to make sure I don't put off trying out new recipes, I plan to cook from it once a month. I'm going to try to set meal plans (which I'm also hoping will save me a little money on my grocery bills each week...) and hope that choosing recipes like this will help with that.

2. Save my 'leftover' salary each month. I've been tracking all my spending for several months now, but want to be more conscious with savings this year. I've set a savings goal, but what I'm going to do first and foremost is save whatever is leftover from my salary, compared to what I've spent that month, into a new account, so I can see how much I've really saved over the year.

3. Not to binge watch entire series over a weekend! I've noticed that if I spend a whole day or a weekend on the sofa or in bed watching a new series, I just feel like crap at the end of it. (Partly because it feels so unproductive and, as mentioned, I like to feel productive.) So something to work on this year - not doing that. Wish me luck...

And as for some of my goals for 2020:

1. Book a holiday with my friends! We've been talking about a girls' weekend away for ages, but whenever I've looked at flights it's always crazy expensive. This year, I'm determined to get it done. Pick a date, look for some reasonably-priced flights, pick a destination and go.

2. Complete the next level of my German Duolingo course. I'd really like to keep working on my languages, and setting this as a goal last year helped me to actually do it. My German skills feel fairly basic and my grammar definitely leaves something to be desired, so back to Duolingo to level-up it is.

3. Finish the first drafts of three new books. This one's definitely a push, but I feel it's doable if I really try. I've started one, and am about a third of the way through another, so it's not impossible!

4. Guest on a podcast - because hell, why not? I'd love to. I listen to so many podcasts that have guests and are either just a chat, or interview-style, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be on some of them. This is one of my 'out there' goals for the year, admittedly, but no harm in hoping for it!

The eagle-eyed readers amongst you will have noticed that that's a goal from each of my categories there... And obviously they're not my only goals, but just a few I wanted to share!

I'll post soon about how I set goals and why they're so useful (because tbh it's never the wrong time to be setting goals) but one thing I found really helpful this year was Goodbye 2019, Hello 2020 by Project Love - a journal that guides you through reflecting on the last year and prompts you to think about your dream life and break down ways to make that happen. It was so much fun to work through and such a cute journal - I really can't recommend it enough! PLUS, it has 'quarterly check-ins' where you set goals for the next three months, which I'm really looking forward to doing. (Not an ad, I promise, I just really liked it.)

Have you set any resolutions or goals for 2020? I'd love to hear so let me know over on Twitter where you can find me @Reekles or in the comments below!