Goals Progress Update to September 2023

Goals Progress Update to September 2023

It’s important for me to write my goals progress updates not only keep me accountable, but also to be transparent about my progress and any success, as well as facing up to the challenges and disappointments that arise.

This particular update has indeed been a mixed bag with both successes and some disappointments where I haven’t progressed my goals as I would have liked.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
-Confucius

Since we are almost three quarters on the way through the year, with a little over three months left of 2023. That’s both a blessing and a curse.

It seems like there is so little time left in 2023 that it can feel compelling to want to give up at this point and wait until the start of 2024, but, in reality there are a full three months left of the year, which is ample time to turn around those goals that are in danger of failing.

So with that caveat in mind, read on to find out what’s worked well and what needs a re-boot for the final quarter of the year.

Take trips to: London, Seville, Durham, France, Winchester & Bruges

Progress Headline: On Target (Last time: Good)

We have now taken five of the six trips planned for 2023, as follows: London, Seville, France, Winchester and Woodstock (near Oxford) which replaced our planned trip to Durham which, due to timing constraints, we couldn’t fit in.

I wrote about London and Winchester on my previous review, but here’s a quick update on France and Seville, which were a two-in-one trip.

Our first stop was a week in St Cirq Lapopie in the Lot department in south-western France. It’s located within a natural park called Parc Naturel régional des Causses du Quercy, a UNESCO Global Geopark and as you can imagine, it was beautiful!

From our base in the village we walked the valley along the river Lot, visited Chateau de Cenevieres, a fairy-tale castle dating from the 13th century and Figeac, location of the Rosetta Stone amongst others and enjoyed relaxing into the slower pace of life, the glorious weather and the delicious food. It really was a magical week.

At the end of our week, we drove to Bordeaux airport and boarded a flight to Seville in Spain.

This second part to our trip was also wonderful! Seville is such a beautiful city with a lot to see and enjoy.

We arrived to temperatures of 40+ degrees which made long days of exploring and sightseeing difficult, but having said that, we managed to fit in trips to the Real Alcazar de Sevilla and the Metropol Parasol in the few days we were there, before having to retreat to our air conditioned hotel room.

There were also lots of opportunities to enjoy tapas and a few cocktails in the evenings.
We still feel there is more to enjoy in Seville so a return trip is definitely going to be planned, but next time it’ll be during the cooler months.

In the last few weeks we’ve taken a weekend trip to Woodstock (North of Oxford, in the Cotswolds). This trip replaced our planned trip to Durham which we’ve been unable to fit in due to timing constraints. But despite the change of plan, the trip was lovely.

Woodstock is on the edge of the Blenheim Palace estate, so naturally we spent a day exploring Blenheim Palace, which was amazing! On the outgoing journey we called in at the Didcot Railway Centre which is a heritage train museum, which although being quite small was interesting and an enjoyable afternoon.

On our homeward journey, we visited the Filton Air Museum, near Bristol, again spending the afternoon exploring the exhibits, having a tour of the restoration sheds and boarding Concorde which is housed in a hangar on site.

We have just one more trip planned, to Bruges, which we’re currently making arrangements for and hoping to do in November.

To have more fun, using the definition: “providing entertainment, amusement and/or enjoyment”

Progress Headline: Good (Last Time: Good)

I think the last few months have contributed especially well to my goal of providing entertainment, amusement and/or enjoyment. In particular our trips to France and Spain have given my sense of enjoyment a huge boost.

However, it’s not always butterflies and rainbows. Sometimes that sense of fun can just be doing the ordinary things like taking a walk somewhere beautiful, meeting up with friends or going to the cinema.

The last few months have been like that I think, with the high of being on holiday balanced with the everyday-ness of other low-key activities.

All-in-all though this goal continues to move along at a pace that seems to be working for me. It’s not always easy to articulate, because sometimes it’s just a feeling that right now, everything is ok.

To get back down to 10 1/2 stone (147lbs) and to get fitter and take more exercise

Progress Headline: Static (Last Time: Slow But Positive)

There’s been no significant change since my last update, because my weight has remained relatively static. I’m not happy about this and feel genuinely uncomfortable in my clothes at the moment.

I think my lack of progress on a goal which is very important to my health is going to need far more focus as we head into the final months of the year. What that focus looks like isn’t clear to me right now as I’m not keen to re-join a class, but that might end up being the action that’s needed to bring some much-needed accountability.

To create regular opportunities to meet up with friends and family and to remember to celebrate important dates

Progress Headline: Good (Last Time: Good)

There’s not been much change to the progress with this goal since my last update as meet-ups with friends and family have continued at a comfortable pace and I already have more catch-up slots scheduled in my diary over the next couple of months.

To declutter at home, to include clothes, nick-nacks, paper piles and electronic storage

Progress Headline: Steady Progress (Last Time: No Measurable Progress)

I recently wrote on the blog about the vagueness of this goal (Are Your Goals Ongoing or Projects) and the need to use “chunking” to give the goal more structure and achievable targets. Briefly, the blog explores the challenges of having long-term goals that might not have a clear, specified outcome coupled with a firm deadline to meet that goal.

As a result of that exploration, I came up with the following table of what I plan to declutter between now and the end of the year.

Month	Area	Notes
September	Declutter my wardrobe	Revisit in January
October	Sort and declutter bookshelves and stored books	Sell or donate books no longer needed.
November	Declutter papers stored in container in under the bed.	Shred anything that’s no longer needed, scan anything not needed in paper format.
December	Review and declutter electronic files on Mac	Revisit in two months, but in the meantime only save what’s needed

Applying this structure to the goal has already made a huge improvement and I have decluttered my wardrobe and donated or disposed of clothes that are no longer suitable along with other items that had cluttered up my wardrobe. I already feel lighter for having made this progress.

To develop my YouTube presence and to monetise my channel

Progress Headline: No Progress (Last Time: Slow, Needs More Attention)

The only update I have here is that there has been very little progress. I’m sad about that, but not especially surprised as my focus has been elsewhere, in particular with my travel goals and lately with making the effort to increase my weekly writing stats.

This remains a strong “want” however and will therefore remain on my goals list as we go into the final quarter of the year.

To write regularly – say 1,500 words/week

Progress Headline: Good (Last Time: Inconsistent)

In my update at the end of June, I wasn’t happy with my (inconsistent) progress and wondered whether I would be cutting this goal for 2023. At that time I told you I would come back with my answer after thinking it through.

I communicated my decision with my subscribers (you can sign up to my Newsletter here >>> SIGN ME UP!) in August as follows:

In my half year goals update blog, I reported that my goal for “writing 1,500 words per week” was not progressing very well and I questioned whether I would continue to pursue this goal since I didn’t have a clear “why” for doing it.

This was a classic case of procrastinating over a goal that had been set months earlier, with enthusiasm but without knowing clearly where I wanted to end up.

I’ve since taken some time to consider whether this goal stays on the list for 2023 (and thereby has to have some reasonable expectation of success) or whether it’s dumped.
But some 6 weeks on, I’ve finally made the decision to do my best to achieve it.

My thought process was all about answering the question: “what would be the point of writing 1,500 words per week?”

Way back when I started this blog in 2013, I was publishing two blogs per week with an average word count of 2,500 – 3,000 words per week.

Frankly I can’t remember how I came up with so many ideas for blogs. But one of the things I do know is that the more you do something, the more you’re able to do that thing.

And that’s the crux, I think.

I’m going to write per my goal and assume that by writing more I’ll be able to write more, or put another way, I’ll have more ideas!

The plan will then be to publish more on my website unless or until I have an even better idea.

Since then, and especially in the last two to three weeks, I’ve been writing in the region of 2,500 – 3,000 words per week, so more than hitting my target.

The benefits have been:

1. I never feel like I’m facing down a blank page anymore!
2. More content to work with when publishing blogs or sending Newsletters as well as for social media.
3. A clearer mind (I tend to “think on paper”, so writing gives me clarity).
4. Knowing that I am able to write up to 3,000 words per week despite the distractions has been empowering and is a nod to setting goals bigger than you think is reasonable!

To read more books and to record the books I’ve read in 2023

Progress Headline: Good (Last Time: Good)

I’m happy with the progress of this goal and have listed all my books from 2023 so far:

1. Into The Magic Shop by James R Doty (Kindle) – 5 stars
2. On Form: Managing Energy… by Jim Loehr (Kindle) – 2 stars
3. Walk Away The Pounds by Leslie Samsone (Audible) – in progress
4. Ultralearning by Sean Young (Kindle) – in progress
5. The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk (Audible) – 5 stars
6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Audible) – TBR pile
7. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (Audible) – 5 stars
8. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Paperback) – in progress
9. The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney et al. (Paperback) – 5 stars
10. Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley (Kindle) – in progress
11. The Book of Afformations by Noah St John (Kindle) – 3 stars
12. The Man I Think I Know by Mike Gayle (Paperback) – 5 stars
13. Lifelong Writing Habit by Chris Fox (Paperback) – 5 stars
14. Can You Really Think and Grow Rich? By Ramy El-Batrawi (Audible) – 3 stars
15. Half A World Away by Mike Gayle (Audible) – 5 stars
16. The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor (Audible) – 5 stars
17. That Little Voice In Your Head by Mo Gawdat (Paperback) – 5 stars
18. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Audible) – TBR pile
19. How To Take Smart Notes by Sonic Ahrens (Kindle) – In Progress
20. Playing In Time and Space by Richard Potts (Kindle) – In Progress
21. Be Your Future Self Now by Dr Benjamin Hardy (Audible) – In progress

From the list you can see my ratings for the twelve books I’ve finished (1 to 5 stars), the books I’ve started but not finished. I currently also have two books in my Audible library which I’ve yet to listen to.

To record anything else that seems relevant, important, or inspiring to me

Nothing to report.

What to do next…

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