Similar to previous years, in 2023 I drafted a shorthand list of my goals that I can refer to throughout the year. Totaling 23 goals for 2023, I left four slots empty for goals that I plan to add during each quarter of the year.
Now that we’ve wrapped up Q1, it’s time to check in on my goals and see how things are going.
Here are my 23 goals for 2023 and the progress I’ve made so far:
Reading Goals (You can see me chat about all of my reading-related goals in this video).
- Read 300+ books throughout the year. This is on track for the year since I crossed over 80 books read in Q1, which means that I’m about 20 books ahead of schedule. (You can always see what I’m currently reading by connecting with me on Goodreads.)
- Read at least 23 books each month in 2023. So far, so good! I read at least 23 books in each of the first three months of the year.
- Complete an alphabet reading challenge each month (choosing a random letter and picking 5 books from my Kindle that start with that letter) to read more books that I already own. This continues to be such a fun challenge and I love that it helps me read books that I already own. I was able to complete the challenge in each of the first three months of this year. (You can see my videos about this challenge each month on my YouTube channel.)
- Complete a self-designed Book of the Month Challenge where I read at least 24 books from the BoM club list in 2023. This challenge is off to a great start in Q1. In the first three months of the year, I read 14 books that were from the Book of the Month list, so this challenge is over halfway done. Most of these books are popular fiction, so it’s been fun to catch up on a reading a bunch of books that I’ve heard a lot of other people talking about.
- Complete/get current on 23 book series throughout the year. This challenge is also off to a pretty strong start. I’ve caught up or completed 6 series so far: Evie Blackwell, Bergman Brothers, Box 88, DS Manon, Truly Devious, and Virgin River.
- Read Patricia Cornwell’s entire Kay Scarpetta series (26 books). I’ve read the first two books in this series, but I have a lot left to go!
- Read Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives series (6 books). I haven’t started this series yet, but I have the ebook and audiobook versions of these books waiting in the wings.
- Read L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series (8 books). I haven’t started this series yet, but I have the ebook and audiobook versions of these books waiting in the wings.
- Keep up with posting at least two videos per month to my YouTube channel related to books and reading (you can see my videos here). So far, I’ve been able to keep up with this goal through posting a TBR video (what I’m hoping to read) and a TBR debrief video (what I actually read) each month.
Goals that support my wellness & health
- Practice intuitive exercise. I’d like to be exercising more than I have been in the first three months of the year, but I felt like I got into more a groove toward the end of Q1 (a week off of work certainly helped!). I’m looking forward to more movement in Q2.
- Take at least a week of vacation off from work. Done! I took a week off in late March and it was so wonderful. You can hear me debrief this retreat period in this podcast episode. (I’m also planning to take another week off in July and I already cannot wait!)
- Get a massage. I haven’t scheduled this yet, but I’m very much looking forward to it!
Professional and Personal Development
- Listen to at least five podcast episodes each month. I did this in January, but completely forgot in February! So I caught up in March by doubling up on episodes I listened to. A good reminder that goals can be as flexible as you want them to be.
- Celebrate turning 40 in a way that’s meaningful to me. The project that I’m working on for this personal celebration continued to make good progress in Q1. I’m planning to share more about this in Q4 of this year.
- Journal through all the questions in Debbie Millman’s The Remarkable Life Deck (“a ten-year plan for achieving your dreams”). I haven’t started this journaling project yet, so I need to make a plan about how I can begin to build it in for Q2.
Miscellaneous
- Pay off 20% of our current mortgage balance. This goal is making progress. We’ve paid off a little over 4% of the current mortgage balance, so we are just under 25% to this goal as we end the first quarter of the year.
- Watch the entire Dawson’s Creek television series. I finished season one and I’m about a quarter of the way through season two, so good progress here! I had forgotten how melodramatic this series is and it’s been very fun to revisit!
- Watch all the X-Men movies. We’ve watched the first three movies of the 13 in the series, so I’m a little under a quarter of the way to completing this goal.
- Listen to every Taylor Swift song in album order. I’ve listened to the first two albums of 12 total, so some progress here. I’ll need to pick up my pace in the coming months to stay on track!
TBD
- Apply for and receive approval for Level 1 coach training accreditation with ICF (Q1). My first goal that I’m adding for Q1 is related to a new accreditation that I am seeking for my coach training program. I’m currently a Level 2 program, but would also like to be accredited as a Level 1 program. All the details of why and how aren’t really useful to mention here, but it will help my coach training participants, so that’s a good enough reason for me! I got this application completed and submitted in Q1.
- TBD for Q2
- TBD for Q3
- TBD for Q4
How are your 2023 goals progressing so far?