Well, that’s a wrap!
2018 has literally flown by for me! In good and bad ways but I seriously don’t know where the time went! And as the year finishes up, I’m revisiting my 2018 year goals. I did a 6-month check in mid-year and now as the year ends, I’m going to talk about the results and how I am reflecting upon that. More than that, I’m going to be grading myself on the effort I put into these goals, not the results.
This is a mindset I’m really trying to incorporate in my life by measuring myself in terms of effort instead of results. It’s a great and truly eye-opening concept that Sam Laura Brown talks about on her podcast the Perfectionism Project, specifically the episode on 12 Practical Tips for Setting Powerful Goals. This wasn’t an idea I fully embraced when I was writing about my check-in, but it’s a tool I’m going to continue to use when creating and evaluating goals.
Lastly, if you want an introduction or any background information on my goals and why I chose them, I highly recommend reading my 6 Month Check In post first. If you’ve already read it, here’s a quick re-cap of my 2018 goals:
Okay, let’s get started!
1. French Fluency: B –
Although Alliance Francaise would probably (and did) give me an F for this one.
Becoming fluent in French has always been that tag along goal that appears on my list in some form or another and one that I never truly mastered. As I mentioned in my check-in, I took the DELF exam in June, and in that post, I hadn’t received my results yet, but as I explained on my InstaStories, I failed.
And honestly, it kind of hurt but it’s also okay. I deserved to fail, I wasn’t prepared enough and while I did better than last time on the B2 exam, the jump is still too high for me. It also taught me what I needed to focus on. I did a lot better than I thought on the speaking and listening component but surprisingly didn’t do as well as I thought on my essay or comprehension sections.
I thought about re-taking the exam again in November, but I was honest with myself and knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it. Between working overtime, going to school, and preparing for my friend’s wedding, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put the time into studying.
However, I’m still giving myself a B – on this goal because for the first half of the year, I really was trying, but then it kind of trickled off after I failed. Nonetheless, I did try and one of the great things about trying is that I went out of my way to find different strategies for studying. Some of them worked for me, and some of them didn’t. I re-activated my Duolingo account, and while I don’t think it should be depended upon as a learning tool, it was great to keep up the daily practice. Also, I’ve learned more ways to incorporate French into my daily life. One of my favourite ways to work on my blog/do chores at home is to have Netflix playing on in the background. This may sound strange but I don’t like complete silence (my favourite place to work/study is actually at a coffee shop but I can’t always afford $5 lattes). However, I don’t like having shows I’ve already watched because I’ll be too interested in them, so I tend to watch reruns of one of my favourite shows ever, Gilmore Girls. I love that show for many reasons, but that’s for another day. And in true Lorelai Gilmore fashion, I’ve gotten off topic but I have a point and that is these days I watch Gilmore Girls in French with French subtitles (because they do talk really fast). So while I didn’t pass the exam, I feel as if I’ve put in a solid effort this year and developed new language learning habits, and I think that deserves some credit too.
2. Less Plastic: B+
More specifically using less plastic bags.I actually did pretty well for this goal. I definitely use less plastic bags now and always bring reusable bags to the grocery store. Additionally, I’ve also cut down on using plastic straws as I have metal straws now! This goal was pretty timely as well because Vancouver is also looking into putting in a ban of plastic straws.
But I’m not perfect.
I still use plastic straws when I’m out because I always forget to bring my metal ones, but also because I don’t really want to put a sticky straw back into my backpack or purse. Also, recently I learned that metal straws don’t fit in everything so I will be shortly getting paper straws just to throw in my bag! Lastly, I gave myself a B+ because there’s still two areas of plastic I want to tackle – plastic produce bags and plastic wrap. I’m going to be looking into buying mesh produce bags (I got these for a friend and she loves them) and beeswax in the New Year when the holiday rush dies down to help go as least plastic as possible.
3. Start Investing: C –
And my final number for my stock investments this year (drumroll please…)
-$1,637.75
Yups, I’m ending the year almost how I started, at a loss. And I probably should feel a much greater panic than I currently do, but it’s been one hell of a roller coaster year for my investments. Sometimes it shot up (which I regret not selling at) and sometimes it fell hard down. But to be honest, for something that controls a decent amount of money in it, I’ve not
been putting in the full effort to managing my investments. I invested in a lot of newer companies so I know the market is pretty volatile, but the one thing I do understand in stocks is patience. If I reacted to every loss and gain with panic, I ‘d be in a constant state of anxiety. So while it’s looking pretty darn bad right now, I’m also taking my journey as a lesson. I wanted to invest in the stock market in my mid to late twenties because it’s doesn’t have as big of an impact when I don’t have a family or dependents, but I’ve learned a lot.
Still, I cannot praise myself for putting in a lot of effort, because I haven’t. I’ve only put in the very minimal effort even though I know I should be educating myself a lot more on investments. My cousin has even sent me multiple books and notes on it that I haven’t had time to truly delve into to understand all of the stock market terms and how to react. If anything though, I’ve learned that I’m a pretty risk-averse person so stock market investing isn’t for me. I’m going to stick it through (because again these companies are very new and I know they have much bigger investors than me – I’m talking huge corporations have backed these companies) so we’re all at a loss right now, but once this settles down, I don’t know if I’ll be continuing to invest in the stock market.
I want to write on this topic but I currently don’t feel like I have enough information – stay tuned!
4. Self Care: B
This goal wasn’t really defined well from the beginning so I’m grading myself on what I’ve come out of it for the year. This year has been a real test for me on how I communicate with others and how I prioritize taking care of myself. I’ve definitely been more aware of setting time aside for myself and planning for “me” days instead of expecting everyone else to accommodate for my busy schedule. Prior to this, I use to overschedule myself like crazy and felt like I needed to accept every invitation and attend every event. And I’m proud to say that this year, I’ve gotten a lot better at politely saying no.
I’ve let go of the idea that it needs to mean something and I also seriously worked on my FOMO. That was a big thing stopping me from saying no to events because that FOMO is real; I didn’t want to be missing out when everyone was posting photos and be left out. To be honest, I still feel it sometimes though when I do decline an invite or decide to leave an event early because I need to sleep.
Lastly, because I don’t feel the need to brag about my life all the time, I feel left out from the social media sphere sometimes. Like I’ve been to 5 continents and 30+ countries, and have an amazing relationship, but I don’t like to post about all that stuff 24/7 because I don’t find that relatable or realistic. But that’s what’s popular to do on social media. So even if I have the most amazing dinner, sometimes I like to snap a quick group photo but most times I just want to put my phone away and enjoy the moment. It’s a catch 22 because I know my life is great too, even when I miss out on all those events, but it doesn’t feel like that all the time.
Finally, I have myself a B because as I’ve learned the hard way, I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to self-care and being easy on myself. Someone wrote something negative about an article I wrote and immediately went into a defensive/apologetic response. Like no, there’s self-awareness and self-care. So that’s what I really need to work on. I should put myself first; I just have to be careful of how I communicate it.
5. Start A Side Hustle: A –
Honestly, this turned out a lot better than I thought in the last half of the year. When I wrote my 6-month check-in, I didn’t
have any clue what side hustle to start. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been working with Rev.com and captioning videos along with some other hustles and to date have made over $700 in side hustles this year! That may not sound like a lot to some people because honestly, it isn’t, but it’s helped me a ton this year. Also, it’s just given me the option of working extra to earn extra money when I have the time.
Another side hustle I hope to start in the New Year for my blog is actually to create a little shop for it! I talked about monetizing my blog in my 2018 recap for The Blogging Diaries and how ads and sponsors aren’t really for me. But I would love to create a shop, and am currently working on an e-book that my email subscribers got a first-hand look at!
This is still a very new idea so I won’t be launching anytime soon, but it’s in the works and I’m SO EXCITED. Even if this doesn’t work out, I’ve always been curious about becoming an Etsy seller or owning an e-shop and this will be a good learning experience.
So my final report for the year goes as follows:
[table id=20 /]
It’s not a perfect score, but I’m working on it! I’m going to take all of these lessons into 2019 and I’m most excited to start measuring myself on effort instead of the result. So even if my shop fails miserably, even if my investments continue to tank, even if it all comes crashing down, I tried really, really hard. And those lessons in business and investments might have small consequences at 27, but I’ll be using them for the next 50 years and I’m looking forward to that.
Anyways hope all is well with you. I’m super curious, how did your 2018 goals go? Feel free to comment below! I would love to hear them.
To A New and Effort-Filled Year,
Kimberly ✨
