2023 Goals

 Each year, Sara and I identify a word which I try to make my mantra for the year.  The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination.  Motivates me.  Inspires me.  Some years, it works.  Other years, it falls flat.  But each word lets me reflect on the journey I have had and the journey to come.

2022 - Inhabit

2021 - Support

2020 - Elect

2019 - Gratitude

2018 - Juggle

2017 - Survive

2016 - Support

For 2023, I have chose the word "explore" as my word of the year.  The inspiration of this word is to take advantage of our time here in Mexico.  We are (relatively) settled in our home here.  We don't move this year.  If I am being honest, we haven't explored as much as we wish we had.  So - for 2023 - let's go explore!

Now - on to this year's goals

Professional Goals

• Get a "good" assignment - We bid this summer and I'd really like to get one of our top choices; find something that works well for our family.  I don't know exactly where that is yet, but that's the goal.
• Successfully transition to our new building - we move into a new consulate this year and this will cause a lot of logistical hurdles.  
• Network better across Mission Mexico - this is slightly hard to define, but I'd like to do a better job of building on the robust network of work colleagues that I have at my disposal in Mexico.

Personal Goals

• Potty train Elliott - Elliott turns two on Wednesday, which means he will be almost three by the end of the year.  If we can potty train him, we can be out of diapers for the first time since 2015!
• Read 20 books in 2023.  This is a stretch, but achievable goal if I count audiobooks (which I reluctantly do).  I finished 15 in 2022.
• Sub-goal - finish reading Civilization and the Sea which I have now been reading for over a year!
• Keep the board game group going - meeting twice per month.
• Take Jack to his first Nebraska game.
• Visit at least two new places to me.
• Take an adults-only trip (currently scheduled for Oaxaca in February)
• Finish all the challenges in the Through the Ages game on my phone.  (Note - I have been playing this game for about two years.  The challenges are exactly the right level of difficulty and entertainment.  I've been struggling with one particular challenge for about two months which I finally beat today!  I have two more challenges left to complete them all.)

Exercise Goals

• Weigh under 230 lbs (losing approximately 15 pounds)
• Ride RAGBRAI - This is the bike ride across Iowa every summer.  I've wanted to do this for several years and I have some friends from high school who I could ride with.  The logistics of the ride are challenging, especially coming from Mexico and will be challenging to do this summer given the number of managers transitioning out of the consulate this summer.  But, it would be great to do if I can pull it off.
• Complete at least three Power Zone challenges
• Have two 30 day streaks on Peloton
• Bike 6,000 minutes (I biked 4,000+ in 2022).

2022 Recap

 How did I do in 2022?

Professional Goals

• In a year where I am not bidding, not up for promotion, and not studying a language, I don’t have many lofty professional goals this year.  At least not any that are articulable.  So, generally, I want to do well and help others, but no specifics this year.  Success, I guess.

Personal Goals

• Not get COVID - Failed on this
• Get two oldest boys fully vaccinated (stretch goal - Elliott gets vaccinated.  Let's go Science) - all three boys got vaccinated (yeah, Science!), although Crosby got COVID before he was vaccinated.
• Read 10 books (at least one in Spanish) - I read 15 books myself, most of them audio books, but nothing in Spanish.  I also read Harry Potter 1-3 and half of 4 with the kids.
• Find a church home in Guadalajara - complete failure
• Finish decorating house by April 1, 2020.  Includes painting walls, hanging mirrors, pictures and artwork, buying rugs, window coverings (maybe) and finalizing storage, etc. - We have mostly finished decorating the house with maybe one or two pieces of art that we want to buy here, but we were not done by April 1.
• Teach Jack and Crosby to ride bikes without training wheels - Nope.  Kind of forgot this was on the list.
• Form an active board gaming group that meets at least twice a month - I formed a group that has been fairly active, though maybe not quite twice per month.
• Visit at least two places that is new to me and/or Sara - So, I travelled to Mexico City and Monterrey (Mexico) for work and we traveled to Santa Cruz/Monterey (CA) for vacation.  
• Take an adults-only trip for at least two nights away - nope.  But I did get Sara an adults-only trip to Oaxaca for Christmas, so this will just come a bit later.
• Attend the 50th Anniversary Pi Kappa Phi Rose Ball - I had a great time, but it turns out that spending a weekend drinking, indoors, unmasked, with 250 people may lead to COVID.  
• Watch two sunrises and two sunsets - yup
• Attend a Husker football game - No, we could never get it to work with our schedule.
• Take Jack to his first football game - same
• Celebrate turning 40 - I had a fantastic 40th birthday party that Sara organized for me in Guadalajara.

Exercise Goals

• Lose approximately 20 lbs (weigh between 220 and 222 at the end of the year) - instead of losing 20, I gained five!
• Complete at least three of the Power Zonw Pack challenges on Peloton - I completed two of the Power Zone challenges so fell short of this.
• Have two 30-day streaks on Peloton - I had a 60 day streak in the spring, so I managed this.

2022 Goals

Each year, since 2016, I have chosen a word as a kind of code or mantra for the year.  The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination.  Motivates and inspires me.  Some years, it works.  Some years, it doesn't.  But each word lets me reflect on where I was when the year started.  The word for 2021 was "support."  What this most tells me about January 2021 is that I didn't have the time or make the effort to find my old words because this was the same word I picked for 2016.  Both years involved moving from America to overseas, so it's not a bad choice.  I don't know that I always embodied this mantra last year, but I tried to support those around me as we upended our lives quite dramatically.

Other annual words were:

2017 - Survive

2018 - Juggle

2019 - Gratitude

2020 - Elect

2021 - Support

As I thought about 2022 and what it means to me, I realized that I want to settle into our lives in Mexico fully.  We are here for at least three years - longer than I have been in any post or job.  I will live in this house longer than any other place I have lived since I was in high school.  Our last year in Alexandria, we made a real emphasis on making our house a home and it really made us happier.  So, I ran through a list of words around this idea: Home, assimilate, align, settle, unite, lived-in.  Finally, I honed in on my word for 2022

Inhabit

I hope this word will inspire me to actively pursue making Guadalajara our home, to inhabit this space for the time that we are here.  Anyway - on to the goals:

 Professional Goals

• In a year where I am not bidding, not up for promotion, and not studying a language, I don’t have many lofty professional goals this year.  At least not any that are articulable.  So, generally, I want to do well and help others, but no specifics this year.

Personal Goals

• Not get COVID
• Get two oldest boys fully vaccinated (stretch goal - Elliott gets vaccinated.  Let's go Science)
• Read 10 books (at least one in Spanish)
• Find a church home in Guadalajara
• Finish decorating house by April 1, 2020.  Includes painting walls, hanging mirrors, pictures and artwork, buying rugs, window coverings (maybe) and finalizing storage, etc.
• Teach Jack and Crosby to ride bikes without training wheels
• Form an active board gaming group that meets at least twice a month
• Visit at least two places that is new to me and/or Sara
• Take an adults-only trip for at least two nights away
• Attend the 50th Anniversary Pi Kappa Phi Rose Ball
• Watch two sunrises and two sunsets
• Attend a Husker football game
• Take Jack to his first football game
• Celebrate turning 40

Exercise Goals

• Lose approximately 20 lbs (weigh between 220 and 222 at the end of the year)
• Complete at least three of the Power Zonw Pack challenges on Peloton
• Have two 30-day streaks on Peloton