Did you achieve your goals? Or are closer to completing them? Did you at least enjoy the year? What are going for in 2018? For me it was easily one of the best years to date. Got a lot of stuff done and advanced a lot in certain areas of my life. Very happy with that. Gotta keep on rocking 2018. What's ya'll up to?
around this time last year I had taken a risk to move up to long island for a big raise at a troubled account within my company. within 4 months (may), the account was going to be permanently closed and I would be left there in Long Island, with a 12 month lease, without a job. Also my girlfriend didn't come with me and we were still deciding where our relationship was going. I had intended to spend time on self-improvement and working on some of my programming (app) ideas. I did neither, really. I applied to some new jobs within my company and I took one back near DC (in MD) for another substantial raise - a job as an Auditor, traveling every 2 weeks throughout the world. At the same time I decided that I wanted to escalate things with gf and move towards marriage, asking her to move in with me. We got a really nice place together, ended up getting engaged, and I got to see France, Belgium, and England for the first time, for free (other than tourist stuff we did) through my job. I became a christian again, due to jordan b. peterson's lectures. While the career is going fine, I find it deeply dissatisfying, tedious, boring, and thankless. The traveling also makes it difficult to join teams/clubs and has disrupted my fitness. I'm working on a business plan now to open a boardgame shop and cafe in northern virginia in 2018 and quit my job. I will continue struggling with diet and fitness as well.
Been so busy this year and it didn’t produce like I expected but I think that it will do so mostly in 2018 which makes me very excited about the coming year. Fam is happy/healthy and all doing well at the things they are doing. I had hoped to save up all the funds I need to take a year off work and redo/finish my book but I came up short. Projections show that 2018 will get me there and beyond but we’ll see. In two years my daughters head off to college at which time I plan on building our retirement home so I’ll be working on getting that designed this year. Long term, my goal has been to retire at 45 so I’m working hard at getting to that point (7 years to go). To sum up, 2017 was a grind, but I survived.
got significantly healthier and got rid of all addictions, read 150 books, got a well paying job related to my sphere of interest, finished most of my writing work, learnt how to lucid dream. Can't really say that the year has been tough since I did stuff that I mostly really enjoyed. Nonetheless, it was a challenge and I'm really happy that with the right goals and will power I am now able to do good self-development sh** and feel proud about myself. Goals for 2018: finish learning latin and start learning french, read 100+ books, finish off my novel and short stories, start reading lectures, learn how to lucid dream every time I try, watch at least 100 auteur films. oh and @Baskitkase, what kind of book are you writing?
I fell short of my goals, by a long way in fact. This has been a constant battle for me. I want to improve but I procrastinate till the point of no return. I somehow feel that no amount of motivation can get me going and I actually never get around to beginning a project (in any field) and seeing it through. No action yields no returns, and this has been an embarrassing truth in my life. In terms of career and work, I'm doing fine. Nothing spectacular, but I earn enough to satisfy my needs. Relationship with my gf has been steady but I fear my lack of motivation in life might turn it around for the worse. However, I am very grateful to her for standing by me in hopes that we may marry someday. My family has been a source of strength for me. They don't know about the conflicting emotions within me, but somehow knowing that they are present in my life makes me happy. I have put on about 20 pounds in 2017 (the gift I gave myself by having a 9 hour desk job). On a positive note, I did read a few books this year which allowed me to feel a bit motivated again. I move into 2018 with hopes of not procrastinating, and thus developing myself to have a better overall lifestyle. Get in shape and finish what I begin, no matter the result! This has been a good thread Pyro. Thanks for bringing this up. Feel better after saying this out to the world.
Dude, try yoga. all you need is some space and a mat. it's a very flexible activity and gives you so much more than just a strong and healthy body.
should have added: not long island as it turns out, anyways she's moving in with me and that would have been perfect. never tell your audience too much.
Imagine this, for years you work everyday, you are productive.; It's almost a habit, you look down on people without a job, how can anyone not work? Now you retire, you can wake up anytime, you can do whatever you want, yet you still feel a sort of inner deep sadness; A sort of need to "work", maybe not classical work like a job, but a passion or activity. Something to gain mastery in. There reaches a point where you can no longer just sit around relax and be happy, it's too late, you've already experienced the evolutionary inner need to move forward. Sitting on a beach forever sipping some-sort of colorful alcoholic drink does sound wonderful, but it only sounds that way, as a man this will eventually lead to profound sadness for whatever reason. But bask probably knows this, hence I'm wondering what he plans to devote himself to after retirement.
I have several things I’ll be doing. If I end up not sucking at writing that will be my first choice. I will definitely be traveling and doing fun stuff but that won’t be a focus. My wife, her sister and another lady started a charity 10 years ago (helps young single/pregnant mothers get what they need and where they need) and while it started out small and local it’s now huge and world-wide. I’ll be helping there a lot. Being available to my children as they grow up and move out and move on in whatever capacity they need immediately when they need it is also important. Retirement for me means that I already have income covered and I can do what I want regardless of how much or little it pays. At age 45 I will have been living on about 20% or less of my income for 18 years so the amount of available income I have will actually go up (4 of my 5 kids will be 18+). Edit: In my old age I’ll likely be managing my family’s land in Arkansas which produces timber, oil, gas, abrasive sands, top soil and wind energy. My father currently handles this. It’s not going to make anyone rich, but we have the controlling interest and our focus is to keep it renewable instead of quick sale (select cutting instead of clear cutting timber for example).
