2021 Goals in Review
Jan. 1st, 2022 04:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI have reviewed my goals for 2020. Out of 36 goals and one blank, I met 32 plus one extra fill in the blank. I did a lot better than I expected, even topping last year. \o/
Let's take a look at what worked ...
* A goal of looking at the goal list definitely raises the chance of actually meeting more goals. So does keeping track of accomplishments in an updatable list. If you're making a list of goals, rather than just one resolution, I highly recommend this.
* I wrote a book actually on purpose! This is one of my biggest accomplishments. This one started with Dad's prompt for astronomy haiku.
* Filling in the desk calendar (which I've started for this year but not finished yet) is good because it's best done in January. Try to include some stuff you'll likely complete before you run out of motivation in a week or two.
* Making a goal to maintain regular activities is relatively easy and serves as a reminder to keep doing them, rather than skip them if obstacles interfere.
* The runaway success was "Make at least one new recipe each month." I recorded 8 in January, 14 in February, 3 in March, 6 in April, 5 in May, 9 in June, 2 in July, 5 in August, 7 in September, 4 in October, 5 in November, and 2 in December, for a total of 70 -- down somewhat from last year's 109. I probably forgot to list a few. We got a wok, which I practiced vigorously in February and March. I quite enjoyed it, but it takes a lot more time (about an hour to make a recipe) and my partner Doug found the flavors too repetitive, so we tapered off using it.
Of these, some were not impressive. However, more than a handful became instant favorites, and some others may reappear occasionally. I mark the best recipes with a * so after that point you can identify them. I starred 52 of them, nearly double the 27 of last year. Recipes we have already made or used at least twice: Chicken with Baby Corn Stir-Fry, Beef and Peas Stir-fry, Mushroom Chicken, passionfruit pear prickly pear honey smoothie, Very Banana-y Whole Wheat Banana Bread, Parsi Eggs, Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms, black cherry pie cherry smoothie, Lentils with Bacon, orange mango strawberry smoothie, piña colada smoothie, Apple Bread & Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, Mini Meatloaves with Cheese and Tomatoes, and Strawberry Banana Bread. I'm sure we've repeated a lot of the fruit smoothies and probably more of the stir-frieds, but they're harder to tell apart.
That's 15 repeats, close to last year's 17. Very Banana-y Whole Wheat Banana Bread is a perfect hippie fruit bread that can be modified in many ways; I made multiple versions including the Strawberry Banana Bread which is the runaway favorite. Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms and Lentils with Bacon are new favorite curries. Apple Cider Caramel Sauce is by far the best caramel sauce I've ever had, and I want to try some other caramel sauce ideas that start with a reduction of sweet liquid rather than trying to melt dry sugar without burning it. Mini Meatloaves with Cheese and Tomatoes has become a favorite meatloaf recipe. Just looking for new recipes improves the rate of healthy eating, and we're exploring some interesting ethnic cuisines along the way.
* Fill in the blank lets me credit myself for goals that I discover and set during the year. I aim for at least one of these, and usually get 2-3. This encourages me to keep doing stuff even after I've checked off a majority of my list.
* If you do this every year, make sure to chip away the cruft of goals you no longer can or want to meet. I leave a few old ones that I may never meet but still hope to, but most of the time if I haven't met a goal after a few tries, I drop it. If you let old ones build up, they drag down your success percentage and undermine your sense of accomplishment even if you got a lot of other stuff done. However, do keep goals that are working for you. I repeat many of mine every year. I just try to add and drop a few things each time.
* Ironically, timing and numbers are my friends. I am more likely to meet goals, and remember to mark them, if they have a specific number (do X three times) or timeframe (do X once a month) attached. I am also most prone to overfill the periodic goals. Defined goals are easier to fulfill and recognize than vague or year-long ones. YMMV, but I definitely recommend this.
* Bullet journaling really worked for me. I kept up the vegetable count through the year, which reminded me to eat more vegetables. I kept up the calendar tallies of family time and watering plants. I didn't remember to record every instance, but just having those projects running made more more aware of those topics. I think the houseplant one was the least successful, because the dates kept sprawling, but I'm confident that I remembered to water them more often than I would have without the tracking. So I will stick with these.
Related to all the gardening/wildlife goals:
- A gray squirrel moved into our yard. So now we have two kinds, fox and gray.
- It was the Summer of the Tree Frogs. I saw more tree frogs this summer than everything previous. We have two kinds, green and gray. I don't know whether this was a fluke or we somehow hit critical mass for tree frog habitat, but I love my little froggies.
- A pawpaw seedling actually lived. Of all the years for that to happen, go figure.
* Honeybees moved into a tree here. This is not the first time that's happened, but they have selected a much better location. \o/
Let's take a look at what worked ...
* A goal of looking at the goal list definitely raises the chance of actually meeting more goals. So does keeping track of accomplishments in an updatable list. If you're making a list of goals, rather than just one resolution, I highly recommend this.
* I wrote a book actually on purpose! This is one of my biggest accomplishments. This one started with Dad's prompt for astronomy haiku.
* Filling in the desk calendar (which I've started for this year but not finished yet) is good because it's best done in January. Try to include some stuff you'll likely complete before you run out of motivation in a week or two.
* Making a goal to maintain regular activities is relatively easy and serves as a reminder to keep doing them, rather than skip them if obstacles interfere.
* The runaway success was "Make at least one new recipe each month." I recorded 8 in January, 14 in February, 3 in March, 6 in April, 5 in May, 9 in June, 2 in July, 5 in August, 7 in September, 4 in October, 5 in November, and 2 in December, for a total of 70 -- down somewhat from last year's 109. I probably forgot to list a few. We got a wok, which I practiced vigorously in February and March. I quite enjoyed it, but it takes a lot more time (about an hour to make a recipe) and my partner Doug found the flavors too repetitive, so we tapered off using it.
Of these, some were not impressive. However, more than a handful became instant favorites, and some others may reappear occasionally. I mark the best recipes with a * so after that point you can identify them. I starred 52 of them, nearly double the 27 of last year. Recipes we have already made or used at least twice: Chicken with Baby Corn Stir-Fry, Beef and Peas Stir-fry, Mushroom Chicken, passionfruit pear prickly pear honey smoothie, Very Banana-y Whole Wheat Banana Bread, Parsi Eggs, Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms, black cherry pie cherry smoothie, Lentils with Bacon, orange mango strawberry smoothie, piña colada smoothie, Apple Bread & Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, Mini Meatloaves with Cheese and Tomatoes, and Strawberry Banana Bread. I'm sure we've repeated a lot of the fruit smoothies and probably more of the stir-frieds, but they're harder to tell apart.
That's 15 repeats, close to last year's 17. Very Banana-y Whole Wheat Banana Bread is a perfect hippie fruit bread that can be modified in many ways; I made multiple versions including the Strawberry Banana Bread which is the runaway favorite. Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms and Lentils with Bacon are new favorite curries. Apple Cider Caramel Sauce is by far the best caramel sauce I've ever had, and I want to try some other caramel sauce ideas that start with a reduction of sweet liquid rather than trying to melt dry sugar without burning it. Mini Meatloaves with Cheese and Tomatoes has become a favorite meatloaf recipe. Just looking for new recipes improves the rate of healthy eating, and we're exploring some interesting ethnic cuisines along the way.
* Fill in the blank lets me credit myself for goals that I discover and set during the year. I aim for at least one of these, and usually get 2-3. This encourages me to keep doing stuff even after I've checked off a majority of my list.
* If you do this every year, make sure to chip away the cruft of goals you no longer can or want to meet. I leave a few old ones that I may never meet but still hope to, but most of the time if I haven't met a goal after a few tries, I drop it. If you let old ones build up, they drag down your success percentage and undermine your sense of accomplishment even if you got a lot of other stuff done. However, do keep goals that are working for you. I repeat many of mine every year. I just try to add and drop a few things each time.
* Ironically, timing and numbers are my friends. I am more likely to meet goals, and remember to mark them, if they have a specific number (do X three times) or timeframe (do X once a month) attached. I am also most prone to overfill the periodic goals. Defined goals are easier to fulfill and recognize than vague or year-long ones. YMMV, but I definitely recommend this.
* Bullet journaling really worked for me. I kept up the vegetable count through the year, which reminded me to eat more vegetables. I kept up the calendar tallies of family time and watering plants. I didn't remember to record every instance, but just having those projects running made more more aware of those topics. I think the houseplant one was the least successful, because the dates kept sprawling, but I'm confident that I remembered to water them more often than I would have without the tracking. So I will stick with these.
Related to all the gardening/wildlife goals:
- A gray squirrel moved into our yard. So now we have two kinds, fox and gray.
- It was the Summer of the Tree Frogs. I saw more tree frogs this summer than everything previous. We have two kinds, green and gray. I don't know whether this was a fluke or we somehow hit critical mass for tree frog habitat, but I love my little froggies.
- A pawpaw seedling actually lived. Of all the years for that to happen, go figure.
* Honeybees moved into a tree here. This is not the first time that's happened, but they have selected a much better location. \o/
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-02 04:39 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2022-01-02 08:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-03 04:10 pm (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2022-01-03 08:15 pm (UTC)Maple syrup is a definite possibility, because it starts as tree sap and is boiled down to syrup or even sugar. I've had maple caramels before. All I'd need to do is find a dark maple syrup that isn't too thick, which should be doable since many of the real ones are quite thin.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 07:08 am (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 08:17 am (UTC)I also started making my own loose-meat sandwich filling because the commercial ones were all lightly flavored HFCS. >_<
Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 08:26 am (UTC)And by "loose meat sandwich filling", I assume you mean "sloppy joe" or a similar preparation. I'm surprised that there's that much sweetener in commercial mixtures (which are largely flavored TVP)
Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 08:33 am (UTC)I want to try some of the other tree syrups. I like birch beer, so I'm thinking birch syrup is a good bet, but there are more.
>> And by "loose meat sandwich filling", I assume you mean "sloppy joe" or a similar preparation.<<
Yep. I make sloppy joes, tidy joes (with wheat kernels), wild ones when I can get game meat, etc.
>> I'm surprised that there's that much sweetener in commercial mixtures (which are largely flavored TVP) <<
I think they use HFCS to make it thicker and disguise the bad manufacturing tastes. To me it just tastes like sticky corn. 0_o
My recipes generally consist of ground meat, half a bag to a bag of assorted produce (mostly tomatoes, some onion and pepper, sometimes celery, etc.) plus tomato paste, spices, organic ketchup and/or barbecue sauce. If I need to adjust the flavors I can add vinegar, molasses, honey, etc. Half a day to a day's work gives a stack of cartons we can freeze and thaw out later.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 01:31 pm (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-07 05:45 pm (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 08:27 am (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 08:29 am (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2022-01-04 01:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-05 10:35 pm (UTC)You're welcome!
Date: 2022-01-05 11:03 pm (UTC)