Mighty Bargain Hunter

How are my 2008 goals going? How are yours going?

January 28th, 2008 | by mbhunter |

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(The Money Blog Network is doing a group writing project on 2008 goal updates. This post is part of that project.)

It’s almost a full month into the new year. I still see the occasional holiday decoration around town, but most of the ugly inflatables are gone. I’m preparing for my taxes. The year is off to a start. But is it off to a good start?

As far as my 2008 goals are concerned, it’s a tepid start at best. There are some bright spots of follow-through, but mostly I have catch-up to do:

• I want a closer relationship with God. For my first goal, not good at all. I’ve been attending an Old Testament Sunday School class at church but I don’t crack the Bible in between. Very, very bad.
• I want to track my finances better. This one has been better. I’ve entered my financial information into Quicken six times this month. It’s been much easier to tackle a small pile of receipts than a large one. I’m aiming for ten times a month, so I’ve got more work to do on this one. The cash transactions have been recorded faithfully, though. Follow-through has been fair.
• I want to lose fifty pounds. I’m about where I was at the beginning of the year. Very bad.
• I want to be a licensed auctioneer. No progress on this one yet.
• I want to develop and expand the reach of this blog. The subscriber count is going up (thank you!) and I’ve been making an effort to comment on your blogs and on this one (though I already sense a little slip-back on this one). Fair follow-through on this one.
• I want my side businesses to cover my mortgage payment again. This one will take some time, but progress on this front is good.
• I want to develop the habit of getting things out of my head onto paper, and doing them promptly. Mediocre follow-through on this one. Some days are much better than others, but consistency is key on this goal.

So, overall, I’m not off to a good start on reaching the goals I set for myself. I hope that the mild embarrassment of reporting how poorly I’m doing will help me to turn things around.

This group writing project over at the Money Blog Network was my idea.  Originally the tendency was to do a traditional “What are your goals for 2008?” post near the beginning of the year, but everyone is gung-ho at the beginning of the year!  Once the end of January rolls around, the enthusiasm of those goals is a lot more likely to have worn off or gone completely.

So to do something to combat this, I wanted to do a surprise check-up on a few folks who had set goals for 2008, and encourage them (and anyone else) to re-visit their goals before they’re so far gone that it’s hardly worth mentioning them anymore.  If you want to “pick on” your favorite bloggers and see whether they’re on track with goals they’ve set for themselves, this is a good thing to do!  A little accountability goes a long way if you really want to reach your goals.  (If you don’t, then it’s just annoying, but that might tell you something too!)

So, I’ll pick on a few people I like (and they may want to pick on me or pick on someone else):

• Plonkee wants to gain professional Chartered status.  How’s it going Plonkee?
• Gather Little By Little wants to become debt-free.  How’s it going glblguy?
• Mrs. Micah wants a stable monthly income.  How’s that going Mrs. Micah?

If you want to report on how you’re making out with your 2008 goals, let me know and I’ll post it here!