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HomePersonal SituationHalf Way Through 2011 Reviewing my Goals and Objectives

Half Way Through 2011 Reviewing my Goals and Objectives

I religiously check out all the blogs on my blogroll and today I came across an article that really caught my attention by Crystal who writes over at Budgeting in The Fun Stuff.   It wasn’t a breakthrough in Personal Finance or a new tax code, rather it was her post holding herself accountable to her 2011 Goals and Objectives and it quickly reminded me of my 2011 Goals and Objectives and how I should check in on them.  The first paragraph in that post really sums up why I even started blogging,

I know myself, and for whatever reason the main way to keep myself motivated is to be accountable to anyone, but myself.  As I type and re-read that sentence it almost seems immature but the fact that I feel a need to come back here and confess to my failures keeps me motivated me not to fail.

Re-reading that first paragraph of 2011 makes me annoyed with myself that I had to be inspired by another blogger to check in on those goals to see how I am I doing, or alternatively, see how my goals may have changed.  I separated my goals into four categories:

  • Personal Life
  • Professional Life
  • Blogging World
  • Financial Goals

For efficiency purposes I will sum up each goal.

Personal Life Goals and Objectives Check In

  • Make sure I am being a Good Father

I believe that this goal will take precedence going forward in my life as the other goals and objectives fall to waste side as completed or abandoned.  I make an effort to spend time with my child, and right now I think that is the best thing I can do.  I know this will become more time intensive as he gets older, but he can always bring a smile to my face (I heard that changes around age 13 or so).  Go Evan on this one!  Keep it up

  • Health Goals – weight and balance

While I have continued to participate in the racquetball league I joined in January it is not enough.  I don’t exercise enough plain and simple.  FAILED THUS FAR. 

My online world (discussed further below) has grown, almost exponentially, so I have been spending more and more time keeping up with everything.  Add in the fact that I still just sit wasting time sometimes instead of working smarter which doesn’t necessarily mean harder.  FAILED THUS FAR.

Professional Life Goals and Objectives Check In

  • Keep Boss-Men Happy

My employment is still going great, however, I could still be more proactive. Keep it Up, Evan.

  • Law Practice / Side Income

My law practice has really taken a backseat to my other ventures.  I have to really analyze whether the law practice is an objective of mine.  The reason it has taken a backseat is because I started a venture (which I call, RoPack Enterprises) with another blogger.  The money is obviously not as lucrative as a small law practice but I love it and it is bringing a fantastic side income.  It allows me the opportunity to keep that work/life balance as I don’t have evening meetings and am able to work in a literally pressure free environment.  I am not calling this one a failure as I have to figure out what I want to do forward.

Blogging World Goals and Objectives Check In

  • Keep Writing Consistently on topics including financial planning, estate planning, insurance planning, with a heavy sprinkle of my life.

I could post more about estate planning, but I have to give myself a 100% Success rate in this topic.  My monthly page views keep increasing as does every viable metric out there (page rank, alexa, etc.).  Go Evan!

  • Set up a system for Carnivals

A Blog Carnival is where a blogger puts together related posts on a particular topics, however, I have to submit the posts so the blogger hosting doesn’t have to search.  I found out that I was just not going to do this myself so I was happy to outsource this part of my life.  If you are a blogger and you have been failing in this aspect contact me and I will set you up with gal she is AMAZING.

  • Affiliate income

Google Adsense has been kicking butt lately so I haven’t been focusing on my affiliate income.  I am thinking about outsourcing this part of my life as well.  I will have to think about it seriously in the next couple weeks and either mark as abandon or figure out a work around.

Financial Goals Goals and Objectives Check In

I had a couple of main goals

  • Pay off Auto Loan
  • Cut Student Loan #1 in half (I have over $65,000 in student loans and Student loan #1 is currently at $6,500ish)
  • Increase liquid savings!  I am currently at 66% of my moving target.
  • Continue to Max out my 401(k) to employer contribution.  This is not maxing it out completely, but if and only if, I hit the other goals will I set up a secondary retirement account
  • Continue to contribute to my Dividend Fund (between $150 and $300/month)

I recently paid off my auto loan which is pretty exciting!  I started a side fund to pay off chunks of my student loan #1, but this will take time.  I should be able to meet this goal while keeping liquidity in mind.  Speaking of liquidity, the term “moving target” is a terrible one!  According to my January goals I am at 93% of my moving target, however, like all moving targets it moved!  So instead of placing a hard number on it I will just say, I need a lot more cash.   Lastly, as anyone who regularly reads this blog knows, I have a fondness for my dividend investment portfolio (Formally, Perpetual Income machine) and recently just provided an update.

 

In conclusion, the money and business aspects are going great in 2011, however, I may need to work on “Evan.”

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33 COMMENTS

  1. I think you’re doing great, and let’s face it, what are the chances that most people follow through on the weight loss thing? I’ve put that down every year and this is the first year it’s actually happened to work, and I’m half convinced that I’ll find out my scale is broken!

    Good work so far, keep up the momentum.

    • What are you doing to make it happen? I built this blog to keep myself accountable to my finances maybe I should do a similar one for weight loss lol!

  2. I am totally failing on my weight loss goal, but other goals have been fantastic. Hopefully by the end of the year I will really complete my weight loss goal.Being the best father is an EXCELLENT goal! Great job on that!

  3. Looks like you’re doing great so far! Exercise is always tough, but I’ve made that one a priority (and my finances have gone into the ditch a bit) but good luck!

  4. Spending time with the kid is very important. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and they change so quickly.

    Great job on your goals. I google Ropack enterprise and didn’t find much information.

  5. Sounds like you are managing pretty decently overall.

    Take lots of pictures of your son, time folds quickly…

  6. I think you’re doing great on your goals. Hopefully the little guy is letting you get some sleep so you have some energy to get work done.

    • I will be honest The Wife is awesome with him and really takes on the brunt of the mornings (like all of them except 2 and he is 7 months). She works from home and has much more flexibility with her schedule

  7. Not enough people put being a good parent as a goal. I think it is amazing that it is a visible priority.

  8. Wow, you have two side projects — this blog plus RoPack — in addition to a law practice AND fatherhood? That’s such a busy schedule … congrats on being able to balance it all AND pull ahead toward your goals!

  9. I love the fact that you place fatherhood as a high priority. I LOVE the fact that my husband places fatherhood as a high priority.

    Who is your contact for submitting to carnivals?

  10. I want to hear more about RoPack also. It sounds like you have a few passions in life. Sometimes things have to take a backseat for a little while just for a change of pace.

    • I try to keep focused but with my ADHD it is real tough…I think that is why I love balancing everything

  11. Good work on your goals so far! I wouldn’t consider not starting the law practice a failure; it would take a great deal of time, so you are right to think it through carefully.

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