2010 Goal Recap - How'd I Do?

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals for myself. The year progressed and a lot of things happened in the Athanas household this year:

• We bought a house that we absolutely love.
• I hit a huge weight loss milestone - even in the midst of the holiday season.
• Steve was able to travel for business twice, which he loves. 
• I started to use my cookbooks more and blogged about it.
• We sent our fish to a better home where they could be better taken care of and we gave our 90-gallon tank away to a single mom who wanted to set one up for her child. 
• Steve and I both experienced rebuilding/healing of relationships in our immediate families, which has been pretty cool.
• God answered our prayers for additional volunteers for the youth ministry more than we ever could imagine - we'll end 2010 with a staff of 8!

Home Sweet Home - Athanas Homestead, Est. 2010

There are lots of other things that were of note in 2010, but those are the things that immediately are coming to mind as I reflect on the year. However - this post is not about those awesome things. It's about how I did on my goals. Our friend John said once that when you set goals, transparency in goals is important - so I'll be honest as I go through each of these and let you know how I did without any fluff.

1. I set out to read the entire Bible in a year: Well... if this were a complete pass/fail - I would absolutely fail. I did not read entire Bible this year. Having said that - I will say that just setting this goal at all did draw me to God's word more than I ever have been drawn in the past. I spent more time reading scripture this year than I ever have, and in fact got so caught up in Psalms one morning recently that I lost track of time and was late for work! I think that there are two things that did not happen that would have made this goal a complete success that I will definitely keep in mind for next time.

1. I did not set out with a plan. With all the reading plans out there to read the entire Bible in a year, do you think I looked at ANY of them? Nope. Not a one. If I decide to reset this goal - this is one thing I would definitely make sure I had in place.
2. I did not set aside time each day to read scripture. Without proper time, no goal can ever be achieved.

Again - I don't consider this goal completely missed as I did spend significantly more time in God's word than I ever had before. That in and of itself makes me feel that something was accomplished here.

Almost... but not quite...

2. I thought that maybe, just maybe, I would finish more crochet projects in 2010. Yeah right sure. I'm not even going to attempt to bring some positive spin to this - I did NOT complete more crochet projects this year than last. However - if I play my cards right - there's a very decent shot that I will complete a larger project I've been working on for a while for a gift before the year is out. Stay tuned... I'll let you know. I can't reveal it quite yet because, well, it's a gift.

3. Read and complete more books! This one I definitely did, and I'm psyched about it. Two of my favorite passtimes/hobbies are reading and crocheting; reading has been since I was a small child. According to my Goodreads tally, I completed a total of 13 books this year. That's 9 more than I completed last year, so I really kicked this goal's butt. Very excited about that! My favorites that I read were "Snowflower and the Secret Fan", "The Shack", "The Vertical Self", and "Before Green Gables". I'm wondering if I can beat 13 books for next year... do I toy with fate and reset this goal for 2011?

4. Participate in and Complete a 5K race: Well... any of you who know me and/or read this blog know that I did this one in November. I ran in my first 5K with my friend Laura and completed the race in 37 minutes and 48 seconds. I was so pumped. I also closed out the year with a great milestone for myself this morning on the treadmill - I was able to jog for 38 out of 45 minutes I spent on the machine, and completed the 5K portion of my workout in just about 36 minutes. Considering how boring running on a treadmill can be, I was pretty pumped about this. I'm giving all the credit to my new running pants I got at TJMaxx last night.

Finished! Check one off the list...

So - I would give myself about a 75% on the year, which is better than most people do with their annual goals. I'm excited to think about and establish goals for 2011 - I have a really good feeling about next year!

What about you? What goals did you achieve this year? What are you thinking for 2011?