[Yearly Review] Part 3: goals for 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I don't tend to go in for 'normal' New Year's resolutions. Instead, I like to set myself a few targets and goals to try and meet over the coming year. These range from work-related to hobby-related, and I find them a good way of balancing up my various hobbies, and of maintaining a decent work-life balance. My success has been pretty mixed over the last couple of years; in 2013 I met about half of my goals, but 2014 was a bit of a failure on many fronts. Still, I'm going to persevere.

As per usual, I'll be trying to make my goals relatively achievable. In some cases I'll be building on experience from the last couple of years (a '*' marks those carried over or repeated from 2014).

General

• Recover my savings back to where they were when my PhD stipend ended. (* - Although I've saved a decent amount, I've also had to pull a bit back out of my savings to pay for things)
• Get my weight back down to 12st.
• Go swimming twice per week for more than half of the year.
• Catch-up with backlog of blog posts.
• Continue blogging.
• Buy a house (This one very much depends on the market)

Work

• Publish at least two peer-reviewed papers
• Attend at least one international conference. (*)
• Go on at least one observing run. (*)
• Propose (and run if accepted) an exoplanets session at NAM 2015.
• Arrive at work before 9:15 for more than half of the year.

Reading

• Read 35 fiction books. (*; Bumping this one up a little from last year)
• Read 5 non-fiction books. (*; I've been struggling to meet this one for the last few years, but still think it's about right.)
• Buy fewer than ten physical books. (This is to help guard against running out of space!)

TV and film

• Watch two TV shows from my collection (that I haven't previously watched). (*)
• Watch at least 3 films from my collection (that I haven't previously watched). (*)
• See more than 15 films at the cinema.

Wargaming

Some of the painting goals are probably mutually exclusive...

• Paint 26 models.  (*; This seems to be about the right level for this goal)
• Finish painting a full 35pt Warmachine/Hordes list.
• Paint my MERCS miniatures.
• Build my WW2 tanks. (*)
• Build my Battlestar Galactica Viper
• Play at least one game of at least two different systems. (*)
• Place in the top three at a tournament.
• Win a tournament. (This is very ambitious!)
• Buy some X-Wing models.

Board gaming

• Play at least fifteen new games. (*, but an increased level)
• Buy at least three new games.

Computer gaming

• Finish 2 games single-player. (*)

Lifesaving

I failed really badly at these last year, but they are something that I'm really keen to get on top of this year.

• Attend a local Lifesaving Club training session. (*)
• Maintain my Survive & Save TA status. (*)
• Teach a lifesaving course. (*)
• Compete with an old boys' team at a BULSCA competition. (*)
• Get involved with the RLSS

Lets see how I get on this year. Hopefully I can do better than in 2014!