Goal setting, or as I prefer to call it Accomplishment Planning, is one of my favorite annual habits. It’s a time to pause and look back at the past years’ notes and reevaluate what really matters and is important as I look forward to the new year. It’s a time to prune out the things that no longer fit with my current lifestyle or aspirations and focus on the things that do.
Looking back through the folder filled with hand written lists from the last dozen or so years helps me reflect on my fully and partially completed accomplishments, the lower valued goals that were dismissed along the way, and of course the perennial and perpetual health, wealth, happiness goals that are the cornerstones of every year’s list.
These lists all have some commonality between them, particularly with the all-time classics like health, weight, wealth, education, personal development, social engagement/involvement, plus an assortment of random lifestyle goals. However, something special silently emerged from a recent mid-year addition to the 2018 list. Somehow, this unsuspecting and seemingly random item took root and magically wove all of those goals together into one cohesive lifestyle enhancing fabric.
That recent addition was Cycling.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, “Ride Across America, Steve Style“, one of my lifetime goals is to participate in a cycling event in every state in the USA before I die. This seemingly simple and straight forward goal has evolved into a multi-faceted life-project. It’s helping me understand myself better and more clearly see what I truly value, out of personal interest and not just accepting out of convenience, familiarity, or routine.
Progress towards my cycling goals will require research, effort (training, training, training!), education, planning, social interactions, money, health, and serious commitments of all of the above, along with a targeted focus on the hundreds of tiny details and decisions that will lead me forward to success.
These goals, as all should be, are personal, and I am the only person who can set them, work towards them, and achieve them. To help me along my way I plan on journaling about my journey and experiences here on my personal blog, EnjoyTimeOutdoors.com.
My interest and focus on this goal will have a significant effect on this blog moving forward, with the content being more focused back to my original vision for this blog- a focus on Enjoying Time Outdoors and making and sharing memories along the way. I will be writing/videoing about soon, so stay tuned if this interests you. I hope you find this interesting and possibly even motivating to get out and Enjoy Time Outdoors!- 2019 is going to be the best year ever and it’s only just begun!
