Similar to previous years, in 2023 I drafted a shorthand list of my goals that I can refer to throughout the year. Totaling 23 goals for 2023, I left four slots empty for goals that I plan to add during each quarter of the year.
Now that we’ve wrapped up Q2 and we’re halfway through the year, it’s time to check in on my goals and see how things are going.
Here are my 23 goals for 2023 and the progress I’ve made so far:
Reading Goals (You can see me chat about all of my reading-related goals in this video).
- Read 300+ books throughout the year. This is on track for the year since I crossed over 175 books read in Q2, which means that I’m about 25 books ahead of schedule. (You can always see what I’m currently reading by connecting with me on Goodreads.)
- Read at least 23 books each month in 2023. So far, so good! I read at least 23 books in each of the first six months of the year.
- Complete an alphabet reading challenge each month (choosing a random letter and picking 5 books from my Kindle that start with that letter) to read more books that I already own. This continues to be such a fun challenge and I love that it helps me read books that I already own. I was able to complete the challenge in each of the first six months of this year (including a 900-page book I added to my list in June!). (You can see my videos about this challenge each month on my YouTube channel.)
- Complete a self-designed Book of the Month Challenge where I read at least 24 books from the BoM club list in 2023. This challenge continues to make progress in Q2. In the first six months of the year, I read 21 books that were from the Book of the Month list, so this challenge is very close to being done. Most of these books are popular fiction, so it’s been fun to catch up on a reading a bunch of books that I’ve heard a lot of other people talking about.
- Complete/get current on 23 book series throughout the year. This challenge is also off to a pretty strong start as we round out Q2. After devoting the month of May to series reading, I’ve caught up or completed 17 series so far: Evie Blackwell, Bergman Brothers, Box 88, DS Manon, Truly Devious, Virgin River, After the End, Kathryn Dance, Joe Pickett, Cork O’Connor, Colter Shaw, Knockemout, Wilde, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Alchemical Journeys, Ruth Galloway, and When in Rome.
- Read Patricia Cornwell’s entire Kay Scarpetta series (26 books). I’ve read the first four books in this series, but I have a lot left to go!
- Read Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives series (6 books). I started this series in June with the first 1,007 page book so I’m on track with getting this done before the end of the year.
- Read L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series (8 books). I also started this series in June as a pleasure read and palette cleanser in between books. The audiobooks are so fun and I love revisiting the characters in this series.
- Keep up with posting at least two videos per month to my YouTube channel related to books and reading (you can see my videos here). So far, I’ve been able to keep up with this goal through posting a TBR video (what I’m hoping to read) and a TBR debrief video (what I actually read) each month.
Goals that support my wellness & health
- Practice intuitive exercise. I got into more of a groove toward the end of Q1 with exercising and I’ve been able to keep it up. I’m mostly walking, biking, and doing yoga. I also set a summer goal of 6k minutes on the Peloton app, so that’s helping to keep me motivated.
- Take at least a week of vacation off from work. Done! I took a week off in late March and it was so wonderful. You can hear me debrief this retreat period in this podcast episode. (I’m also planning to take another two weeks off in late June/early July and I cannot wait!)
- Get a massage. I haven’t scheduled this yet, but I’m very much looking forward to it!
Professional and Personal Development
- Listen to at least five podcast episodes each month. Honestly, I have had a really hard time remembering to do this so my progress on this goal has been spotty. I think I need to find a really good podcast that I can sink into, so that will be a good goal for Q3.
- Celebrate turning 40 in a way that’s meaningful to me. The project that I’m working on for this personal celebration continued to make good progress in Q2. I’m planning to share more about this in Q4 of this year.
- Journal through all the questions in Debbie Millman’s The Remarkable Life Deck (“a ten-year plan for achieving your dreams”). I started this journaling project in Q2 by responding to six of the different questions in the deck. I loved taking that time to sit with myself and reflect, so I’m looking forward to more journaling in the second half of the year.
Miscellaneous
- Pay off 20% of our current mortgage balance. This goal is making great progress. At the halfway point of the year, we have paid off exactly 50% toward our goal of 20% for the year (an unexpected tax refund certainly helped!). For this goal, any progress is good progress so I’m really happy with where it sits.
- Watch the entire Dawson’s Creek television series. I finished season one and I have five episodes left in season two, so some progress here. I’ll need to pick up the pace on this goal if I want to finish before the end of the year.
- Watch all the X-Men movies. We’ve watched the first three movies of the 13 in the series, so I’m a little under a quarter of the way to completing this goal, but no progress on this one in Q2.
- Listen to every Taylor Swift song in album order. I’ve listened to the first two albums of 12 total, but I didn’t listen to more in Q2. I’ll definitely need to pick up the pace here too in order to reach my goal.
TBD
- Apply for and receive approval for Level 1 coach training accreditation with ICF (Q1). My first goal that I added for Q1 was related to a new accreditation for my coach training program. I’m currently a Level 2 program, but would also like to be accredited as a Level 1 program since it will help my coach training participants. I got this application completed and submitted in Q1 and then learned of it’s approval in Q2!
- Transition into new job responsibilities. As I mentioned on this podcast episode, in Q2 I was asked to take on some new responsibilities at work, which meant inheriting a new team and adjusting my title. This was not a change that I had expected when I set my annual goals for the year, so it’s a perfect example of why I leave some of these goal spots open to fill in each quarter!
- TBD for Q3
- TBD for Q4
How are your 2023 goals progressing so far?