In previous years, I’ve had long lists of goals to help me decide what I want to prioritize throughout the year. (You can check out my 2024 list, 2023 list, 2022 list, 2021 list, 2020 list, 2019 list, and 2018 list in previous blog posts if you are interested in seeing my older annual goals lists).
Well… this year is no different.
In 2025, I decided to organize my annual goals around the concept of side quests (you can learn more about side quests in this podcast episode).
Each side quest has a theme and several accompanying goals and/or milestones. I also decided to keep some “maintenance goals,” which I’ll describe below, along with my quarterly TBD goals, which leave space for things that come up throughout the year that I wasn’t anticipating.
Without further ado, here are my five side quests for 2025:
YouTube Side Quest
I’ve had an idea in my mind for years that I’m going to put some energy toward in 2025. I’m launching a new YouTube channel called workflow that will be focused on content that translates project management into higher education contexts (you could definitely consider this an offshoot of my PM by Design trainings). I got a head start for this project in late 2024 (including buying some new equipment and software, and upgrading some of my technology), but here are some of the goals and milestones that I have associated with this project in 2025:
- Transition from editing in iMovie to editing in Final Cut Pro
- Make and post the first set of videos (for updates, you can subscribe to the channel here!)
- Integrate workflow channel updates into my website and newsletters
- Research and draft video scripts with powerful hooks
- Create a shooting, editing, and posting schedule to start posting consistent videos
- Grow the channel by 1k followers each quarter
I’m really excited to see how this project develops over the course of the year!
Business Logistics Side Quest
Every few years I like to do a deeper dive on the operations side of my business. (Some people call this working “on” your business instead of just “in” your business.) This next year, I have the following goals and milestones related to this side quest:
- Research new features in Mailchimp (my email marketing platform) and adjust current practices accordingly
- Review and adjust business expenses
- Review systems and document standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Grow weekly and monthly mailing lists
- Host new quarterly retreats in Prolific
- Host monthly AMA sessions
It will feel really good to work on all of these things and to put some more organizational components in place for my business.
New Product Side Quest
I’m really energized about a product idea for something I want to create in 2025. I don’t want to share exactly what the topic is yet until I get a little further along, but my goal is to get a new asynchronous course drafted and released by Q4. Here are the goals and milestones I have for this side quest:
- Outline scripts and draft video talking points
- Record training videos
- Create video transcripts
- Upload videos and materials to course site
- Collect supplemental materials and link in course site
- Create product website
- Launch new product
Let’s see how far I can get with this project before the end of the year!
Running Side Quest
I started running more in 2024 and I’m hoping to do more running in 2025. Here are the goals and milestones I have for this side quest:
- Run a consecutive a mile
- Complete a 16-week run/walk plan
- Run a 5k (3.1 miles)
- Run a mile in under 10 minutes
- Try at least 5 Peloton running classes
I’m really looking forward to getting stronger in this area in 2025.
Subscription Side Quest
This is probably the most fun side quest that I’ve set for myself this year. To ensure that I’m making the most of all of our media subscriptions (which my partner also pretty heavily uses), I’ve set some monthly goals for myself related to reading as well as watching television and movies. Those goals include:
- Reading 3 everand books
- Reading 4 Kindle Unlimited books
- Completing 1 Netgalley book (and review)
- Listening to 2 Audible premium audiobooks
- Watching one show or movie from Netflix
- Watching one show or movie from HBOMax
- Watching one show or movie from Britbox
- Watching one show or movie from Hulu
- Watching one show or movie from Disney+
- Watching one show or movie from Apple+
- Watching one show or movie from Paramount+
Who knows how I will fit this all in each month… but it will be super fun to try!
Quarterly TBD
This is where I’ll log goals that come up in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 that I wasn’t anticipating.
- Q1
- Q2
- Q3
- Q4
I’ll update these in each of my quarterly annual goals debriefs.
Annual Maintenance Goals
I also have several goals from previous years that I want to keep as “maintenance goals” so they don’t fall off my radar:
- Pay off 35% of our current mortgage amount
- Read 300+ books throughout the year (including a list of 25 books for 2025 that I’ll be posting about soon!)
- Keep up TBR and debrief videos for my original YouTube channel each month
- Log 20k minutes in the Peloton app by the end of the year (in 2024 I was able to log over 23k minutes!)
- Achieve 2,000 coaching experience hours (I’m currently at about 1,800)
- Maintain my daily journaling practice
While many of these are pretty engrained habits, I want to make sure I also stay accountable to these goals in 2025.
What are some of your 2025 goals? Are you working on any side quests in the next year?
