Return to this thread December 2020

SamSam17

SamSam17 said:

Sadly, last year was bit of hit and miss.

But hope to do better next year:

The following are my targets for 2020:


Health
- Complete 2020 miles (Fitbit Tracker)
- Lose 10kg and maintain
- Run 5k once a week (every week) - Total- 53 runs
- Learn to swim (have started, but need to continue)

Personal development
- Do MCSA in BI reporting
- Learn Excel macros
- Learn Tableau
- Increase income via promotion / new job
- Read 12 books - 1 a month
- Create LinkedIn profile

Finance
- Pay off debt
- Save £20k

Here is to the new year! All the best everyone :beer::j:beer::beer:

Financially I think I've done very well given the year we've had. 
Failed on all other areas though 

poppycracker

1. Decorate the hallway. Walls, floor and doors.

Doors are reglossed, no change on the walls or the floor. Saved my tips from work and we'll get someone to come and de woodchip the walls, make good and paint. Ditto the floor.  

2. Spend less time on my tablet/phone. Get my cross stitch stuff back out and use my spare time more productively

Have been spending more time reading and baking in the last few months, so a partial win there. Started learning Dutch (on my tablet but using time productively so that counts.... I think!)  Cross stitch still dormant.

3. Find a new job. Will probably mean retraining so college courses to look at. I aim to be in a new job by Christmas this year

No change. I work in hospitality, an area extremely hard hit by the current situation and I am well aware I'm very lucky to still have my job so I won't be pushing that luck . My toxic workmates from 2019 all left and I'm back working with someone who worked here before and came back. So we both know how the other works and rub along well.

Not a total loss.  Thinking about setting some goals for this year too.

SingleSue

SingleSue said:

My goals

1. Lose some weight, ideally I would like to drop a couple of dress sizes.

2. Save enough to get a powered wheelchair (I qualify physically but not mentally or environmentally for one on the NHS....I still push myself too much apparently and the make up of my house is not great for a powered chair). The difference to my life would be huge, it would open up so many doorways for me, so many opportunities and would enable me to grab back some of the independence I have lost as I am currently unable to go out without someone to push my chair (I cannot self propel)

3. Accept life is what it is and not get hung up or stressed about it.

4. Increase pension contributions to help the future me. I don't earn enough for a work based scheme but I am currently paying £32 (£40 with the government top up) a month privately. The pot isn't huge, in fact it is tiny but it's something at least.

5. See the doctor about health concerns when they occur and not when it becomes more of an issue. There's an element of burying my head in the sand and also an element of fear/PTSD that goes back to my break down for this. CBT in 2019 went some way to breaking down some barriers for a time but it hasn't lasted.

6. Related to number 5, get over myself and my phobia around medication/tablets once and for all. It's getting tiresome having to explain it over and over again whenever anything is needing to be prescribed and I would dearly love not to see 'that' look from medical staff anymore.

7. Keep hanging on in there and finish the year still physically able to keep working, albeit on my very part time hours. Ideally I would like to find a better paying job that is within my capabilities.

8. Write my book or at least get past the first few chapters without deciding to start all over again for about the 10th time. I've been trying to write it since the boys were at high school....two have now graduated university (and there is a three year age difference between son 1 and son 2) and the third one is in his third year at university!

Hmmm

1. Erm, yep....less said about that the better.

2. Savings started off well but then Covid happened, furlough happened and the savings had to be used just to survive and pay bills.

3. I actually managed this one!

4. Despite Covid and a reduced income for most of the year, I did increase my pension contribution a tiny bit. However, I had to pause contributions during the first lockdown as furlough payments took some time to start coming through and the pennies were needed elsewhere.

5. Nope, didn't happen and ended up being told off by my specialist nurse in June when I had 'allowed' one of my conditions to deteriorate to dangerous levels due to fear of Covid and firstly going to the doctors surgery and then A&E.

6. Still a work in progress, it has improved a little but it is still an issue.

7. Yep, still working and for once, this was a benefit of the pandemic. As I was furloughed (and a shielder), it meant that the progression of my main disability was paused as I could rest and take it easy. I'm still looking around for somewhere that is better paid but right now, having stable employment is more important.

8. No progress here, I took up crochet instead and am now the proud owner of a badly crocheted, supposed to be a blanket but went wrong and is now Lawrence the pandemic crochet octopus (it was Lawrence the lockdown octopus but progress was slow so I've decided to keep going until things are back to normal). It actually looks less like an octopus now and more like an overlarge (very overlarge, it's about 4ft across), toilet roll doily thing.

belfastgirl23

Note: sorry for the weird formatting but I’ve never gotten to grips with the new forum style on ipad, I haven’t been able to figure out how to do colours on it which doesn’t help.

Well I have to say 2020 did not work out like I expected. However in a lot of ways I’m really grateful for it. I feel I’ve done more learning this year than I have for the last decade – partly because I took on a new big project in work as well as overseeing a review and update of all of our work systems. And partly because all of that had to be done online – so a lot of learning of using new platforms and systems, managing staff etc. By and large, with a few hairy moments, it was all successful. So a lot to be grateful for. 

One offs

·       Get the downstairs of the house painted (kitchen, sitting room, bathroom) 

No, we didn’t want to have anyone in the house. It will be on the list for next year!

·       Clean the attic - it’s like Halloween up there. 

No, not keen on any non-necessary activity that involved risk of injury

·       Make a will (yes it’s on the list again) 

Nope, this is getting ridiculous now

·       Travel to a new country or at least a new city 

Well you can probably guess how this one went though I do have a definite plan for next year!

Health

I really focused in on this as I knew that the pandemic situation was likely to leave me feeling depressed and anxious if I didn’t take action FAST - I’m proud of how proactive and flexible I was about my exercise routine

·       Go to all my gym classes 

I was EXCELLENT on this, my classes moved online due to the pandemic and because I wasn’t travelling I had virtually no breaks. I even added in an extra class most weeks. 

·       Walk 2020 miles including hillwalking and walking in nature 

Actually made 2110 miles and did a lot of hillwalking- major help with mental health

·       Schedule one quiet weekend a month (no visitors) 

Well obviously this was no challenge at all. And honestly I need to think a bit about whether I’d want to go back to how life was before, it was kind of too much at times.

·       See a doctor about something I’ve been putting off 

Luckily got this resolved before lockdown

Overall goal is to lose a stone and be within the weight range I want before June. I’m giving up alcohol entirely until I hit that weight range so that’s a good incentive! 

The giving up alcohol went ok til the first lockdown but I have at least been very aware of it. And I am ending the year 8lbs down from where I started it, in truth I did lose the stone but since second lockdown have been regaining at the rate of about 1lb a month. This will be on the list again for 2021

Family and friends

·       Keep in touch with relatives - have designated monthly and quarterly goals on this 

Well I have kept in touch but more by text/message obviously. We did do a few F2F coffees in the park but that drifted off a bit

·       Be a better friend - keep in touch and answer texts/emails and support people who need it 

I did at least make some efforts on this though can’t say I was brilliant

Work

·       Don’t let myself be derailed by other peoples priorities and don’t take their complaints too seriously 

Well working from home helps a lot with that but I need to work a bit more on what is my responsibility and what lies with other people. We all had to learn a load of new stuff this year but I took on more of that than anyone else and I think we need to rebalance a bit

·       Apply for professional recognition and also see if I can get recognition for the team 

Mine applied for but results not through yet. And have at least put plans in place for the team one

·       Recruit someone to help out 

Did that but only managed a couple of short term contracts and also had a long term staff member out sick for about six months so still doing more than my share for a good part of the year

Finances

·       Change bank 

No but practical reasons only, have identified the new bank but have to go in physically to set up the account and didn’t want to take any more risks

·       Keep up to date with financial admin 

Luckily COVID simplified a lot of financial things so managed this quite easily

·       Keep trying to save money - set money aside for long term house improvement goal (£2k) 

Saved the money and have used it to overpay the mortgage. 

Other

·       Read 100 books 

I found it harder to read at the start of lockdown and had to read 14 books in December but I managed it

·       Stop random surfing - leave the phone in the kitchen in the evening and overnight 

Not good at this at all, but I know for sure it’s really important, might go back on the list for next year 

·       Reduce plastic waste wherever possible and measure how often I put the bin out 

Definitely not on the urgent list!

·       Write thank you notes (at least one a month) 

I was mostly thinking about work for this but I have tried to at least be clear when I’m grateful for help and when people have gone out of their way to do stuff for me so calling this a win