2014 In Review

These posts are probably a little late. I can understand why David Seah does this stuff on Groundhog day. Gives more time to deal with holidays and such. Also, this stuff is mostly for me, so unless you’re curious and a little voyeuristic, you can pass on this one.

Anyways, here it goes.

Some Thoughts

2014 was a strange year for me. I had a few employment panics throughout the year, but it all settled down. Honestly, some of the direction of my goals last year were related to open questions for employment, and since I ended up doing full time contracting almost all y ear, the sheer volume of the goals was unrealistic at best.

Anyways, even with all the strange ups and downs, I feel more or less good about 2014. I’m hoping that things will be calmer in 2015, allowing me to get back to doing some of the things I enjoy that are less necessary. Like streaming, writing, and so on. Though, it’s probably easiest to just run down the goals one last time. Be warned: Not a very high achievement rate here.

2014 Goals Final Update

1. Lose 60 pounds

Hahaha, nope. Actually gained about 20. No point in dacing around this one: I got too lazy to exercise, and too lazy to cook. So I ended up having fast food and pizza far too often. This was less of a primary focus than it should have been. I decided that work was most important, which led to poor time management. No excuses, I need to do better.

2. 2 full novels published (self published is fine)

So, along with a number of other goals, the main thing here was that I kind of stopped writing. At all. Can’t finish and publish anything if I don’t spend time writing.

3. 3 volumes of the light novel published (illustrated, hard copies)

Again, I stopped writing. So nope.

4. 1 manuscript submitted to an agent or publisher

See the previous two.

5. 50 new posts published here

This one is actually more interesting than just “I stopped writing” though that definitely plays a factor. The other side of that is that I wanted to establish my persona online so potential employers would have an easier time telling I was actually a good developer by searching for me. My employment situation settling down actually made me lose motivation on this as well.

6. 1000 followers on Twitter

I really hate Twitter. Didn’t get close, didn’t really make an effort.

7. Taken the JLPT N5

Ok, now this one I’m actually kind of miffed about. I spend a considerable amount of time last year studying for the test – probably far outpacing the things required for the N5. Then stuff got busy, and I completely forgot to check on when to register for the test well ahead of time. By the time I checked, registration was closed. This is obviously entirely my fault, but more of a fault of checking on things than actual prep. I probably put in 200+ hours or more studying last year and missed this one on basically a technicality. Maybe I’ll take the N4 next year, even though it’s less likely I’d pass.

8. 300 Twitch follower

I had a weekly show for a while, then didn’t, then tried restarting it again. I’m convinced I’d have passed 300 if I’d kept at it, even if my follower scaled linearly and didn’t blow up like some people’s do. That being said, I’m at 106 right now. Which is up 18 from last year today, which is kind of sad small number. If this continues to be a priority, I need to either dig deep into a speedrun (or two) and get in those communities, or I need to start streaming more popular stuff.

9. $10K income from non-contract/salary source

This was to diversify income, which I think is important. However, at the time, I wasn’t sure about work at all. So work calming down lowered my motivation. And here we are.

10. 100 RSS subscribers on a new podcast (or on YouTube)

I started a YouTube channel, but it didn’t really gain traction. I’ll need a new strategy here. I’m not abandoning this, but clearly I need to do something more unique.

11. 10 new plushies designed and created

I did one. I think. Again, plushies were supposed to be a potential income source, but they just weren’t worth the effort. The hourly rate was hilariously low. I don’t feel bad about this one, was a passing hobby. Might do more stuff later, but it won’t be something wrapped into a goal.

BONUS GOALS More stuff, not as “core focus” as above, but extra things to motivate

12. Completed the Genki textbook

Finished Chapter 7 (of 12) of the textbook, exercises, workbook, and kanji supplemental stuff. I’m happy with where I got, considering.

13. Made over $7000 gross income in one month (COMPLETE)

Hey. I actually did this. Woohoo!

14. Founded a publishing company LLC

See above writing related stuff

15. Lose 100 lbs

See above weight related stuff

16. 5 manuscripts completed

See above writing stuff

17. YouTube channel to 500 subs

Nope

18. 2 podcasts or regular shows running for 3 months (COMPLETE)

Calling this one complete. Not sure if my streams were ever really that consistent for that long, but meh. Close enough.

19. $3k through patreon or similar

Never really pushed patreon, feel good about that now

20. 5 guest spots on things

Nope

21. 100 people on a mailing list

Never even started here

22. 100 new posts on this blog

Also nope

Thoughts on Goals

I still have the same thoughts on the purpose of things like annual goals: They are supposed to drive you to get farther and do more in the year than you really would have otherwise. I think the set of goals I had last year did that fairly effectively. And contrary to the number of “failed” goals, I feel like 2014 was a pretty successful year for me.

However, the main failure of least year’s goals was a failure of imagination. The goals were designed specifically to give me income sources, with one or two other things. That’s not bad in and of itself, but I should have considered the possibility that things would have turned out well for employment (which they have).

I think I’m going to manage the goals a little differently this year. Although my 2014 goals did push me farther than they could have, by the mid to late year, they were mostly impossible or irrelevant. So I want to have annual goals, but maybe fewer of them. Maybe do some shorter-term stuff. That could be an idea. I’ll be working on goals and stuff tomorrow, might not get them done enough to actually post, but I should have them

I keep trying to write about upcoming ideas and goals, but I don’t want to put that stuff in this post, so I think I’ll wrap it up here.


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