Looking to achieve in 2018

Larry SR · 25-12-2017 7:25pm #1

Right guys, 2017 has been a bit of a write off for me. Not a particularly 'bad' year but one I spent too much time working (in a job I dislike) and wasting my time in pubs at the weekend.

I currently writing out my plans for 2018 - personal, work, social, financial and so on - and am looking for inspiration from others.

What do you hope to do and achieve in 2018?

26-12-2017 1:31pm

Develop some upper body strength.

(re)Start meditation in the mornings.

Improve my Mandarin, Korean, and German to fluency. Improve my writing/reading to professional levels in each language. (ugh... not terribly enthusiastic but I've wasted enough time avoiding doing it)

Move to another country and start a new career.

Plenty to do.

Amirani · 26-12-2017 1:54pm

Running: New PBs for 1 mile (sub 5min), 5k (sub 18min), 10k (sub 40min), Half Marathon (sub 1hr 30m) and Marathon (sub 3hr 0m).

Gym: Improving 5 rep max lifting the core lifts to: - Squat (100kg), Deadlift (130kg), Bench (70kg), Bent Over Row (70kg), Overhead Press (50kg). Be able to comfortably do a set of 10 pull ups. Drop bodyweight to 63kg, from current of around 73kg - probably driven by reducing alcohol consumption.

Would like to read more books. Going to conservatively aim for at least one per month.

Attend more music/comedy gigs. I've done lots of festivals and big gigs the past couple of years, but going to smaller gigs more regularly would be good. At least one per month here too.

Make some plans to go travel the world either towards the end of 2018 or start of 2019. Only acceptable alternative is a move to a new country to work for a while.

Might look to try out the being in a relationship thing again after a 2 year hiatus, but not sure how well that fits with the above!!

irishman86 · 26-12-2017 2:36pm

This year has been all over the place for me
Going to work harder in Uni for one, thats the big one tbh
I started reading books again so going to improve on that
Have to lose a bit of weight which i put on when going through a meh patch in Uni
Theres a few more but they the main ones

ruahead · 27-12-2017 2:25am

Kiaz. How will you do language to fluency ??
I will finish French duo lingo (doing it a year now and 63%) and try to keep learning up. Get back into vinyassa yoga and spinning classes...

eeguy · 27-12-2017 2:29am

2017 was pretty good year.
Finished college, moved city and got a good job.
Lost my long term gf but probably for the best.

Goal for 2018 is to start a business. Nothing fancy, just something on the side to make some extra cash.
It's a very ambiguous goal.

Irish_rat · 27-12-2017 2:51am

Hoping to go on a holiday, been about two years now with most cash going towards my house.

Read as many books as I can, relatively new to reading, gone through 4 books since August but it's a fantastic thing to be doing when there's some free time. One a month is a good idea.

Continue my level 8 part time and go through some serious research in the summer for my FYP that starts in Sept 18.

Continue my running weekly mileage and improve times. Fingers crossed I can get up to 20 miles.

A big landscaping plan for the backyard that needs to be done.

Getting out more often to pubs, gigs maybe meet someone.

Blacktie. · 27-12-2017 10:42am

400 wilks.

This year was going pretty great till I got injured about 6 weeks before a competition. Feeling better now though and looking forward to a strong 2018.

Jay Pentatonic · 27-12-2017 11:30am

-manage stress better

-lay off the alcohol

-join a gym & gain some muscle because I'm sick of being skinny

-get that promotion

-read more (seems a popular one!)

-stop wearing hoodies. I'm getting too old for them.

Good to see everyone with so many ambitions. The very best of luck, gents

27-12-2017 12:43pm

ruahead wrote: »

Kiaz. How will you do language to fluency ??

Reaching fluency seems to be a bit different for everyone. Personally, I tend to focus on conversational ability, in particular, the areas that are considered technical. My major was business/finance, but I've branched out into programming in recent years. So I tend to view fluency as to when I can converse easily in any language regarding those areas. Naturally, normal conversation is part of that but I find people pass on the technical areas as being too difficult.

The good thing about multiculturalism is that there are people from everywhere anywhere you go. Even in my hometown, I've found people from Korea, China, etc and I've gone (gatecrashed) to events, where I speak solely in that language. I avoid any English usage at all. Seek to be communicating purely in the language. It's difficult and often extremely embarrassing but effective. Also, flirting/dating is a major part of it for me.

I'm quite big into the NLP area of things so I like to be able to use the NLP aspects that I use in English, just as easily in any other language. (Not talking about PUA) (using the NLP/Psychology for language use also forces me to be more subtle and have a better command of the target language.

My reading/writing is far below my speaking though, so I'm still quite far off actual fluency. I lived 7 years in China so I have a reasonably high expectation of what is needed to attain fluency. Language ability comes from expressing yourself in that given language. You can only memorize so much. It's doing that counts.

HalloweenJack · 27-12-2017 1:16pm

Write more.

Continue to improve my physical well-being.

Have more fun.

Neames · 27-12-2017 2:19pm

Health - Lose weight, more exercise, get fitter, improve diet. Manage stress better.

Personal - More quality time with family and friends.

Finance - Clear some niggling debt, build up savings, get the will sorted. Set a few long term goals.

Work - Improve my chances for the future, get more certifications.

All of the above will have a plan attached to them and will be reviewed regularly....that's the plan anyway!

BalHouseBuyer · 27-12-2017 3:00pm

So my 2018 Goals

Loose the weight I put back on, having previously lost it
Finish current Udemy course, and start a new one
Reading - I'm aiming to finish a book every 3 weeks.
Finish college with a 2:1 degree/
Get a development job, failing that start a business
Build up a social media following. (Posting to Quora, Twitter, Instagram more often)
Finally get a GF. I've gone long enough without one.

Corvo · 28-12-2017 3:38pm

I like these threads.

Myself, I'll be looking at the following -

- Not just giving up the booze, but looking at changing my whole outlook on it. I just don't enjoy it any more. I turned 29 on St Stephens Day, and I think I'll keep myself down to the odd night out once every few months.

- Which brings me to getting back to the gym and shifting a bit of weight. I'm about 10kg overweight and boy do I feel it.

- Get my mortgage pot together

- See more of Ireland with my girlfriend. I plan to go to a few food festivals (especially in the West).

- Begin writing again, even if its just as a mental exercise

- Keep working hard in my job, its been going fantastically.

I know we all never hit our targets, but I think if I shift the weight (and I know I can do that easily) and reduce alcohol consumption, I'd be very happy.

kerryjack · 29-12-2017 10:16am

Finish up a few jobs around the house and garden that I started, some going on a couple of years ago. Try to be at more of my kids sporting events and encourage them more, bring my oldest lad out golfing with me more, spend less time in my local pub talking ****e to the same bunch of rejects and spend more time enjoying my wonderful family that I am very fortunate to have. I might chance the charity cycle the ring of kerry again this year, didn't do it last 3 years, great way of finding out what condition the ould body is at.

Skuxx · 30-12-2017 8:23pm

Few things from me for this year....

- Get my body into reasonable shape and do a photoshoot

- Complete my first ever half marathon

- Read read read.... Aiming for a chapter a day

- One stamp away from a big milestone in work which will open lots of doors..... Definitely have to get there this year!

- Get mortgage approval and hopefully buy a house if the right one comes up!

- Hopefully start a family with my new wife!

CiDeRmAn · 31-12-2017 12:13pm

This year it's all about the job, mine and my better half's.
I'm a year in a new role now but it's a slippery one, Attendance Management, and there's just so much to grapple with, so this 2018 I hope to really get into the meat of it and affect change.
My wife is moving back into education as a student for the year, being sponsored by her workplace, so that's going to make this coming 12 months interesting to say the least.
Hopefully we'll weather it all and still be together by this time in 2018!

Solomon Pleasant · 31-12-2017 6:55pm

I’ve a few objectives for 2018:

1) Get a girlfriend.

2) Develop my body physically. I’m pretty fit but I want to be stronger, faster and fitter.

3) Get my full licence and the money together to buy a car

4) Finish the current academic year with a minimum of a 2.1 degree and figure out exactly the career I plan on pursuing.

I’ve set the bar quite high with those objectives but there’s not much point in aiming low.

Best of luck to everyone trying to accomplish their goals - most people fail to achieve new year resolutions but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done!

Mister Vain · 31-12-2017 7:22pm

I want to run more and read more.

Try new things, take more risks and generally step outside my comfort zone.

And the ultimate objective... find a partner, or at the very least, try and get involved in the whole dating thing in one form or another.

wagner_f · 01-01-2018 1:08pm

- Achieve fluency in english - I arrived in Ireland a month ago, it's definitely going to be easier now.
- Go back to the gym and get back in shape.
- Travel a lot around Ireland and Europe at all.

um7y1h83ge06nx · 02-01-2018 4:29pm

I became a father for the first time in August 2017, so that was my main focus for the last few months.

Health - A few months back my cholesterol was reading a little high, and it was suggested I control through exercise and diet. That was difficult due to having a newborn so this year I'm looking to get back into it. My goal is to do proper workouts 3x a week with a changing but defined workout plan. I have a rower, dumbells, barbells and bench so no excuses. Continue to practice a decent diet (apart from Christmas which is always a write-off).

Work - I'm moving to a new group internally so need to establish myself there and hopefully push towards a promotion in early 2019.

Personal - I need to create a little time for myself outside of home and work. Being in my mid 30's most of my old friends are scattered everywhere and going through the weddings/babies phase like myself. Obviously I have a lot going on but maybe I should look into Meetup.com groups etc. I would like to read a few more books as well and maintain time for playing games (a great way to unwind).
I was doing meditation for a while last year, need to get back into it.

Finance - I need to take it easy for the next few months as my wife will be taking 16 weeks unpaid maternity leave (in additon to her public sector maternity leave). I need to build my rainy day fund back up again after an expensive 2-3 years with a wedding, house, baby.

That should keep me busy!

Jay Pentatonic · 23-02-2018 9:22pm

Okay gentlemen, March is soon upon us...and before we know it, Easter will be here. So I thought I'd touch base on how we're all doing with our 2018 goals (and at the very least, I can practice some #accountability!)

I've quoted my last post here so I have no excuses...

Jay1989 wrote: »

-manage stress better

-lay off the alcohol

-join a gym & gain some muscle because I'm sick of being skinny

-get that promotion

-read more (seems a popular one!)

-stop wearing hoodies. I'm getting too old for them.

Good to see everyone with so many ambitions. The very best of luck, gents

- still get stressed, I might need to set a time for a morning meditation practice or something

- still smashing back the pints most weekends...needs some work!!

-I did indeed join a gym in late Jan & I had an introduction session thing, but I haven't been since...I need to just get over my insecurity of being seen as the skinny guy lifting weights!

- job promotion is looking good, I have an opportunity to get shortlisted for an interview soon so if I keep at it, hopefully I'll get there.

- I'm reading while on public transport for the most part, but still room for improvement.

- still have my hoodies, but not wearing them any more!

Hope you're all doing better than me.
Keep at it, or get back on it!!

Middle Man · 25-02-2018 7:31pm

I don't generally go in for new year resolutions, but here's a take on what I'm trying to do to improve myself...

1) Keeping fit and getting in walks of 3-4km a few times per week - quite thin for 44 and would like to keep it that way (don't do muscle building - no need for it IMO!).

2) I don't drink, smoke or dope and I've every intention of keeping it that way.

3) I'm upping my game in chess and will continue my paid online chess tuition - started this November last and will continue to November 2019. At the end, I'll hope to be a very strong chess player at club level.

4) I want to get on with my techno production and produce a few more tracks - I'm well able for it but have been taking the easier option of just playing the piano (I need to do both). Must set a target for MP3/WAV track uploads.

5) I will continue to improve my dress style and wish to learn more on tailoring - will continue to ignore the fashion trends and wear what's best suited for me. Will hopefully have my first custom made boot cut trousers this year.

6) Will dial back my more extreme opinions on social media while continuing to stand up for myself. I don't like being a weak man, but I've been for too radical myself and I need to find a happy medium where I'm straight and assertive, but not aggressive.

Middle Man · 25-02-2018 7:51pm

Jay1989 wrote: »

Okay gentlemen, March is soon upon us...and before we know it, Easter will be here. So I thought I'd touch base on how we're all doing with our 2018 goals (and at the very least, I can practice some #accountability!)

I've quoted my last post here so I have no excuses...

- still get stressed, I might need to set a time for a morning meditation practice or something

- still smashing back the pints most weekends...needs some work!!

-I did indeed join a gym in late Jan & I had an introduction session thing, but I haven't been since...I need to just get over my insecurity of being seen as the skinny guy lifting weights!

- job promotion is looking good, I have an opportunity to get shortlisted for an interview soon so if I keep at it, hopefully I'll get there.

- I'm reading while on public transport for the most part, but still room for improvement.

- still have my hoodies, but not wearing them any more!

Hope you're all doing better than me.
Keep at it, or get back on it!!

1) A good brisk walk in the morning can be quite relaxing - best to choose the coast, river or park rather than the street if available to you. There might be some meditation sessions at work too - don't do them myself, but I do hear that they're very good.
2) Do cut the alcohol - the less, the better for both your mind and body. At least you're in the right mainframe, so now you need to start doing it.
3) Forget muscle building - it's just another one of those fads. The best exercise IMO is the type that simultaneously works more than one major muscle group in the body - if you're still young, try swimming and perhaps walking/running. Hill walking might be another good option.
4) I'm not sure about putting much effort into careers as your creativity will still be largely restricted IMO. Try doing more stuff on the internet - are you very good at music, graphic design, video/photography or programming etc? Such could become an extra source of income - I know someone who is very successful on Fotolia and now has an extra source of income.
5) I'm 44 and wear hoodies - I've no intention of stopping - I'm on the lookout for more - I really like the loose ones!

In any case, good luck with your plans - it's good to see ambition!

ancapailldorcha · 25-02-2018 9:20pm

Didn't post earlier as I didn't want a list of aims that would go unaccomplished. However,

I have managed to shed a few pounds which is nice,
I managed to successfully build a PC thanks in no small part to the lads of the PC Building forum here,
I am reading much more than I used to &
I'm heading to Cuba on my own for a fortnight in June which I am told will be eye opening.

laserlad2010 · 25-02-2018 11:04pm

Muscle building aint a fad. Sarcopenia is a serious issue for ageing men and women and we could all benefit from putting on a decent amount of muscle to last us into our old age. I'm not talking bodybuilding!

My own goals:
- Drop 5% BF and finally discover my abs
- Hit a 200kg squat by Christmas
- Have a 3 month salary savings pot by Christmas
- Cut back on the booze (had a bad argument with the Missus whilst drunk on Friday and I'm determined now)

What are your biggest hangups around the gym? Is it the skinny bit?

lcstress2012 · 26-02-2018 12:33am

My goals are:

- To gain a promotion or get a management role in retail (I’m currently a team leader)

- Gain more muscle, I recently started a pt sessions with a personal trainer

- To get into dating/get myself a girlfriend

- Start saving more money each month

- Read more

um7y1h83ge06nx · 26-02-2018 4:27pm

My updates:

Health - Terrible, haven't gotten into a routine and find it easy, maybe too easy to blame on being busy at work and not sleeping well as the baby is going through a rough sleep patch.

Work - Good, feel I'm doing as much as I can and going on a good internal training course in April.

Personal - Haven't looked too much into Meetup groups but have increased my reading and good at keeping time for playing games as a way to unwind. The Switch is a great pick up and play console.

Finance - Going well, watching the pennies until my wife is finished her unpaid maternity leave. Any eye opener that although we could survive long term on one salary it would be quite tight.

holystungun9 · 11-03-2018 12:36am

Finally started yoga. I'm two classes in and it works well for me. All going well, I will take a second weekly class from April unless the instructor says I don't have the level for it.

Also, to everybody here, I only just stumbled upon the idea of a Personal inventory day. In my phone calendar, I have a recurring PID on my birthday each month. It's a day to review how the last month went and what to focus on for the coming month. Yes, we all do this a bit from day to day or week to week but I like that I now have it in my calendar so I treat it like any other appointment I have to go to.

Debtocracy · 11-03-2018 12:43pm

1) Don’t get a girlfriend
2) Don’t get a mortgage
3) Invest the money accumulated through 1) and 2) in stocks and commodities
4) Focus on lifting lighter weights with better form

Owryan · 18-03-2018 10:13pm

1. Graduate from college with a 1st class honours (75% chance)

2. Get a job and start clearing my debts

3. lose weight, trying to go for a walk at least every other day.

4. Get joint custody of my kids.....depends on the mood of the ex whether she'll agree or contest. Calling her bf a scumbag prob didn't help in the long run.

5. Visit the Marianas Trench, promised my youngest we would try do something cool, he picked this!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking to achieve in 2018

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