Goals

I made three goals for this year and I intended to have a monthly post detailing my progress on these goals. Since it is now November and this is only my second post on my goal progress, you would be correct to assume that I haven’t done well on achieving my goals.

My first goal was to add $10,000 to my savings. I have actually met this goal. I fully funded my Roth IRA for $8000 and I have added more than $2000 to my cash savings. This was easy to achieve since I have had full-time employment since May. Now that my wife is here in the United States with me I can work on long-term projects. My income will be quite a bit higher this year than the past few years.

My second goal was to lose weight. I’ve made negative progress on that goal. I started losing six pounds in January, but since then I have only gained weight. I now weigh a few more pounds than when I started the year. Working full-time I feel like I don’t have time to exercise. I know millions of people manage to work full-time and exercise so I need to do something. A lack of time can’t be used as an excuse for eating too much. My original goal of weighing less than 188.2 pounds is no longer realistic. Instead I am aiming to get my weight under 200 pounds. I’m setting some exercise and eating rules for myself that will help me do that.

My third goal was to run a half-marathon, with a stretch goal of running a marathon. It is too late for me to meet this goal this year. I would still like to get back into running, but I never make it a priority. I’m not going to make a new running goal for this year. I’ll think about making a new running goal next year.

One out of three isn’t very good. Maybe I can get to two out of three before the year is over. If I can manage that I will feel okay about my progress.

I have set three goals to achieve in 2024. I’ll review my progress towards the goals monthly. This is the second review.

My first goal is to add $10,000 to my savings. I made a little progress on this last month. I intend to eventually use most of these savings to max out my IRA for the year. For now, I’m keeping the money in a cash account in case I have unexpected large expenses with my wife’s visa and bringing her to the U.S.

My second goal is to lose weight. I did manage to lose six pounds in January, but I gained it all back in February. I have gained even more weight since then. It is easy for me to lose weight in Thailand, but I can’t seem to lose weight in the U.S. I have made some small changes to my diet and exercise. They haven’t been enough. I need to make some big changes. Unfortunately, I am having some anxiety over getting my wife’s visa and that makes me want to eat. I need to get in a better mindset before I can make big changes to my diet.

My third goal is to run a half marathon or marathon. I made only a tiny bit of progress on this goal. I have been having trouble sleeping, which leads to me being too tired to run. I’m hoping I can get on track and start running regularly this month.

I’m off to a slow start on meeting my goals. Last month, I did better on my financial goal and poorly on my other two goals. For the first two months, I am only making progress on one goal a month. I’m off to a poor start this month as well. I will try to make these goals more of a priority and make progress on at least two of my goals this month.

I have set three goals to achieve in 2024. I’ll review my progress towards the goals monthly. This is the first review.

My first goal is to add $10,000 to my savings. I haven’t made any progress on this goal. I’m hoping that I will find a job this month and be able to make at least a small contribution to my savings to get this goals started.

My second goal is to lose weight. I did manage to lose six pounds in January. I’m satisfied with that progress. I’ve gone backwards so far this month, but I feel confident I can get back on track and make more progress on this goal

My third goal is to run a half marathon or marathon. I didn’t really make any progress on this goal last month. I have joined a gym this month and aim to run on the treadmill most days. I’ve got a long way to go on this goal. I will make progress this month.

I’m off to a slow start on meeting my goals. That was expected since I was in Thailand in January. Living there helps my goal of losing weight, but it doesn’t help my other two goals. I will make better progress this month.

As 2023 comes to a close, it is time to make some goals for 2024. I haven’t accomplished a lot the past couple of years. I plan to change that in 2024.

My first goal is to add $10,000 to my savings. I intend to put most of that in a Roth IRA and the rest in a taxable account. Since I’ve been spending half of my time in Thailand the last couple of years, I haven’t made a lot of money. My wife should get to come to the U.S. sometime this spring. Once she is here I will focus on making and saving more money.

My second goal is to lose weight. In January 2022 I got my weight down to 188.2 pounds. My goal for 2024 is to weigh less than that. If I manage to get under 188 pounds with quite a bit of the year left I will shoot for a secondary goal of weighing under 180 pounds. I’m not sure when I last weighed under 180 pounds. It was probably sometime in the early 90’s. Getting my weight down that much would be a big accomplishment. I would have to get my weight down to 176 pounds for my BMI to no longer be in the overweight range. I currently weight 204.6 so I’ve got a long way to go.

In January, I will walk 5000 steps a day, cut out potato chips and other salty snacks, and increase my consumption of salads and fruit, in order to make progress towards my weight loss goal.

My third goal is to run a half marathon or marathon. I will start with training for the half marathon. If my knees hold up, I will train for a full marathon. I used to like running and I want to get where I enjoy running again. I won’t start training for this goal until the end of January when I return to the U.S.

There are some more goals I would like to accomplish, but for now I will just leave it at three goals so I can concentrate on them. If I have too many goals, I end up not working on any of them. With just three goals, and the second and third goal being complementary to each other it shouldn’t be difficult to focus on my goals.

That is what I have for now. I will provide updates as I make progress. What are your goals for the next year?

I intended to post more frequent updates on these. Now that the year is almost 3/4 over, I’m finally posting an update. My goals for 2022 were: 1. To weigh 170 pounds 2. Hike the remaining VT section of the AT or Katy Trail 3. Make $30,000 or more for the year.

Not surprisingly, considering the lack of attention I have given these goals, I’m not on track to meet any of them.

At this point it isn’t realistic for me to weight 170 pounds by the end of the year. I currently weigh 206 pounds. Getting down to 170 would likely require an unsustainable amount of exercise and calorie restriction. Earlier this year, I got my weight down to 188 pounds. I’m going to make getting down to 188 pounds or less by the end of the year my new goal.

I think that is attainable. I’ll be going back to Thailand at the end of this month and I do much better at losing weight when I’m in Thailand. Unfortunately, when I’m in the U.S. I rapidly regain all of the weight I lost while in Thailand. Part of that is because I don’t sleep well which leads to me not exercising and eating junk food. The next time I get back from Thailand I’m going to change my environment so I can hopefully sleep better. Although, I got a new mattress just a couple of years ago I might buy another one to see if that helps my sleep.

I never had time to hike the VT section of the Appalachian Trail or the Katy Trail. This is because I was working almost all of the time I was not in Thailand. I don’t feel bad about not completing this goal since it was more important for me to work and make money than hike.

So far this year I’ve made approximately $13k. This makes it quite unlikely I’ll make the $30k goal. Even though I have mostly been working when not in Thailand, I just don’t make enough to meet this goal. I need to find a way to make decent money while I’m in Thailand to have a shot of at least getting somewhat close to this goal.

I’m not going to cut back on how much time I spend in Thailand to increase my income though. I enjoy my time in Thailand too much and I want to be with my wife as much as possible. Since I live frugally, my modest income is sufficient to pay all my expenses and still save money every year.

This will probably be the only update on my 2022 goals. I’ll post the results at the end of the year sometime.