2016: Aim Higher

I'm not usually one to broadcast my goals to a large audience, but in line with a post I wrote last year, I thought sharing a few of them would be a fun way to hold myself accountable- and to keep up with others who have similar aspirations. I avoid calling these 'resolutions': I've found that thinking of them as 'intentions' works better for me.

While I won't be sharing all of them (in fact, I think only one person knows them all), and while these are not all really 2016 specific, I thought it was about time to go ahead and get this up.

1) Health: Building up from 2015 being the first year in a long time that I've had a regular fitness routine, I wanted to take things a step further this year. I finally started Insanity (and I now understand why they call it that...), and by the end of 2016, I hope to have run my first half-marathon! I think that shifting away from tracking my fitness as my physical appearance to measuring my health and endurance has been quite motivational for me.

2) Comfort Zone: I think this is a big one, especially since I've tended to stick to mine since I moved to Nairobi. I'm working on moving beyond this, and this involves many things: going to events I would normally turn down or where I wouldn't know many people, participating in activities I wouldn't have thought I would (see marathon above), and engaging in little things on a day to day basis that challenge me.

3) Professional Development: Since October, I've been working as a full time independent consultant. I'm hoping to build up enough clientele by the end of the year that I can afford to travel to a new location and work there for a little bit!

4) Reading: I recently started reading nonfiction books more regularly. Honestly, I'll be surprised if I haven't achieved this goal by July even, but I want to read at least 12 good nonfiction books this year. I started off with Thrive by Arianna Huffington (finally), and would welcome your recommendations!

5) Savings: I attended a training hosted by YWSE Nairobi (of which I'm now a board member!) last year, facilitated by my sister, that talked about personal financial management. I've been much better about tracking my expenditures, and hope to have saved up at least 20% of my total 2016 income by the end of December.

6) Writing: Again, this is something that has taken off toward the end of 2015, and now I need to build up on it. By December, I'd like to have at least published 100 more blog posts, and stuck to my Monday, Thursday and Saturday schedule as much as possible. I also want to get more involved in things going on in Kenya, and so I aim to write more about Kenyan events, people and restaurants too. 

7) Personal Growth: I think now is always a good time to improve yourself! To this end, I've signed up for three online courses, and intend to pick up meditation as a regular habit this year. The benefits are numerous and actually measurable, and go way beyond just 'knowing yourself' better! I'm also a great fan of TED talks, and watched many while at Sewanee, but haven't watched as many as I'd like recently. I'd like to watch at least two a month this year!

8) Languages: 2016 is the year that I FINALLY (I hope) become fluent in French! I can read and write it a very basic level, but I think it's time to finish something I started when I was 8.



What are some of the goals you're hoping to achieve this year? Any suggestions for some I should add to my list? Feel free to comment below!