Mid-Year Goal Check-In: 2023

This year, I really wanted to be more intentional about frequently checking in on my goals. Since I have a blog, what better way to stay accountable than to do a mid-year goal check-in post? Read on to hear how it’s been going!

In the past, I’ve written about how I set my goals. Even though I’m not a big fan of New Years’ resolutions, I tend to do my goal planning for the year around the same time one would be setting resolutions: at the start of the calendar year.

Last weekend, 6 months after writing them down, I revisited my goals and checked in on my progress. I had intended to do this quarterly this year, but alas, here we are already in June. Such is life. But then again, I didn’t really expect to be changing jobs this year.

Revisiting them, some of my goals surprised me. Some things have changed. As you’ll read below, many of my goals are not necessarily on track. But I’m actually not stressed about that, because I believe life ebbs and flows and takes you where you need to be. But I do think it means I could use a more consistent practice of checking in.

Another reason I believe some of my goals may be off track is because I’ve spent most of the first half of the year focused solely on the theme I set for 2023: prioritizing friends and family. This was the most important, overarching goal I set for myself, and I can see that it has been the driver of my year so far.

This theme I dictated for myself has really been more than a goal. It’s become more of a mindset shift. And I’ve been thrilled with how it’s worked its way into my life so far.

I’ve had so many treasured memories with friends and family so far this year, and there are even more to come! My niece is due to arrive this month, we have a family reunion coming up in September, and my best friend and accountability partner is getting married in October, to name a few.

This overarching theme for my year has enabled me to say yes to so many things so much more easily and with so much less mental effort and stress.

One example was my dad’s 75th birthday celebration. He decided to host a small birthday gathering for close family and friends at a restaurant local to where I grew up. Thankfully, it was on a weekend, but it was also the first weekend back after a long trip for Mr. Dink and I. When my dad first invited us, I immediately went to the usual reaction in my head. It’s going to be so much driving. We will be tired. We can celebrate with him another time (my brother and his wife couldn’t go, so we could celebrate the 5 of us at a later date).

But because of this theme for the year that I set for myself, I was able to immediately quiet those voices and enthusiastically say yes. I wanted to be there for him, in his community, to see and meet some of his friends I’d only heard stories about. Mr. Dink and I had a wonderful time and created memories I’ll never forget. We’re so glad we said yes!

In the same vein, having this theme for the year helped us shift to a positive mindset for a trip we weren’t all that excited about. With COVID and all, we hadn’t been to Florida to visit Mr. Dink’s parents since 2019. And this was finally the year. We had put it off long enough, and we needed to go. Mr. Dink is not as close with his family as I am with mine, and I didn’t love the idea of using a week of my precious vacation time to travel by plane (which we don’t love) to take a trip we didn’t really have a say in (I know, I know, we do, but family is complicated) to a place we aren’t a huge fan of (Florida is great and all, but definitely not where we’d choose to go on vacation). It felt more like an obligation than a vacation. But once again, with the goal for the year in mind, we shifted our mindset to the fact that we were spending time with friends and family, and it really helped our overall mood and our ability to have a good time.

It has also helped me say no to things! Last year, on a whim, I signed up to attend the EconoMe conference (a gathering of people who love talking about money!). I had heard the creator, Diana Meriam, speak about it and I knew I had to go. I would figure out the details later.

Well, later arrived. Almost 6 months later, to be exact. I was in a different place. I still very much wanted to go, but I had all these other trips already planned for the year that I couldn’t wiggle around. I would have to consider taking unpaid leave. The flights were expensive. I considered driving, but then I’d have to take even more time off. I was agonizing over the decision. And then, I thought about my theme for the year. I thought about what was most important to me this year. Even though I may have made new friends at this conference, that wasn’t guaranteed. Using the power of my theme for the year, I said no and felt good about it.

This theme even drove the planning of the first week of my 3-week, in-between-jobs sabbatical! I knew I wanted my first week to be all about rest, but I also had prioritizing friends and family in mind. I planned it perfectly. I went to my childhood home in New Hampshire. I spent a day with my mom for her birthday, doing anything she wanted. I spent the next day with my dad, doing whatever he wanted. And I spent that evening, night, and next morning with my childhood best friend. It was quality, 1-on-1 time spent with 3 people I love immensely. It was so simple, and yet it was a trip I will never forget.

Ok, so you can tell I’ve been focusing A LOT on this theme. But even so, I did also set other goals for the year, so let’s see how they’re going.

For 2023, I made the following goal categories (which may or may not change every year).

Work-related goals

Although I didn’t actually make any specific work-related goals this year, I’m not too surprised about this. When I did my goal-setting exercise at the beginning of the year, I wrote that I was feeling really unsettled at work.

Looking back, this was right around the time I found out I was switching teams. I would be reporting to a new line manager, and I didn’t know how that would go. Well sure enough, everything got even more unsettled when a bunch of things came to a head and made me look elsewhere for work. You can read all about what happened and that decision in this post.

If I think about this category now, half-way through 2023 and in a new role at a new company, I have a very concrete goal: re-evaluate after 6 months.

I’m hoping I’ll have a lot of clarity at the end of this year, having been in my new job for 6 months, about where I want to go next/how I want work to look next year. But for now, I just need to plug along and try to get settled in a new job. I’m excited to see how I feel when I set my work-related goals for 2024.

Financial goals

In previous years, I have set a goal around my net worth. I would make it a goal to hit a certain net worth by years end. This was a lot easier when I was new to investing, and didn’t have a lot of money in the stock market. 2023 was the year I realized that this specific goal was not/was no longer realistic.

By being heavily invested in the stock market, my net worth is too dependent on something I can’t control. I can control the amount of money I put in, but after that, it’s a wild ride with unknown twists and turns.

Since the amount of money I save is basically on autopilot these days, and the stock market is going to do it’s own thing, I made a different sort of goal this year. In the past, I would look at my money willy nilly and have to check my gut reaction every time I saw my numbers all over the place. I knew, thanks to all the research I’d done into the financial independence (FI) community and my favorite investing book The Simple Path to Wealth, that I’d need to just ride the waves, but it was hard. So this year, I made it a goal instead to track my net worth/look at my numbers quarterly, instead of randomly.

So far, I have found this quarterly system really good for me. I’m no longer checking what the stock market does on a consistent basis (sometimes it was every day). I’m only looking at and tracking my numbers quarterly, and it feels absolutely freeing. Maybe this is when I should also check-in on my goals!

Two other financial goals I set were 1) to look into disability insurance for Mr. Dink and 2) to set up our wills. The only action I have taken on these so far is to inquire with our current insurance carrier, USAA, about whether they provide disability insurance. I found out that they don’t (that’s something, right??). So, I’ll be keeping these goals in mind for the remaining 6 months of the year (if anyone has recommendations for disability insurance carriers, let me know!)

Blog-related goals

This is the first year of having this category!

Last year, for 2022, my goal was simply to start writing. Just write something every day, it didn’t matter how long. And that’s how this blog was born.

A year later, my main blog-related goal for 2023 was to focus on consistent content output. I’m thrilled with the way this is going. With only a few exceptions, I have released a post every week (on Fridays).

I love writing, and for the most part, I haven’t found this schedule to be hard. However, I’m just not sure what the future will hold for content release timing. It’s been a little more difficult to write consistently with my new job, and there are a lot of exciting changes on the horizon (like becoming an aunt!). Maybe my blog will have a summer season, just like my work has “summer hours.” The possibilities are endless. Either way, I know it will all be ok, and I feel great about hitting this goal for the first part of the year.

Another blog-related goal I made is slightly on track. I had wanted to go back on the Martinis and Your Money podcast (you can find my previous episodes here). Not only did I go back on this year, but I was a guest host on the Happy Hour episode, a dream come true (Bonus: I got to talk about alternative FIRE strategies!)

I also made two other blog-related goals that are off-track: be a guest on one other podcast, and do at least one guest post on another blog. I haven’t made any progress on these as of yet, and honestly, I’m not sure I will. I feel differently about these priorities now than I did at the beginning of the year, and I feel fine about it.

Wellness goals

For this category this year, I wanted to lean into the seasons and adjust my exercise accordingly. In the past, I noticed that I would get into a really good exercise groove (for example, my daily walks). And then it would get thrown off kilter by the change in the seasons (daily walks were no longer fun in the winter).

I feel like I am on track with this goal for the first part of the year. This winter, I focused less on getting out for a walk every day. On days when it was cold, windy, and miserable and I didn’t want to walk, I used to just do it anyway and be grumpy the whole time. This year, I gave myself a break. I let myself do more yoga and just overall not care so much about making sure I worked out every day. As long as I was moving my body and being intentional, I was happy.

One goal in this category that is off-track as of now but that I’m committing to getting back on track in the second half of the year is to play pickleball. I even bought us rackets at Christmas as one of our surprise joint gifts, and I’m determined to make it happen!

Personal goals

I didn’t set too many of these this year, but I’m feeling on track with the ones I did set. I continue to track the books I read on Goodreads (and I’m actually reading more than I did last year). I finished the book club that I joined in late 2022. I continue to be mindful of my social media consumption, and I’ve been journaling a lot more this year to keep track of how I’m feeling about all the many aspects of life.

Closing thoughts: how slow FI fits in

There you have it. A full accountability post on the progress of all the goals I set for myself in 2023.

One thing I noticed about this year as I did my reflection is I think I made overall fewer goals than in years past. I used to be so much more high-strung, so type A, and this was reflected in my previous goals. I used to go bonkers, making so many goals and getting a total high off accomplishing as many things as possible. But in addition to feeling productive, it also felt overwhelming.

This year I made fewer goals, but I’m feeling like that’s ok. I’m a different person than who I used to be. I don’t get the same satisfaction anymore from checking a million things off my to-do list.

I credit a lot of this change to my embracing of a slow FI lifestyle. Slow FI is more about the journey toward financial independence, and less about the end goal of financial independence. Following a slow FI path has changed my mindset. I like to live at a slower pace now than I did in my 20s. I have fewer goals, and that’s ok. What matters is that I’m being intentional, and I’m living my best life now. And sometimes that means going with the day-to-day and seeing how you feel in the moment, and worrying less about getting all the things done. But slow FI looks different for everyone, just like everyone’s financial journey is different. In the end, all we really have to do is what’s best for us in the moment.

Cheers to the 2nd half of 2023, whatever it may bring!

---

What goals did you set for yourself this year? How are they going? I’d love to hear from you!