A few years back I stopped, for the most part, making New Year Resolutions, opting instead for Yearly Goals. Resolutions seem altogether too non-specific: exercise more, live healthier, or whatever. Goals, on the other hand, are concrete. A well-chosen Goal is a stretch to reach. The ideal Goal is just out of reach and can help you achieve your best, even as you fall short of the Goal. Whereas, easily kept resolutions are pointless and unfulfilled resolutions result in disappointment.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that some of my Goals were not well chosen.
Some Goals pertained to the Quantity of something when the Quality of that thing was what mattered. Reading Goals, are examples of that. A Goal of reading Augustine’s City of God in a certain span of time is missing the point. The point of reading something like that is not to check something off a list, but rather to absorb it and have it make an impact on your life.
Other Goals were too non-specific. They were resolutions, really. For 2023 one Goal was to “get rid of all those things that clutter my life.”
Some of my Goals were worthwhile, even though I did not attain them or, perhaps because I did not attain them. They kept me focused, if only for a time. They led me forward.
Here, then, are my 2025 Goals:
Run 500 miles. That still works out to 42 miles per month or 10 miles per week. Each of these past three years I have only logged about 400 miles. That comes out to about eight miles per week. The difference between eight miles per week and ten miles per week really boils down to setting aside the time. One thing that helps is that I feel better when I do follow through. Better physically and better emotionally.
Learn some basic yoga by the beginning of July, enough so that I can practice some form of the discipline on my own for a half hour on most days. Since I know next to nothing about yoga, I will need to figure out “what kind” and “how” fairly soon. I do not expect to practice it every day but it can, perhaps, serve as a complement to running for me.
Learn more Italian. I started working on translating Dove mi trovo. I will finish translating that book, for starters. I have also started translating parts of La Lunga Rotta (The Long Way) by Bernard Moitessier. I will finish translating the section of the Appendix to that book that I started. I still need to refine this Goal to make it more concrete.
Attend a dozen live performances: concerts, plays, operas, poetry slams, whatever. Live performances can have a dramatic effect on me. At least the right ones do.
Write 1000 words per week.
Achieve a Goal for Sailing: Become proficient sailing in Gentle Breezes and Moderate Breezes, that is, Force 3 and 4 in the Beaufort Scale. I already feel comfortable sailing in those 7-10 and 11-16 knot winds, respectively, but I am not proficient. I would not be able to reliably teach someone else to sail in those conditions, the easiest ones to sail. It will take much more experience this year to achieve that. Additionally, I want to gain at least some experience in sailing in Fresh Breezes (17-21 knot winds) to the point where I can perform each function, helming and tending the various sheets, albeit with the guidance of someone more experienced. Plus, I want to be able to reliably keep under way in a Light Breeze, that is, Force 2, or 4-6 knot winds.
Remain injury free for the year. Last year I smashed my had with a six-pound hammer while splitting wood and took a tumble while trail running through the woods. The first of those injuries really curtailed my activity through a chunk of the year. The second injury was less disruptive but did not help. My Goal is to be more careful and not hurt myself.
I reserve the right to update, expand, or refine these Goals as the year moves on.
N.B. This year I have no Reading Goal. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, this year I want to Read Less, Do More. By that I mean I want to be mindful to not use reading as a proxy for doing, living vicariously by reading about other people pursuing their dreams. Secondly, I want to measure my reading by the quality of what I read and the influence it has on the life I live, rather than measure it by the number of books or pages I read. So, I will continue to read, just more judiciously.