An Old Fashioned 2010 Goal List

A wise man recently spoke of the importance of sharing your goals with the public as a form of accountability. I suggested we should create a website for that very purpose, he suggested in return that I needed to be destroyed! Either way you can’t fault the logic of the initial idea, so here are my goals for 2010 (in no particular order):

• Read more books

In 2009 I rediscover my love of reading and read more books than I had probably read for previous few years combined! Highlights included reading ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho and ‘Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follet. In 2010 I want to continue this trend and ensure that I’ve always got a book at hand. At the moment I’m reading ‘1984‘ by George Orwell and I’ve got a full wish-list to get through on Book Depository.

• Give myself to my passions

I realised whilst watching a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Luzern that I’ve always kept my passions at arms length. I feel a fear of failure is the driving force behind this so this year I’m going to try and seek out opportunities to do what I love most, fear of failure be damned! A few of the goals here are reflective of that aim!

• Embrace Buddhism

In the past year I’ve done a lot of reading about Buddhism and have tried out various facets including semi-regular meditation. I found that the teachings really resonated with me so in 2010 I want to make a further commitment to Buddhism by getting into a regular meditation habit and attending a local Buddhist center.

• Learn the Violin

At the start of last year I purchased a Violin. I love listening to string music and have always wanted to be able to play myself. Despite purchasing the Violin I never really devoted enough time to learn it and at the moment I still struggle to play a note! I want to change that. By the end of the year I aim to at least be able to play some simple music pieces. Who knows I might even put them on the blog!

• Explore five new Countries

‘Travelling to Learn’ was not just a motto for 2009, it’s a motto for life. Despite a little uncertainty regarding my financial situation my aim for this year is to visit five new Countries. I head to Morocco next week so there’s one already and I have tentative plans in place to welcome 2011 from New York City! So I only need three more Countries to meet this goal!

• Commit to further study

Studying Psychology has always been something I wanted to do. Every time I’ve travelled for an extended period and pondered my future, studying Psychology has always been at the top of my list. Over the past month I’ve been going through Yale’s ‘Introduction to Psychology’ course via iTunesU and I’ve found it fascinating. As a result I’ve decided that either I will aim to complete a Graduate Diploma in Psychology this year or prepare myself to be in a position to study in 2011.

Alongside that I really would like to obtain a CELTA qualification to enable me to teach English whilst travelling, it’s another great way to expand your options on the road whilst giving you a great experience with a variety of people you’ll never forget.

• Obtain debt free status once again

Prior to leaving Australia I’d just gotten myself debt free for the first time in….. well a very long time. It’s a great feeling and one of the downsides of the last few months is that I’ve got myself back into debt, albeit a small and manageable amount. My number one priority for 2010 is to clear all my debts and establish a savings fund to go towards some of the endeavours and goals that I’ve already mentioned in this post!

• Explore life in a new City

I’m now in a situation where my funding is looking dire and as much as I’d love to continue travelling, my repayments on newly incurred debts prevent this from happening. It’s not all bad though, it just means I need to settle down and find a job. Doing this in a city that I haven’t lived in before is a travelling adventure within itself and offers something that travelling from place to place cannot. I foresee my future involving a lot of city hopping over the next five years so I don’t think any move will be a permanent one. There is far too much to see out there for that to be the case!

• Be Adam

Of all the things I’ve learnt over the last three months the most important has been how to be comfortable with myself. I am my own individual and that’s worth something, infact it’s worth everything! I’ve really built up a good sense of who I am and have realised in a completely non egotistical way that who I am is great! More of the same for this year then, just be me.

Goals will naturally evolve and change as the year progresses but for now I’m pretty content with that list. Bring on 2010!

Similar Posts:

None Found

Tagged as: 2010, Goals, Resolutions