I got an email invitation to try out an interactive quiz designed to grade my life, showing me what’s working and what needs work. I got an 83 overall, which is not bad. In fact, it is in the range they call “Success.”
Somehow I left out the spiritual part, so I might have to go back and redo. However, I can see that I’m doing okay intellectually, emotionally, as a parent, and in my vocation and avocation. My social life needs improvement, as do my marital situation and my financial situation — those three are in the “Frustration” range. My physical fitness is on the edge — in the “Success” range, but lower than most areas of my life. My vocation is a little lower than other aspects, but that’s just the financial aspect of my vocation, so it belongs to the financial section.
So goals for next year should improve my relationships, my fiscal fitness, and my physical fitness.
I worked on reducing debt in 2018, but finished out the year with massive medical bills that undid all those efforts. Not to mention my husband’s tax troubles. I did mark several consumer debts “Paid in Full” in 2018 and I have a simple plan to continue that effort in 2019.
Over the course of four years, I have completed my weight loss goals. The Polymath pointed out that this is not really a long time in comparison to my life as a whole. The same attitude should assist me on my financial improvement path.
As for my physical goals, I worry that maintaining my new healthy weight might be hard. But I know that continuing with my eat/move/sleep goals will be good for me regardless. I will commit to continuing my good habits and improving those that are still wobbly.
My follow-up email also says I need to have more fun. I feel like I have a lot of fun, actually. Thinking about making debt pay-down a focus of the next year doesn’t sound like fun at all. Continuing my debt snowball will just require a weekly payment, not a lot of thought or engagement, though. I can think more about relationships. Maybe that will be fun.
I’m not really in the goal-setting part of my year yet, but I am in the time when I like to have these things percolating in the back of my mind.
Here’s our song of the day: “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”
The tune is the beautiful “Merton” by a 19th century composer, William Monk. You can hum this haunting tune to yourself at work today. Christ, in this song, is dispelling sloth, so it’s an excellent Advent song for workers.