Way cliche I know, but it worked for me last year so why not this year? The following is a comparison of what was, is, and what is hopefully yet to come…

Exercise:

The Goal: To run another Half Marathon. After my marathon in 2007 I started to develop a fear of long distance running. Fear is dangerous and it came with some bad consequences and in this case the only way to confront it was head on.

The Actuality: I ran two marathons and a full marathon. I don’t know what got into me but one day back in September of 2010 I was sitting on the couch and I just felt I had to get moving and so I did. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always fun, but day after day I went after the goal and in the end it was worth it.

2013 Goal: Another marathon. Specifically I would like to be ready for the St. George Marathon. I wanted to do this race back in 2012, but the competition for this race is hard. Last year their was over 12,000 applicants for only 7,000 entries. The good news though is they have a “three times a charm” policy that says if I don’t get in this year I am guaranteed for 2014.

Weight:

The Goal: Lose 50 pounds. Kind of came along with my exercise goal for the year. Running a half marathon at 315 lbs. wasn’t going to work. I knew in order to avoid my ordeal in 2007 I was going to have to slim down.

The Actual: Lost 75 pounds. I rocked it! Coming into the New Year I was already down 25 lbs. from my high of 315 lbs. By the time I got to my first marathon of the year I was already at 282 lbs. Running certainly helped, but tracking helped even more. I don’t really have a diet plan, but the one absolute rule I always have for myself is I track every food I eat.

Next Year: 25 pounds (184 lbs.). I am in what I consider the home stretch of my weight loss journey. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get easier at the end of this journey. I feel like I am in an arcade game and now I am at the boss level. To beat this gumba I am going to need to power-up on healthy food as well as keeping track of everything I eat.

Finance:

The Goal: Go from a negative value to a positive value. Starting the year we had a total worth of $-26,000 dollars. It is pretty depressing knowing that you are worth more dead than alive. We knew we had to do something about that.

The Actual: We ended up foreclosing on our house this year. It seems sad, but it really wasn’t. The house was really just dead weight, I am glad to be rid out it. We maintained a good budget throughout the year and now I am pleased to say that even though we still have some debt our new net worth is $44,000 dollars.

2013 Goal:  Push long term savings to $8,160 dollars, that would be 4 months of an emergency spending budget. Right now we have $7,024 dollars in a long term savings account. You never know what is going to happen in the future. I have a great job, but working for the government is not that stable these days. It is low pay and thanks to ever continuing budget cuts you can never consider yourself immune from layoffs.

Other:

2013 Goal: Visit one more California Mission. I am only missing 5 missions on my goal to visit all 21 of the Alta California Missions. The thing is the ones I am missing right now are all in the bay area. Denise pretty much controls the travel budget for the next three years, but I am optimistic if I write it down I can somehow figure out a way to visit at least one more mission in the upcoming year.

2013 Goal: Memorize the Articles of Faith and one book out the New Testament. I pretty much have all the Articles of Faith already memorized, but I want to do a video to demonstrate proficiency. As far as the New Testament goes I am thinking maybe 3 John?

2013 Goal: Stress less. I stress a lot I don’t know why, but I do. It never helps me and I want to work on reducing stress from my life. I am not really sure how to quantify it, but I it is something I want to work on.

2013 Goals: Meet more people. I don’t have many friends, but I want to make more friends. I like to see myself as an outgoing person. Overall I plan on saying hello to everyone I meet and I plan on planning at least 5 game nights at my apartment. Anyone up for a round of Settlers of Catan?