About: Goal Setting (2023)

Up until this year, I had been fairly regular with publicly posting an annual review of the year before, along with some forward-looking statements for what I'd like to accomplish in the coming year. While this exercise can feel a bit naive and, for lack of a better term, basic, it was more borne out of wanting to keep myself honest. I always thought that if I stated something publicly, I was much more likely to hold myself to actually making it happen.

And I'm not sure if it was because of this practice, but I feel like I've had a really successful run the last several years.

• In 2018, I ran a full marathon, something I never would have thought I would do.
• In 2019, I got my A+, and left my job of 15 years to pursue a new career.
• In 2020, I got my CCNA, Sec+, and in reaction to the pandemic (and a few other things), I picked up a second job at Walmart. I also started school again.
• In 2021, I got a new job and I graduated with a Bachelors degree.

It's really hard to think about the last year and to try and pick out a singular major win. While the prior several years felt like there was one peak accomplishment that I could point to, this last year felt more of a continuation of the years before.

Professionally, there was a lot to be proud of this year. Coming into this year, I had spent 6 of the 7 months at my new job on the overnight shift. In January I was able to hit the ground running when I was back on day-shift by getting involved in several projects, and I felt like I was really able to continue to grow while contributing to the team. In May, I was able to obtain my AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification (which was something I was studying as a bit of an extracurricular to take a break from networking) and by October, I was able to get a promotion to Support Engineer. This was something I would have never thought possible when I took the leap into this new career a few years prior, and it seemed incredibly far away when I started this job a year and a half ago. To say I'm grateful for the opportunities I was given would be an understatement.

From a personal standpoint, I don't think there was much exciting this year. There wasn't a non-work trip to write home about, nor any major accomplishment. I did unfortunately need to say bye to the Honda Civic, but that is more of a detriment because I was hoping to make more strides in paying off debt. In some ways, there was actually a bit of regression on a few fronts. If anything, I think this year was more about being a pet parent.

So, what does that mean going forward?

There are lots of opportunities. I think my roadmap can be broken down by the following.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

• Reduce overall debt by 10%
• Achieve the CCNP Enterprise Certification
• Be in a dedicated Network Engineer type role by EOY

Fuzzy Goals

• Be in the same type of shape athletically as 2018.
• Build more of a work-life balance.
• Revive my yard.
• Make at least one trip.
• Stop looking to the past.
• Be more intentional.

The overall direction of this year should be to not push for any major individual accomplishments, rather to synthesize habits from the years before and put them into practice.

I have tendency to beat myself up over mistakes from years' past, and I think this years theme really needs to be to focus forward and appreciating the now.

While I do have career goals (as everybody should), I think if I end this year with a feeling of peace and optimism, that will be a big win.