2010 Quarter 3 Update

It has been exactly 9 months since I outlined my goals for 2010. Time to review my progress!

—FITNESS
Completed Goals:

Uncompleted Goals:

  • 1 mile in under 5:30.
  • Run a half-marathon.
  • 200 squats in a row.
  • 25 pull-ups in a row.
  • Cycle 100 miles in one day.
  • Be able to hold an L-position for 30 seconds.

*Hmm. With only three months left, I’ll have to hustle to complete the rest of these goals. Trying to cycle 100+ miles over the weekend. Fingers crossed.

—BLOGOSPHERE
Completed Goals:

the9to5alternative.com

  • Redesign and rethink my vision as a blogger.
  • Write at least 15 guest posts.

thecurryproject.com

  • Write at least 20 reviews.

Uncompleted Goals:

the9to5alternative.com

  • Get at least 500 subscribers.
  • Post consistently, at least once a week on Tuesdays.
  • Develop a cost-of-traveling blog widget.

nepalprints.com

  • Redesign and find a cheaper host.
  • Sell at least 5 prints.

thecurryproject.com

  • Get at least 50 subscribers.

*The 9 to 5 Alternative v2.0 is underway. At the beginning of the year, I was keen on redefining my online presence. Most of my posts have been travel reports, and while it’s fun to write about the world, I needed a more sustainable, fulfilling and community-enriching purpose. Enter my new About page, which explains where this blog is heading. This shift will become more apparent on January 1, 2011, when I will publish a whopping post on goal-setting. Through calculated goal-setting, I believe we can all live more eclectic and fulfilling lives.

A note on the redesign–for many reasons, I decided not to pursue the face-lift that many of you may have noticed over the last several weeks. Sticking with this layout for a while!

*Nepal Prints no longer exists. Since I still own the domain name, the site redirects back here. Soon I’ll be adding a photography/video page within this site to supplement my travel reports.

*The Curry Project is going well! I haven’t been marketing it, but Wandering Earl, Thomas, Erin and I have enjoyed putting up reviews of the wackiest and most remote Indian restaurants in the world.

—LIFESTYLE
Completed Goals:

Uncompleted Goals:

  • Read at least 15 more books on the Personal MBA reading list.
  • Score at least a 700 on a practice GMAT and then take the real thing.

*Need to read 5 more books on the Personal MBA list.

What goals are you working on in 2010?

21 thoughts on “2010 Quarter 3 Update”

  1. Congrats on keeping track of the goals. I think that’s the toughest thing. To keep yourself accountable over a period of 3 months. FYI – check out BudgetYourTrip.com. They have a great platform and might have widgets. I know the owner so if you need an intro, just let me know. I reviewed them as well on the Goinglobal blog if you want to check that out too!

    Cheers!

    Olga

    1. Thanks, Olga! BudgetYourTrip.com is exactly the kind of resource I was hoping to put together, though I wanted to average in flight costs as well. Couldn’t figure out how to extract and maintain that kind of data, though. Will probably not build this widget as I had originally planned, but I’ll keep this resource close. Hope you’re doing well!

  2. Greetings Alan,

    You are a busy man. Are you running a lot now? It has been hard for me to keep running while traveling but I have been trying to run at least once a week.

    I agree that it is important to set and work toward goals, but I also think that there is value in the process as well. For example, rather than having a goal of running a marathon on every content, I think it is more important to just enjoy running everyday.

    Your goals are very specific so I think you understand the value of the journey. However, I see so many people who focus on getting lots of stamps in their passport, without really experiencing a country. Or people who just want to have a successful blog but don’t enjoy writing.

    What are your thoughts?

    1. John, been a while!

      I’m not running as much now as I should be, though I went on a 9-mile run a few weeks ago. I’ve mostly been rowing and biking. After this weekend (assuming I hit my target 100-mile ride), I’ll switch back to running. Need to maximize outdoor fitness as long as I can up here in Boston 🙂

      I appreciate your thoughts about goal-setting. While I stick to small, specific goals, I enjoy the broader philosophy behind the process too. Well, I try to. Some of these fitness goals are killing me!

      You’re right–many goals are set with misaligned intentions, and the process and journey are often undervalued.

      An example: I set a goal to have 500 Google Feedburner subscribers by the end of the year. This goal has different meanings to different people. For me, it’s not about readership and potential monetization. Hitting that number is a process–it’s about developing a sustainable, enriching message, one that can spread naturally to others. There are 101 ways to generate traffic to a website, but the have one’s message spread organically is what I’m really shooting for.

      Enjoyed the Wolf and Rabbit cartoon you posted on IdeaEconomy.net! Like what you’re doing over there.

  3. You’ve made some great progress! Impressive.

    Good luck on the bike ride. Looking forward to hearing how that goes.

    And the new about page is fantastic. I know there are some very big things to come here.

  4. These posts are always motivational for me. I think I’ve bookmarked the last 2 or 3 of them to refer to whenever I need to get my act together!

    You’re doing well with your goals. I’m still working on maintaining my focus long enough to stick with all of the small goals I’ve set for myself. My situation always seems to change so often that I need to constantly adjust my goals, and in the end, I’m unable to achieve them…but I’m still pushing on!

  5. Is it wrong that I am most impressed by the $15,000 on Jeopardy? I am now trying to absorb that website into my brain cells. Course with no cable this could prove to be a challenge in conditioning!

    Course that whole free-falling face first into a push-up thing is pretty cool as well. I believe the phrase, however, is TwitPic(Vid) or it never happened. 🙂

  6. omg! i already have forgotten the goals that I’ve set for this year!…. i like the way you post your achievements on your goals here… keep it up!

  7. Congrats on completing so many of your goals. The 100 mile bike ride is easy. You sound like your in great shape, so you shouldn’t have a problem. Just get up early and go.I remember my first century ride and it wasn’t bad, just pace yourself.
    You have motivated me to set some new goals as well. We have been so busy working that we don’t remember what our end game is. Time for me to sit down tonight and talk over our goals for the new year.
    Thanks for the inspiration!

  8. This makes me synchronize my own goals for the rest of the year. But my main goal is to get my book edited and designed by the December 31th 2010. I think i can make the dead line, but in the end God knows.

  9. You have opened up my eyes to goal setting. It is definitely something I need to look into. I can see the positives of having defined goals to aim for, to keep me going forward.

    You are an inspiration…

  10. A little late to the game here, but just came across your blog from another blogger. Great job on staying accountable. With blogs like these it is often easy to fudge the results to make yourself look more productive or to have accomplished more. It is refreshing to see that you have stayed true to what you set out and made it happen.

    Now, with that in mind, you have a solid 2 weeks to knock out a few more of those as one last big push, then use that momentum into 2011!

    Great job, again.

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