Heading into 2019, I am continuing my experiment of setting up quarterly goals. Whether I succeeded at my Q4 goals depends on your interpretation, but the results thus far are insufficient to draw a clear conclusion. So here we are.
This time, I'm grouping my objectives into four (4) focus areas. Arguably, my actual goals are more ambitious this time; however, some of these activities are self-reinforcing. Others fall under the same heading, but represent different ways of achieving that objective.
For instance, applying to jobs and graduate school do not produce mutually compatible outcomes, but that's okay, because they're alternate ways of moving into the next phase of my professional life. That's the first objective area.
The second objective area is self-directed studying. Here, I will continue reading textbooks and working exercises (I'm about 40% of the way through Rocket Propulsion Elements). I've also been reading some technical papers and would like to resume programming in other languages besides MATLAB. If I'm making good progress, I might try to work on some sort of technical project (programming or otherwise), but that's a secondary or even tertiary goal.
The third objective area is organization. This sorta ties in with the previous two, because a lot of my academic materials didn't come back from undergrad in the most orderly manner, and because if I move out, I'd like it to be a smoother transition. Even if not, cleaning up the house benefits the whole family and is long overdue.
The final objective area is writing. The main sub-objective is finishing my monthly blog posts in a more timely manner. This is achievable simply by allocating time regularly, as I found during NaNoWriMo. (This insight informs all of my objectives for the 1st Quarter.) Ideally, I'll begin posting more frequently than once or twice per month, but we'll just have to wait and see whether that happens.
I would also like to work on fictional projects again, though I've had some serious writer's block since the first week of December. If I allocate time to writing and revision, that may or may not clear up; I haven't really been in this situation before. There's also some ideas for long-form nonfiction stirring around in my head, but making a commitment would be premature at this time.
The same goes of any other major projects I could throw out, so I'll refrain from making unwarrented hypotheses. I would say that my objectives for Q1 look more like laying foundations and doing preparatory work rather than trying to achieve any particular goal. The results for particular goals were mixed in Q4. Perhaps this strategy will perform better.
Weekly reviews of my progress will be continuing each Sunday (unless something dramatic happens, in which case: no promises).
