I don’t know when I embraced goal setting as fun, but it’s been at least a few years. What’s great about this facet of my life is that it lines up with Martin Seligman’s 5-factor model of well-being: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. If I’m not working towards something, then I often feel lost in the time and space that is my life.

One way of approaching goal setting that I stumbled upon last year thanks to the (mostly) weekly podcast discussion group that I still host, even though I no longer work at the library, is to set a specific number of goals based on the calendar year. This idea is the brainchild of writer/happiness journalist Gretchen Rubin and her sister, Elizabeth Craft who co-host the Happier Podcast. So last year was 24 in 24 and this year is 25 in 25.

When I shared my 25 in 25 list with some friends who are not familiar with the concept, one was surprised by how many goals I set for the year. I assured them that many of the goals I set are ones I already have established habits for and now I’m just cranking up the number of times I do them by one minute, one time, or one day.

I also realized that overlapping some of the goals is more efficient for my life. As you can see in my list above, I have both intentionally move my body for 25 minutes a day and do yoga 2 to 5 times per month, which means that I can choose to do a 25-minute yoga video on YouTube and BAM! It counts as both my intentional movement for the day and towards my monthly yoga goal.

Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft also structure their years around a one-word theme, which I have also embraced in my own life. This year my theme is strengthen, as in I want to strengthen my body, mind, and spirit. Much like I don’t remember when I embraced goal setting as fun, I also can’t pinpoint when I started feeling weaker in this great big world of ours. I suspect the timing may have something to do with the last presidential election, but even before that, it just feels like there are so many things out of my control. Working towards feeling stronger is something that I can do something about.

The only item I changed from my original version of the list to the one I’m presenting here was hiking on 2 to 5 new trails with Heath. Initially, I set the goal of 2 to 5 new trails per month, but that clearly was the work of optimism bias, especially because Heath is not partial to being outside in the cold and snow like I am. So, when I thought about how last year I set the goal of hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park 2 to 4 times, I recognized 2 to 5 new trails over 12 months is a much more realistic goal.

And speaking of last year, here’s how my 24 in 24 wrapped up:

1. Order a passport to replace my stolen one.

I did NOT order a new passport, but I did report my stolen one as being stolen to the government. I didn’t realize it would cost $160 to replace my passport and that just seemed like a waste of money as I have no plans for international travel in the next year and I might as well stretch out the expiration date for my next passport as long as I can.

2. Move for at least 24 minutes a day.

GOLD STAR! I only missed 17 days of intentional movement last year, which is less than 5% of the year. I also did not count walking as transportation and my missed days would be a lot lower if I considered that “intentional” movement. I was also sick for three of those days, so I get a pass on those days.

3. Meditate for at least 24 minutes a day.

GOLD STAR! I only missed 12 days of meditation last year, which is less than 5% of the year.

4. 2-4 minutes of breathwork, 2-4 times per week.

BRONZE STAR! I missed my weekly goal for 14 out of 52 weeks last year. Considering it’s only 2-4 minutes per breathing session, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be meeting this goal. So, I’m giving myself another chance to establish this habit and we’ll see how it goes in 2025.

5. 24-hour social media breaks every week.

GOLD STAR! I only missed two weeks last year and so that’s why I feel confident of increasing my goal in 2025 to 2 to 5 days of social media breaks per week.

6. 24-hour game breaks every week.

GOLD STAR! Not only did I meet this goal, but I did what I really wanted which was to never again play Royal Match! This game sucks me in like no other and in the thick of my job search last spring I wasted 2 to 3 hours per day on this game to help with my anxiety. So I set the small goal of taking breaks from it once a week, and once I was hired by CU Boulder in May, I stopped playing the game entirely. YAY FOR ME!

7. 2-4 months of news fasting.

GOLD STAR! I news fasted in January, May, and August.

8. Review 24 dog books for a new Instagram account.

FAIL! And I’m okay with that. When I set this goal, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get out of the new Instagram account other than a means to increase sales for the picture book I self-published at the end of 2023. But that seemed like the WRONG reason to start a new account, and I couldn’t figure out what the RIGHT reason was. I know there’s something to the adage anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, meaning, just get started. But the thing is if I don’t know what my purpose is with this account, then I didn’t think I could even do a poor job of it.

9. Create 24 dog posts for a new Instagram account (same new account mentioned in #8).

ANOTHER FAIL! Again, I’m okay with it. This goal was also a fail because of the same reasons I failed at #8.

10. Eat 24 baby spinach leaves 2-4 times per week.

SILVER STAR! This was a hard goal for me because I experienced a lot more stress than I expected last year with moving, starting a new job, and unforeseen health challenges with my sleep. Stress exacerbates my gut health issues (ie., IBS) and my first line of defense when things get irritable is to cut out insoluble fiber. I will say that when my gut health was good, I had no problem meeting this goal.

11. Revise 2-4 manuscripts I’ve already written.

GOLD STAR! I revised a speculative middle-grade manuscript and a YA romcom. I’m querying both of them to agents because not every agent is interested in middle grade at the moment and some aren’t interested in YA romcoms. I’ve already gotten some full requests, so maybe this will be my year!

12. Watch 24 sunrises outside.

PLATINUM STAR! I watched 65 sunrises outside, mostly in the winter and early spring.

13. Do yoga 2-4 times per month.

PLATINUM STAR! Not only did I do yoga 2-4 times per month, I did it 87 times last year.

14. Visit 2-4 friends out of state.

GOLD STAR! I visited friends in Connecticut in February and July last year.

15. Go rucking 2-4 times per week.

ABANDONED! I reinjured my Achilles tendons in both feet last February and it took almost nine months for them to heal. I replaced this goal with hula hooping 2-4 times per week, and I’m delighted to report that I met this goal in 12 out of the 18 weeks I worked on it. So, there’s room for improvement next year, but I decided to not make hula hooping a priority because I instead wanted to keep my momentum with training for a pullup which I started in the fall.

16. Meet 24 new dogs.

DIAMOND STAR!

DUH. Of course, I met this goal. In 2024, I met 102 dogs in total. I decided that this is too easy a goal (I’ve already met 14 new dogs in 2025), so I replaced it with volunteering at the Boulder Valley Humane Society 2-5 times per month in 2025.

17. Write and post 24 new blog posts.

BRONZE STAR! I wrote 16 new blog posts last year. I’m hoping for more consistency this year.

18. Listen to 2-4 Great Courses.

BRONZE STAR. I started listening to more podcasts last year and Kanopy and Hoopla changed the way that Great Courses could be accessed through their library streaming platforms making it a bit more inconvenient to consume them. So, while I listened to one and thought I would crank out another one the last week of December, I realized there was no point in forcing myself to do something I wouldn’t truly enjoy. So, this year, I have modified this goal to reflect my new interest in podcasts.

19. Attend 24 cold-water plunges (assuming we stay in CO).

GOLD STAR! I didn’t keep track of this goal as diligently as the others but based on my RSVPs to the cold plunge meetup group and the number of times I participated in breathwork on Saturdays (a precursor to the cold plunge), I met this goal with flying colors.

20. Buy 2-4 outfits I genuinely like and that feel comfortable.

BOO. NO. I only had the wherewithal to buy one new outfit last year and while I now wear it every day when I teach, I don’t think I genuinely like it. The jacket looks too much like a waiter jacket. Part of my problem in completing this goal is that I refuse to buy fast fashion or non-sustainable clothes and that requires a bigger time commitment to find clothes that meet my standards and, usually, more money. I did, however, buy 7 pairs of new socks because the socks I had been wearing all had holes in the heels, and let me tell you – if you go without new socks for years, then buying high-quality, sustainable socks makes your feet feel like you are walking in the lap of luxury.

21. Hike 2-4 times at Rocky Mountain National Park (assuming we stay in CO.)

GOLD STAR! I hiked at RMNP in January, August, and November.

22. Sell my book, D Is for Doggo, at 2-4 events.

NOT REALISTIC GIVEN MY CIRCUMSTANCES. This kind of activity requires a big financial investment upfront to get the books printed in bulk. And, having not had an income from May 2023 to September 2024, I just didn’t have the kind of resources I needed to pursue this goal. I also didn’t put this goal on my 25 in 25 list because for the next year or so because I’m working on building my financial resources for other life goals.

23. Give 2-4 psychology presentations.

GOLD STAR! I presented the Psychology of Stuff: Why We Have So Much and What We Can Do About It for both Eco-Cycle in Boulder and Urban Villages in Denver. Although, one could argue that I gave dozens of psychology presentations as a teaching assistant professor at CU Boulder!

24. Color 2-4 times per week.

BRONZE STAR! With so much moving around in 2024, it was hard to know where to keep my coloring book and colored pencils. I also learned that if I have to go into a different room to get them, then I just won’t do it. I missed 27 weeks of meeting this goal, and while I do still plan to color in 2025, there won’t be any goals attached to my efforts.

If anyone is interested, I’d be happy to be an accountability partner for anyone else’s 25 in 25 list. You just have to ask me!

And on that note, I leave you with this spectacular photo from one of my sunrise morning walks last week.