Happy New Year! As mentioned in our Year In Review post, we took some time off over Christmas to reflect on the past year and cast our vision for 2014. We followed the Annual Review shared by The Art of Non-Conformity and here’s what we came up with:
What went well this year?
- Paced ourselves, didn’t over-commit, and found balance
- Consistently exercised 6 days per week
- Accomplished our goal of living abroad
- Overcame and resolved “turning point” challenges at work
- Listened to each other and talked out issues that came up
- Won a free trip to DC
- Grew closer to each other
What didn’t go well?
- Life started to feel stagnant and too predictable
- Spent too much time cooped up in the apartment
- Didn’t keep in very close contact with friends at home
- Our spiritual development too often took a backseat
2014 is the year of… “The Sabbatical 2.0”
We considered our choice to do Peace Corps in terms of taking a sabbatical- and in a lot of ways it is. It’s a time set apart for learning and growth where life looks different from usual. But now having had a life changing experience we can’t just go back. We need some time to evaluate what we want for our future and how to make it happen. We’re taking another sabbatical!
In 2014, we will focus on… developing skills that will benefit us in future endeavors:
- Writing & blogging
- Graphic design
- Basic web development
- Photo/videography
- Cooking & hospitality
- Gardening & farming
At this time next year,… we will either be a) applying to teach English in Japan through the JET program, b) seeking employment that allows for flexibility and travel, or c) continuing to support ourselves through online work and creatively minimizing expenses.
Some Goals
This is just a sample and many are not yet fully fleshed out, as each one is supposed to be specific and measurable so you know when you’ve accomplished it. We actually came up with quite a few goals in each of our categories, which are: Friends & Family, Spiritual, Business, Travel, Health, Learning, Service, Blog, Earning, Giving, and Saving.
- Go to at least 2 “new” states (we are only counting the states we visit together, with a goal to see all 50 eventually)
- Spend one month in France, including a work exchange as well as some sight-seeing in France and Switzerland
- Participate in at least two Help Exchanges by April 2015 to learn more about agriculture and ecotourism
- Try out travel hacking: Pay for at least two major trips with miles by February 2015
- Continue to exercise 6 days per week
- Train for and run another 1/2 marathon in 2014
- Eat more real food than processed food. Aim for 50% of our intake to be fruit and vegetables.
- Learn [specific skills (too detailed to mention here)] in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, HTML/CSS, and photo/videography
- Double our blog subscribers by the end of the year
- Avoid tapping into our savings for the full year
- Continue to give away 10% of our annual income
- Find a new, meaningful way to connect with God and make it a daily routine
Did you do an annual review or goal setting this year? What does 2014 hold for you? Let us know by adding a comment below.
Simply Intentional 
As always an impressive list for 2014! You both seem to be able to achieve whatever is put in front of you. We will support you in anyway we can.