This is my fourth year of setting goals publicly on my blog (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and going through a retrospective at the end of the year (2010, 2011, 2012).  So without further ado here is my recap of 2013 goals.

Year in Review

   2013 will probably be the biggest year in my life as it is the year I got married to my wonderful wife Sarah.  Other notable events include getting promoted to Senior Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft, two of my sister-in-laws having babies, and helping out with some local conferences (including the return of SharePoint Saturday Columbus).

Professional Goals

• Work local more – For the majority of 203 I was still on the road for a good portion of it.  Thankfully towards the end of the year (just before my wedding) I was able to work out arrangements to do more local and remote work.  I now have a few dedicated customers that are local or I work with remotely.  That fills over half my schedule while the other portion of my time is doing a mix of remote and traveling engagements.  Overall I’m (and my wife is) much happier with me being able to be home more.
• Mentor / Mentee – I started out the year with 2 unofficial mentees at work.  Over the course of the year they have dropped off and we don’t meet regularly anymore.  I still talk with one on an infrequent basis when questions arise.  I’m ok with where things are at on this topic as a mentor / mentee relationship is only beneficial while both sides are willing to put something into it and also get something out of it.  In these cases both are now moving along from the hurdles they originally faced.
• Blogging – I planned to blog at least 20 posts last year.   Unfortunately I only wrote 18 posts.  Part of this is due to my daily schedule changing quite a bit between work and personal life and part of it is due to not keeping a regular rhythm of writing down blog ideas that I flesh out.  Currently I have a number of topics that I “haven’t had time” to write out.  What that really means is I haven’t made the time for it.  Something to work on for next year.

Personal Goals

• Get married – As I mentioned above this was the big year I tied the knot with Sarah.  Three months in and married life is great.  We are both growing into our new relationship with each other and with God.
• Stay Fit – In 2012 I was able to lose and keep off 10+ pounds.  In 2013 with the help of my FitBit One, going to the gym with my wife, practicing portion control during meals, and getting into running I took off another 5 pounds.  I would’ve liked to lose a few more pounds but I’m finding that I’m adding muscle weight which I’m ok with.
• Read Books – 2013 was the year that I discovered science fiction books.  I had listened to some audio books (most of the Robot series) by Isaac Asimov a few years ago.  This year I found the first five books of the Foundation series at a local used book store.  I’ve already read through the first 4 and have books 5-7 lined up to be read.  I also read The Gods themselves by Asimov, Daemon and Freedom^TM by Daniel Suarez, and Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin.  That is more books / pages than I read when I was back in school.  I asked for (and got as presents) a number of other science fiction and technology thriller books for Christmas so my reading list for 2014 is already stocked.  I’m finding that I really like owning physical books rather than digital lately, similar to my new fascination with board / card / dice games (I’ll talk more about in my goals for 2014).

Conclusion

   I changed the focus of many of my goals for 2013 compared to 2012.  I’m happy with the change in focus to more family and personal health type goals.  I was able to meet and exceed most goals with only a few that were not met completely.  After reflecting back on this past year I’ve already brainstormed some goals for 2014.

   I hope you had a good 2013 and that you set and stuck to some goals.  If you’d like to share any feel free to put them in the comments below.  Here’s to the start of a great 2014!