2024 Goal Setting (Or, An Exercise In The Unknown)

 Long time readers of my blog may recall that in years past, December is the month that is typically filled with me writing and re-writing (and re-re-writing) my goals.  In fact, I suspect it tended to eat up a lot of valuable electron space.

That exercise last year - as it turns out - was an exercise in futility.  Not completely my fault at all, of course - one could not have predicted Hammerfall 2.0 and Hammerfall 3.0 were not anticipated in the December prior and the impact of those in time and money turned out to be significant; it is hard to discuss things like increases in the load of weight lifts when you lose access to the gym or doing other activities when your life focuses to finding a job and then keeping said job. 

 At the same time, I am a great believer in having goals even if you do not hitting them:  as the saying goes, if you aim for the stars you will hit the moon (or a mountain, or an inconveniently placed electric pole - at any rate, you will hit something).  

Some years ago I adopted the Rule of Five for Goals (like I do for almost everything else, as five is simple and I can count it on my hand).  I even came up with a catchy Acronym, GGGII, which stands for "God, Girls, Gold, Iaijutsu, and Ichiryo Gusoku (well, perhaps not so catchy.  This is why I am not in marketing).

"God" is, I suspect, pretty self explanatory. "Girls" is really family, as (with the exception of myself, I-Bun, A The Cat, and M the Guinea Pig), this house is run by females.  "Gold" is simply career in its various manifestations.  "Iaijutsu" refers to my sword art, but encompasses things that support it like physical fitness and Japanese language.  "Ichiryo Gusoku" (Literally "One plot of land, one suit of armor") refers to the concept of providing for one's self to the best of my ability - philosophy is here and [theoretical] goals are here.

So I have a desire to have goals, and I have a structure to create them.  What I need now is the actual goals.  

Which is, of course, the most difficult.

Difficult not in the sense that it difficult to come up with them - I can always come up with something - but difficult in the sense that I need to have goals which are both reflective of my current situation (and, whatever happens next year, slowly rebuilding from the current situation) and are items that are mostly in my control to achieve.  This was one of my weaknesses for 2023:  the goals were based on things outside of my control.

For example, under "God" I simply have something like "Find a ministry to get involved in" and "Greater time in prayer" - yes, I will continue to look for longer term church home, but where we end up is not clear to me now.

Under "Girls", it looks a lot like a regular date night (something the last year has not been kind in) as well.  Finding ways for all of us to spend time together as we can is there passively as well, as we are reaching the point where paths are separating farther and farther.

Under "Gold", I have a single primary - Find a full time job - and some smaller goals around either industry certification (to make myself more valuable - after all, this industry is a skill) or generating other income.

Under "Iaijutsu", it is simply "Train harder in preparation for testing for certification".  I would also like to test for the N4 Japanese certificate through JLPT, although this does not really impact my life except personally.  Personal training has become a floating target as the equipment I have access to has changed - so Olympic Style lifts (and the weights involved) are not really possible).  That said, I will need to find some target - as well, I suspect, of more aerobic related goals (as those are effectively free except for the cost of a pair of shoes).

"Ichiryo Gusoku" is pretty vague at this point.  The reality is that - likely barring a miracle - The Ranch is going to be something that might delayed for five to ten years realistically (which means I have to put my nose to the grindstone and my pride under my feet and finish cleaning the house out).  Which means that New Home and its environs are the canvas I have to paint on, at least for the foreseeable future.  That limits some potential items  and, given the unknown length of my unemployment, means I need to focus on things that are low cost or essentially free - which in turn, means likely supplying finished dairy products (cheese and yogurt), expanding and managing the garden, and other small self sufficiency projects for which I already have the items/materials to perform (darning socks, anyone?).

The great news about all of this is they remain almost 100% within my control (with the exception of "Find a Job", of course).  The more humbling news for me is that in some ways, this represents the least aggressive set of goals I have had in many years.

But perhaps that is okay.  Given the state of the world - given the state of my world - perhaps a series of low, slow balls over home plate is just what needs to happen this year.  After all, there is nothing like success to breed success.