2022 Resolutions and Goals

Posted January 14, 2022 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

I used to always do these posts (20152016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) but obviously fell off the wagon for 2021, the first full calendar year of the pandemic. I didn’t even think about making this post honestly! My reading went to shit in 2020 and was even worse in 2021, but I have a renewed sense of energy right now. Generally “resolutions” or the “clean slate of a new year” isn’t my shtick, but sometimes the marking of a new year just helps when setting new goals. It’s an easy marker of time and that’s about it.

  • Try to balance reading and other hobbies better | The resolution to “not be pressured to read; spend time enjoying other hobbies” has been on this list for years now. I used to read during the vast majority of my free time and it got to be draining. I’ve definitely fallen off the wagon a bit in 20-21 though so I’m rephrasing my goal. I want to better balance all of the things I like to do. At this point in my life, that really just means “sometimes listen to an audiobook instead of a podcast” or “stop scrolling on your phone during a wrestling TV show and read instead.”
  • Read 75% contemporary and mystery/thrillers | I used to try to get my contemporary fiction numbers down to under 50% because I wanted to read more widely across genres. I finally achieved this goal! I read 46% contemporary in 2021. I also read 18% mystery/thrillers. I’m hoping that this year I can get to a total of 75% books within these two genres – ideally with contemporary still being under 50% – because I really enjoy them.
  • Curate a monthly TBR with less books | I usually add a ton of books to choose from but as I’ve gotten older and my mood reading tendencies have dwindled a bit, I’m able to really focus in on reading whatever book I “need” to read next. It can be overwhelming when my monthly TBR has 15+ options when I know, at this point in my life, I’ll get to 5-7 of them. I think sticking with around 10 books on my TBR per month (or at least a few books across multiple formats, like 5 egalleys, 3 physical books, and 2 audiobooks for example) is safer.
  • Focus on getting my Netgalley ratio above 80% | I still haven’t done this. I’m always in the 70% range! I want to try to genuinely keep on top of egalleys this year and hopefully that makes a big difference.
  • Finish a few book series | I need to make a list of the open series I haven’t finished yet and try to figure out how and when I can finish them off. I know there are multiple out there where I have ONE book left to read and just haven’t done it yet. It’s not realistic for me to set a specific reading goal for this one, like one “unfinished series” book per month, but at least making the post and trying to be intentional about reading them more often would be good.

  • Share more personal stuff on the blog again | I did the bare minimum in 2021. For the first time ever in my blogging career, I didn’t complete a TTT. In fact, I missed multiple weeks! It was a nice long run since 2014 but I realized that I shouldn’t pressure myself to blog ahead during my wedding month and just let things go for once. In writing my 2021 year in review post, I realized that I really shared only bookish stuff in 2021. I didn’t post any Lauren Latelys. I want to get back into these!
  • Develop a posting cadence for each month | I used to have a strict posting schedule but now it’s kind of a free-for-all. I need something in between. My general schedule, right now, looks like this… it definitely needs more fleshing out and additions!
    • Around the 2nd of the month: Bookmark Lit Bulletin to recap previous month
    • Tuesdays: Top Ten Tuesdays
    • Last week of the month: TBR for the following month
    • Book reviews posted whenever I finish books and/or have enough for a Review Roundup
    • Random posts with book lists or discussion topics

  • Pay off my credit cards | I’ve done a better job with this in the last 6 months or so – luckily people give you money for a wedding so I was able to pay down some debts and pay off some of the actual wedding-related expenses. I really hope to pay off a couple of specific cards.
  • Set up auto-pay on every single bill | I’m like 90% of the way there. I think my student loan is the only one that’s not automatically taken out maybe? That’s such a huge chunk of change but once I get that specific account where I want it to be, it’ll be fine.
  • Get out of the house on 2+ weeknights | We usually get a little stir-crazy during the week after work, so we’re trying to be better about getting out… even if that means having one beer and an appetizer after work at a brewery or happy hour. (This is exactly what I wrote in 2020 so big ol’ LOL to this since we weren’t allowed out of the house most of the year. But, I’m keeping for this year.)
  • Organize the house from top to bottom and keep it that way | We have so much clutter and nonsense everywhere. We want to move and buy a house next year but this one needs to be better organized still. I’m working from home full time with 1-3 office days per month at most, so we need to make our guest room an office PLUS storage space lol.
  • Plan out our year | There’s a concept from Jordan Page that I think Chris and I should implement. Each year, get out a calendar and plan out your entire year. Obviously not every single detail, but go month-by-month and figure out what’s happening that month. When and where will your vacations be? What days of the week do birthdays fall on? How will you celebrate? What times of the year look busiest? It’s just a way of thinking about everything and plotting out when the “big things” can happen. We’re hoping to go to Hawaii for our belated honeymoon, Covid pending, but definitely need at least one more week-long trip and multiple weekend trips too.

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