I feel like every other blogger on the planet had his or her “2012 recap” posts up the second the clocks struck midnight on New Year’s.  I am typically all about these types of things, but this year I just wasn’t feeling it at the start of January.  I was trying to relax after a very busy December, and I wanted to wait a bit before reflecting on 2012.  I was feeling a little pressured into doing the looking back thing and making new goals thing and mapping out every single thing I want to do in 2013 thing.  Doing that just because “everyone else was” certainly wouldn’t be doing it for the right reasons!  That being said, now that I’m back into my groove, I am ready to reflect on 2012 – it was quite the big year for me in terms of my achievements.

2012 Major Accomplishments

I accomplished a lot last year, but these are what stand out as the biggies:

Passing my ASCM exam and becoming an ASCM Certified Personal Trainer…

Figuring out what I want to do with my life…

Quitting my marketing job and starting my new full-time position…

Becoming the Group Exercise Coordinator at the Y…

And last but not least, moving in with Tim!

2012 Goals In Review

In 2012, I set SO many goals for myself.  I wrote a huge post on setting S.M.A.R.T. goals instead of New Year’s Resolutions, and apparently I tried to apply the S.M.A.R.T. goal philosophy to every aspect of my life!

In terms of my personal goals (besides the career stuff)…

I wanted to get in a better place financially.

• I said I would save money at the grocery store by evaluating what I have in my apartment ahead of time, comparing prices between grocery stores, planning meals ahead of time, cutting coupons, and making grocery shopping a weekly event.  With the exception of comparing prices regularly between grocery stores, I do all these things now.
• I said I would open an IRA account, and I didn’t.  Wah wuhhh.
• I said I would consider buying stock in my company, which I did.
• And I said I would realize it’s okay to say no to social events and pick and choose which things meant the most to me.  I am definitely better at this now.

I wanted to de-clutter.
I said that I would pick on “space” or “area” to clean at least every other week.  I would say that I definitely didn’t do this every other week, but more like once a month.  Also, I somehow managed to turn into a crazy OCD person when it comes to having a clean space.  I pretty much have to clean/organize SOMETHING the second I get home.  And I just went through a massive “out with the old” de-cluttering spree over New Year’s weekend.  Maybe that’s what I was doing instead of recapping 2012.

I wanted to improve on my mental health.
Not sure if there is a real cut and dry on this one, but I think I did.  While I didn’t go to church more or use all those spa gift certificates that have piled up over the years, I took some necessary steps to distance myself from people who bring stress to my life and continue to work on not feeling so anxious all the time.

 

In terms of my health & wellness goals…

I wanted to drink more water.  I still have my one cup of coffee in the morning, but bringing my large water bottle to work definitely helped me drink more water this year.  I also have pretty much completely cut out soda.  I used to drink diet coke at least a couple of afternoons a week, but no more!

I wanted to consume less cheese.  Was that a sick joke?  Why would I ever tell myself I wanted to do that?

I wanted to take (and pass) the ACSM Personal Trainer Certification Exam by Spring 2012.   The second part of that goal was to train my first real personal training client.  Done and done!!

I wanted to successfully complete the Wellcoaches Coach Training Program.  I completed the class, but have yet to go through my exam process.  My time is running out, so that will be what’s up for the next couple of months!

I wanted to take ballet classes.  Fail.

I wanted to try at least one new type of group exercise class or group fitness program.  Dynamax!

And in terms of blogging goals…

I wanted to increase my blog readership.  I wanted to double all my stats, which I pretty much did!

• My goal was to reach 47,000 total F&F page views, and I’m at 189,474 hits.  Boo ya.
• I wanted to get up to 950 total followers, and I’m at 1,009.
• I wanted to reach 186 email / WordPress followers, and I’m at 263.
  Note, you can see do this by subscribing to get my posts to your inbox.  Just click the “Sign Me Up” button on the right hand side of my page!
• The goal was to hit 542 Facebook followers, which I came close to!  I’m at 511.
  Note you can do this by clicking here for my Facebook page, and clicking the Like button!
• And finally, I wanted 170 Twitter followers and I did hit 239.
  You can do this too by clicking here for my Twitter account, and clicking the Follow button!

Monetizing the blog and self-hosting didn’t happen, but taking a space upgrade did.  I think that’s okay, considering the career changes that distracted me from achieving these.

While I didn’t do everything I set for myself (I am human after all), I think I accomplished a lot and am proud of myself.  I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store!  Stay tuned for my 2012 goals and reflections part 2 – all the fun trips, adventures, and events to remember!

What was your biggest accomplishment in 2012?  Did you reach the goals you set for yourself?

It’s Friday!  I am trying to get myself to the gym (don’t forget today’s Ab Challenge!!) and then Tim and I are having a date night tonight.  Have a great weekend everyone… it’s a three day one for me!