Halfway to 2025
It’s now July which, by Louisiana standards, means the outside temperature is somewhere between Satan’s front porch and the surface of the sun.
It also means we’ve reached the halfway point of the year.
Not sure where the first six months of 2024 went, but now we are on the downslope as we careen toward 2025.
In my day job, we review our quarterly goals at the end of each quarter and we look ahead to the next quarter. What did we accomplish? What didn’t we accomplish? Is there something we can do better in the next quarter? I’m already thinking about 2025 goals and communications strategy to employ next year.
With two quarters of 2024 complete, I thought it was a good time to review my four goals for the year:
Read 20 pages every night ↗️
Journal two times per week ❌
Write 200 pages for a second book ⏸️
Raise $1,500 for NAMIWalks ✅
Earn my APR ✅
These goals were listed in no particular order, but this year more than ever, I wanted to push myself to reach certain goals that I would otherwise not have set.
Daily Reading
Read 20 pages every night? After summer reading lists in high school and 10 years of college and post-grad, I had never enjoyed reading for fun. It was always for school or work…never for me.
I began the year strong, reading upwards of 50 pages per night. At that pace, I was going to finish the year having read approximately 35 books. Once the Legislative Session began in March and I started studying for my APR exam, I didn’t read a night for almost two months. Since passing my exam, I am again reading at night and catching up on my list of books to read.
Here’s my progress thus far:
Building a Non-Anxious Life by Dr. John Delony
Daily Dad by Ryan Holiday
Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet by Taylor Lorenz
Think Again by Adam Grant
Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Kingfish U by Robert Mann
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Burn Book by Kara Swisher
Humankind by Brad Aronson
Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday
I hope to get to 25 books by the end of 2024.
Weekly Writing
And journaling… While the daily notes I write to my kids during the school year technically count as journaling, I was never good about consistently blogging or writing my thoughts down. I hope the journaling exercises would help spur the motivation I needed to finally write that second book I’ve been talking about for more than five years.
Raising Money
Every year since 2019, I was raised money for mental health awareness for the annual NAMIWalks event. I set my yearly fundraising goal to a modest $1,000 until 2024 when I raised it to $1,500. The result? I received more than $1,800 in donations for NAMI, pushing my six-year total to over $7,500! It’s a small role for me to play in the fight for mental health awareness.
Chris Yandle, Ph.D., APR
The primary personal and professional goal for the year was to earn my Accreditation in Public Relations (APR). I gave myself the entire year to reach this goal - in the event I either failed my written exam or needed to reschedule it. That wasn’t necessary as I passed the exam and achieved my first goal on June 15. Now, I am among the 20% of PRSA members in the U.S. and Canada who have achieved this professional milestone. The addition of three more letters to my name still seems surreal, but I know this accomplishment will eventually help pave the way for further career advancement.
What’s Next
With six months left in 2024, I hope I can maybe scratch the surface on those weekly journal entries. Maybe I can write 200 pages in six months? Regardless of whether I may headway on my other two goals, it’s a good personal exercise to review what you’ve done and what work still remains.
Goals are meant to be both broken and changed.
