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Back in early January 2019, I made a bunch of different blog resolutions for the New Year. Now that 2019 is drawing to a close, it's time to face the music in terms of how well I did (or didn't) do completing those resolutions.
In an effort to keep myself on track, I've been doing bi-monthly resolution updates with the last one coming in the beginning of November. Now, it's time for the final check-in for 2019!
1. Barry Larkin Collection
My goal here was to get at least 700 different Barry Larkin cards scanned and blogged about by the end of 2019. I actually posted Larkin #715 in my collection on December 17 which means I exceeded my goal by quite a bit!
Final Verdict: Success!
2. Blog Trading
My goal here was to try and turn around the tide so to speak, that is, for the past few years my total number of trade packages mailed out has been decreasing. In 2018, I mailed 45 packages and so for 2019 my goal was to mail out at least 50 trades. By my count, I ended the year with a total of 60 trades mailed out which is more than I had completed in three of the past four years.
Final Verdict: Success!
3. The Want List
This was the big goal of the year for me: To get my want list down to 100 sets (or less) by the end of the year. For many years, my baseball card want list had grown and grown and I never really made any sort of effort to curtail the growth. That all was to change in 2019 and I basically worked diligently on this particular goal every month of the year (the bi-monthly resolution check-ins really helped keep me on track here). At the start of 2019, I had 132 different sets on my want list. Throughout the year, I ended up adding on an additional 16 sets bringing my want list up to 148 total sets.
Now the good news: Throughout the year, I managed to complete 44 (!) different sets that had been on my want list (some of which had lingered on my want list for years and years). For posterity's sake if nothing else, here's the full list of the sets I completed this year:
As you can see, I did amazing with this particular goal this year! Of course, if you do the math on the entire thing you'll see that I have 148 sets on my list minus the 44 sets that I completed in 2019 which leaves me with 104 remaining sets. In order to get to my goal of less than 100 sets, I still need to basically give up on collecting some sets. At some point during the year, I must have simply deleted a couple of sets from my want list because my list stands at 102 remaining sets. Certainly an improvement over where I was at the start of the year, but not quite to under 100 sets. Thus, let's chop a few sets from the list.
To be honest, I thought this exercise would be more difficult than it ended up being. In order to get under 100 total sets on my want list, I was rather easily able to remove the following:
The reason to drop the two 2016 Ginter sets was basically that I didn't yet own a single card from either set (and both sets are stupidly rare). Even worse, neither set was actually interesting to me in terms of subject matter and I know without a doubt that I'd never be willing to spend the necessary cash to complete the set on my own. The third set to get the ax was the lone Reds' box topper from 2011 Topps Lineage. Back in 2011, I had decided to chase all of the Reds parallels, inserts, etc. from the set but now looking back I know that I have no real use (or desire) to acquire the Votto box topper.
That's three sets removed which means my want list currently stands at 99 sets! Finally down to under 100 total sets and therefore another 2019 Resolution success!
Verdict: Success!
#4: The Great Reorganization
It sure seems like I've done a lot of reorganizing of my collection this year but truthfully there are certain areas that I didn't do much of anything on (for example, that table full of cards that I've shown off throughout the year). You can be fairly certain that this will be a new resolution for 2020, though if I do so I hope to put more structure into the goal so that I have something more tangible to shoot for.
Verdict: Barely passing (D-)
#5: My LEGO Blog
My goal here was to write at least 50 posts for my LEGO blog in 2019. Spoiler alert: That didn't happen. In fact, I ended the year with only 24 posts which is less than half of my original goal. Looking back, I think averaging two posts per month on the blog isn't actually all that bad (especially considering how much time the average post takes me to write, photograph, etc.).
It's actually kind of funny since I've been doing more with my LEGO collection over the past year or so than I had in probably the previous four years combined. With my little guy now walking around, he loves to go to the "man cave" and look at all the LEGO trains, trucks, buildings, etc. His joy has motivated me to keep making improvements...and if nothing else, to keep building stuff so he has new things to look at and play with.
That said, I definitely failed the resolution.
Verdict: Failed miserably
#6: Reading books
My sixth and final resolution for 2019 was to read 12 different books (I'm not counting the countless number of children's books that I read to my toddler). For this goal, I actually managed to read exactly 12 novels - and I was done with them by the end of August! I even ended up getting a few more entries into my Nachos Grande Book Club series thanks to all the reading I did (here's the latest entry in that series if you missed it earlier this year).
Verdict: Success!
Phew!
I set some fairly ambitious goals for 2019 and managed to successfully complete four of the six. The fifth goal (collection reorganization) was something that I definitely made progress on but not nearly enough to be happy overall...and the less said about that LEGO blog goal, the better. Actually, I'm darn pleased with my overall progress - and I'm actually proud of getting my want list down to under 100 sets! I think I'm going to set a "forever goal" that my want list never be above 100 sets by the end a calendar year from now on. That should help keep my buying of new products in check while simultaneously encouraging me to go back and finish a bunch of stuff that I started years ago.
That's enough for me on my 2019 goals, now it's your turn. Whether you put goals in print or not, how would you rate your 2019 year? And, moving forward, what are your goals for 2020?
In an effort to keep myself on track, I've been doing bi-monthly resolution updates with the last one coming in the beginning of November. Now, it's time for the final check-in for 2019!
1. Barry Larkin Collection
My goal here was to get at least 700 different Barry Larkin cards scanned and blogged about by the end of 2019. I actually posted Larkin #715 in my collection on December 17 which means I exceeded my goal by quite a bit!
Final Verdict: Success!
2. Blog Trading
My goal here was to try and turn around the tide so to speak, that is, for the past few years my total number of trade packages mailed out has been decreasing. In 2018, I mailed 45 packages and so for 2019 my goal was to mail out at least 50 trades. By my count, I ended the year with a total of 60 trades mailed out which is more than I had completed in three of the past four years.
Final Verdict: Success!
3. The Want List
This was the big goal of the year for me: To get my want list down to 100 sets (or less) by the end of the year. For many years, my baseball card want list had grown and grown and I never really made any sort of effort to curtail the growth. That all was to change in 2019 and I basically worked diligently on this particular goal every month of the year (the bi-monthly resolution check-ins really helped keep me on track here). At the start of 2019, I had 132 different sets on my want list. Throughout the year, I ended up adding on an additional 16 sets bringing my want list up to 148 total sets.
Now the good news: Throughout the year, I managed to complete 44 (!) different sets that had been on my want list (some of which had lingered on my want list for years and years). For posterity's sake if nothing else, here's the full list of the sets I completed this year:
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter base set
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Star Signs insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Ginter Greats insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Incredible Equipment insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Mares & Stallions insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter History of Flight insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Collectible Canines mini insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Lost Languages mini insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Chugging Along mini insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter Look Out Below mini insert
- 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter In Bloom mini insert
- 2018 Panini Donruss base
- 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter base
- 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter unannounced mini insert
- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter What a Day insert
- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Bust a Move mini insert
- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Constellations mini insert
- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Required Reading mini insert
- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter World's Dudes mini insert
- 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter Subways & Streetcards mini insert
- 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter US Mayors mini insert
- 2015 Topps Archives Will Ferrell Insert
- 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs base
- 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs: 3-D Lenticular insert
- 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Into the Unknown mini insert
- 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter World's Deadliest Predators mini insert
- 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Where Nature Ends mini insert
- 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Little Lions mini insert
- 2013 Topps Archives 1972 Basketball insert
- 2009 Topps: Series 2: Topps Town Gold insert
- 2009 Topps Series 2: Legends of the Game insert
- 2008 Upper Deck Timeline base
- 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game: Yankees Clippings insert
- 2001 Topps Stadium Club base
- 2000 Fleer Tradition: Dividends insert
- 2000 Fleer Tradition: Ten-4 insert
- 2000 Skybox Metal: Fusion insert
- 2000 Topps base
- 1999 Pacific Private Stock base
- 1998 Fleer Tradition Series 1 base
- 1997 UD Collector's Choice: Stick-Ums insert
- 1997 Fleer Sports Illustrated base
- 1995 Topps Stadium Club
- 1992 Upper Deck: Ted Williams Baseball Heroes insert
As you can see, I did amazing with this particular goal this year! Of course, if you do the math on the entire thing you'll see that I have 148 sets on my list minus the 44 sets that I completed in 2019 which leaves me with 104 remaining sets. In order to get to my goal of less than 100 sets, I still need to basically give up on collecting some sets. At some point during the year, I must have simply deleted a couple of sets from my want list because my list stands at 102 remaining sets. Certainly an improvement over where I was at the start of the year, but not quite to under 100 sets. Thus, let's chop a few sets from the list.
To be honest, I thought this exercise would be more difficult than it ended up being. In order to get under 100 total sets on my want list, I was rather easily able to remove the following:
- 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter: Greenland Explorer mini insert: GE Traveler
- 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter: Skippers mini insert: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
- 2011 Topps Lineage: Topps Giants (box toppers): TG7 (Votto)
The reason to drop the two 2016 Ginter sets was basically that I didn't yet own a single card from either set (and both sets are stupidly rare). Even worse, neither set was actually interesting to me in terms of subject matter and I know without a doubt that I'd never be willing to spend the necessary cash to complete the set on my own. The third set to get the ax was the lone Reds' box topper from 2011 Topps Lineage. Back in 2011, I had decided to chase all of the Reds parallels, inserts, etc. from the set but now looking back I know that I have no real use (or desire) to acquire the Votto box topper.
That's three sets removed which means my want list currently stands at 99 sets! Finally down to under 100 total sets and therefore another 2019 Resolution success!
Verdict: Success!
#4: The Great Reorganization
It sure seems like I've done a lot of reorganizing of my collection this year but truthfully there are certain areas that I didn't do much of anything on (for example, that table full of cards that I've shown off throughout the year). You can be fairly certain that this will be a new resolution for 2020, though if I do so I hope to put more structure into the goal so that I have something more tangible to shoot for.
Verdict: Barely passing (D-)
#5: My LEGO Blog
My goal here was to write at least 50 posts for my LEGO blog in 2019. Spoiler alert: That didn't happen. In fact, I ended the year with only 24 posts which is less than half of my original goal. Looking back, I think averaging two posts per month on the blog isn't actually all that bad (especially considering how much time the average post takes me to write, photograph, etc.).
It's actually kind of funny since I've been doing more with my LEGO collection over the past year or so than I had in probably the previous four years combined. With my little guy now walking around, he loves to go to the "man cave" and look at all the LEGO trains, trucks, buildings, etc. His joy has motivated me to keep making improvements...and if nothing else, to keep building stuff so he has new things to look at and play with.
That said, I definitely failed the resolution.
Verdict: Failed miserably
#6: Reading books
My sixth and final resolution for 2019 was to read 12 different books (I'm not counting the countless number of children's books that I read to my toddler). For this goal, I actually managed to read exactly 12 novels - and I was done with them by the end of August! I even ended up getting a few more entries into my Nachos Grande Book Club series thanks to all the reading I did (here's the latest entry in that series if you missed it earlier this year).
Verdict: Success!
Phew!
I set some fairly ambitious goals for 2019 and managed to successfully complete four of the six. The fifth goal (collection reorganization) was something that I definitely made progress on but not nearly enough to be happy overall...and the less said about that LEGO blog goal, the better. Actually, I'm darn pleased with my overall progress - and I'm actually proud of getting my want list down to under 100 sets! I think I'm going to set a "forever goal" that my want list never be above 100 sets by the end a calendar year from now on. That should help keep my buying of new products in check while simultaneously encouraging me to go back and finish a bunch of stuff that I started years ago.
That's enough for me on my 2019 goals, now it's your turn. Whether you put goals in print or not, how would you rate your 2019 year? And, moving forward, what are your goals for 2020?
Comments
I’d say you did rather well. Always nice to complete sets for sure! Hope 2020 is as fruitful as 2019!
ReplyDeleteCompleting 44 sets is seriously awesome! I realize you didn't reach your expectations for your Lego blog, but I appreciated every single one I read. By the way... I blogged about two Lego sets I built yesterday:
ReplyDeletehttp://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2019/12/weekend-recap.html
Nice work on your goals, definitely a successful year!
ReplyDelete