Ah, the case of the missing 2017 resolutions. The resolutions that never were. Or were they?
I jotted these down on Post-Its on January 1st and just never got around to posting them. Halfway through the summer, I found them stuck inside the cover of my Sudoku book, and started checking them off.
So, in case you’ve been waiting with baited breath for 365 whole days…here are/were my 2017 resolutions:
Print some photos and hang at 1701 – ACCOMPLISHED
Hire a person to help with some projects – ACCOMPLISHED – This year, we’ve had employees since May 1. It’s been fun to build a little team and a relief to have some help around the building.
Organize old photos/files on my computer – FAILED? – I don’t even know what files I was talking about
Sell iPhones – ACCOMPLISHED? – I can’t remember if I sold an iPhone. I probably did.
Redesign Fathom Coffee labels – FAILED – But they also look pretty cool, so I’m not sure why I wanted to do this.
Get a dishwasher/counters at 1701 – ACCOMPLISHED
Make it to the final table at poker – ACCOMPLISHED
Go to NJ in the summer – FAILED – My car kept breaking every time I had a trip planned.
Visit a tropical island – FAILED
See Nicole in person – ACCOMPLISHED – Nicole came to visit this summer! We had a blast while she was here.
Visit Joelle or see Joelle on a day that isn’t Christmas Eve – FAILED – But we did see each other on Christmas Eve.
Run in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon – FAILED – I registered, and I started training, but then I tripped, fell, and injured myself for four months. #goodjob
Put some kind of class or training on the calendar at 1701 – ACCOMPLISHED – I planned a Salesforce training back in February or March. The funny thing is, no one really showed up, but my best client found me on Google because of that event, so I’m glad I put it on the calendar!
100 members at 1701 – FAILED – Finishing out the year with about 70 members.
See a few good concerts – ACCOMPLISHED
Read a few good books – ACCOMPLISHED
Take a trip somewhere – ACCOMPLISHED – Went on a southwestern road trip with my mom in March. We hit up a bunch of National Parks, hung around in Palm Springs for a few days, and finished our trip with a sunset at Santa Monica Pier. Took a 29-hour vacation to Charlottesville and Shenandoah National Park by myself in July.
Go kayaking – ACCOMPLISHED – My brother and I went kayaking one day over the summer.
Go paddleboarding – FAILED
Get more stamps in National Park Passport – ACCOMPLISHED – I got Lake Mead NRA, Death Valley NP, Joshua Tree NP, Santa Monica Mountains NRA, Shenandoah NP, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge
Go for a ride in a seaplane – FAILED
Find the perfect task management system – ACCOMPLISHED (as much as I could)– This is impossible. There is no perfect task management system. But I, myself, am a walking task management system, and I am pretty good at managing tasks in any system.
Help people start and grow businesses – ACCOMPLISHED – A few I can think of off the top of my head: We helped the Eliza Hope Foundation by making their website. We helped Chris Lane Video and Alexanimation by referring lots of business to them. We helped Megan Hogan by giving her free space for workshops. We helped Troopster by connecting her with Xerox, from whom she was able to secure a pretty large donation, and we provided free space for her care package packing parties. We helped Vibrant Shores Brewing by giving them some of the inside scoop on property in the ViBe Creative District. We helped Fika Coffee Bar by providing some input about brewing equipment and becoming her coffee supplier. We helped Prosper Insurance by becoming their trusted technology partner, and implementing Salesforce for them on a pretty tight timeline. And I’d like to think we helped a lot of other businesses just by bringing Founder Institute events to Virginia Beach, connecting lots of interesting people with other interesting people, and providing an inspiring space for everyone to get their work done.
Get bikes for 1701 – ACCOMPLISHED – We got a few bikes in the spring for members to borrow whenever they want to take a break and a ride to lunch or the beach.
Fathom Coffee pop-ups shops – ACCOMPLISHED – We did a bunch of pop-up shops in 2017, including one at Anthropologie last spring and several throughout the holiday season.
Write some actual blog posts – ACCOMPLISHED – I wrote a few here and wrote a few on Port & Starboard‘s blog, too.
Sell all the crap in the pile from my closet – ACCOMPLISHED – I sold and donated countless items this year.
30-Day Yoga Challenge – FAILED – I started it again, but I only made it to day 6 or something.
Get cat under control – ACCOMPLISHED (mostly) – Once I moved, I switched the cat to the Breeze Litter System, which has been so much better than the old box. She’s also been pretty good about staying out of my room, and I haven’t caught her on my new furniture once!
Paint a picture – ACCOMPLISHED – I painted something on a piece of wood during an abstract art workshop at 1701.
Go ice skating – FAILED
Shoot a gun – FAILED
Small Business Saturday – ACCOMPLISHED – We organized the second annual Small Business Saturday event in the ViBe District. We had a pop-up market in our building with about 25 vendors and coordinated a scavenger hunt with about 20 other participating businesses in the neighborhood.
Go hiking – ACCOMPLISHED – Hiked during my trip to the National Parks in the spring with my mom and during my trip to Shenandoah in the summer.
Go on a boat – ACCOMPLISHED – Went on a whale watching cruise and a dolphin watching cruise on the Rudee Flipper.
Get a new waterproof phone case – FAILED
Capsule wardrobe – FAILED – I’ve pared my wardrobe down significantly, but I can’t say I specifically did a capsule wardrobe this year at all.
Organize Evernote notes – ACCOMPLISHED – I’ve been going through them pretty regularly to make sure they’re all in notebooks that make sense and deleting the ones I don’t really need.
Go surfing – ACCOMPLISHED (sort of) – I took my surfboard in the water, but there weren’t any waves. I paddled around for awhile.
Go on a girls trip – ACCOMPLISHED – If you count my vacation with my mom…
Drink more water – ACCOMPLISHED – I don’t really have any statistics for this, but by my estimation, I think I probably drank more water this year than last year.
Less shopping – ACCOMPLISHED – See above. I definitely acquired less items than I have in previous years, that’s for sure.
28 accomplished, 14 failed. Those might be my best numbers ever. 🙂
As for 2018, well…I’ve spent the entire weekend working, cleaning the house, and watching movies, while intermittently snacking on homemade gluten-free cookie dough stowed away in the fridge. So if I wake up tomorrow without salmonella, I think I’ll be heading in the right direction. 😉
Also, my brother is in Japan. He says hello from next year. He says 2018 is pretty chill — you’ll like it.
Happy new year! ?
