What am I going to do today to make the world a better place?
Those words are on a piece of paper taped to the to of my treadmill. Every morning as I climb my obligatory 4000’ I ask myself this question, and before I go to bed every night I run through the day’s activities: Did I do something today to make the world a better place? Some days’ it’s as simple as not cutting someone off when I could have, or letting someone else have the parking spot we were both hoping to get. Others it’s changing my schedule around to visit someone who’s lost a loved one, or changing vacation plans to help someone in need. Most days it’s just staying positive when the negative seems to come so easily. Or just keeping my mouth shut.
I’m not a big fan of resolutions. If I’m not happy with where I’m at I don’t think I should wait until a new year comes along to change what I’m doing. I am a fan of goals and goal setting. Probably to the extreme. Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART). Each year at the end of December, instead of setting resolutions, I set goals that are SMART, and then I write them down and publish them to keep myself accountable. Here are my 2019 goals:
Help someone climb a 13er or 14er, or any hike they didn’t think was possible for them
Dedicate 1 day a week as “family day” with whichever of my kids is home (sorry Emily, this is most likely going to affect you)
Try 3 new types of Whiskey
Help 3 girls earn their Gold Award
Sleep outside twice
Learn 20 new words / phrases in German
Post 2 positive comments on a facebook post every day
Teach someone a new skill
Do something that scares me
Swim
Read for 15 minutes a day
Attend 12 Happy Hour meet-ups (I’m NOT a people person, so this won’t be as easy as it sounds)
Say “yes” to 2 invites
Attend a concert
Stick up for someone in an online forum
Plant a garden (and fix the sprinkler system)
Complete 4 Highpoints outside of Colorado, with at least 1 being above 10,000’
Complete 21 Centennials (I’m currently at 76, so this would bring me to 97)
Complete 5 winter 14er ascents (duplicate peaks are ok)
Climb 80 peaks (I climbed 77 in 2018, not counting the incline, which I did about 15 times, so this seems attainable)
Break the top 100 for total number of ranked peaks climbed in 2019 (I’m currently on the LoJ site as #109)
Break the top 50 on LoJ for sum of elevation hiked/climbed (I’m currently at #55, with 868,783’ climbed for 2018, but this doesn’t include my daily treadmill 4000’ or Incline hikes, since these aren’t “peaks”)
Hike on 50 days this calendar year (for 2018 I hiked 47 days, putting me at #89 on the LoJ site)
Hike a peak with no trail to the summit
Keep track of miles hiked
Tell others what I like about them when the opportunity arises.
Try 1 new recipe a month
Update “relationship goals” for 2019
Wild Wanderer 