business-babyIt’s about that time.

For those of you with traditional day jobs like me, you’ve probably already scheduled a meeting with your boss for a nice little year end sit down.

You’ll sheepishly dismiss your accomplishments when asked to discuss them and Mr./Mrs. Manager will look at the floor, obviously uncomfortable, telling you what they think you could improve on in the coming year.

Eventually, like two young lovers exploring each others’ bodies for the first time, you’ll awkwardly wander through the motions until someone realizes they have another meeting.  You’ll both sit back, staring off into the distance and saying to yourself, “Glad that’s over.”

It doesn’t have to be that way

Well, maybe it does at work, but it doesn’t have to here.  Performing a self-evaluation each year can be an extremely beneficial process.  And, since it’s your review of yourself you can do it however the hell you want to. At last!  The autonomy you’ve always wanted!  I can’t take credit for the idea though. I must tip my hat to my friend Chris at The Art of Nonconformity.

I’m young.  Only 25.  I have all the ambition in the world with little experience in how to focus it.  For me, a self performed annual review is a way for me to come to terms with what I really want out of life and create a road map to get there.

If you read Frugally Green regularly, you probably have at least a few ideas about things you’d like to accomplish financially, environmentally, or both.

You can read read Chris’ article for an incredibly detailed post about how to perform your own review, but I want to give you an example of how my review will go this year – specifically for Frugally Green.

What went awesome?

Take note of the word “awesome.”  I used it on purpose.  Right now I don’t care about what “went well” or things that “turned out OK.” I want to focus on what totally rocked my socks off.  For me, these things will include:

Never missing a single scheduled post

When I started this site in April, I hesitantly committed to 1 new post every week.  I wasn’t sure if I could handle it.  I had a lot going on.

8 months later and I’m posting 3 times a week and have never missed a deadline. This post is the 69th article on Frugally Green. I almost can’t believe I made it.

Converting to a half-time vegetarian

I was so scared when I wrote about saving money by eating less meat. I was nearly positive that I would end up a total hypocrite.  But I didn’t.

I made a plan and I went after it.  I failed along the way, but got back up.  My girlfriend Jessie joined the cause, we reworked the plan and now I can proudly say that less than 50% of my meals contain meat.  That feels great.

Writing a guest post for Get Rich Slowly

This was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had this year.

My guest post on giving to receive was, for the most part, well-liked by a community that I really respect.  That gave me some serious warm fuzzies.

Also, in 3 weeks it doubled the readership that took me over 7 months to build. It wasn’t easy to write, but it was very well worth it.

What totally sucked?

Again, we’re skipping the boring and dull here and going straight for the mind-blowingly awful stuff that I screwed up. Jeer if you like, it’s all on the table.

I depleted my backlog

My “backlog” is my pile of posts that I can dig into when I am approaching a deadline and can’t or don’t want to spend the time writing something.  A few months ago I decided to take a little break and use a few of these posts.

Well, a few turned into “all of them” and I haven’t taken the initiative to replenish it.  This really sucks because I want to spend more time writing really awesome content, but sometimes end up with mediocrity to preserve the deadline.  You deserve better than mediocre.

I’ve lost faith in myself many times

I almost never show it here, but I can be a total emotional wreck.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve hit the publish button on a post thinking “Ok, this is the one where everyone is going to see that I am a total hack.”  Sometimes I even wonder if this is what I am really supposed to be doing – writing about sustainability.  I’m just an average guy, no different than any of you.  What do I really have to offer here?

This kind of thinking is emotionally draining and it has held me back when I’ve had opportunities to grow.  It must stop in the coming year.

Did I meet the goals I set?

I set only 3 solid, measurable goals for Frugally Green when I started.  Now that we’re at the end of the year, I can say I met* 2 of them.

Reach 100 subscribers

*I’m not calling this met, but I’m going to say it’s practically in the bag.

I’m currently sitting at 97, growing every day and there’s still 2 weeks left in the year.

Just to make sure I seal the deal, if you want to subscribe now, I’ll mail you an awesome book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget,  if you’re the 100th subscriber.  That ought to do the trick. (Just send me an email letting me know you subscribed)

Write 34 posts

This is how many I would have written if I’d stuck to posting once a week and didn’t miss a deadline.  I blew this one out of the water. Satisfaction achieved.

Write an e-book

Utter failure here because, well, I haven’t even started writing it yet.

Since I completely missed this goal, I’ve revised it to read “finish the outline of an e-book.” I’ve finally gotten my butt in gear a bit and am right on track to finish this.

The best part of planning is that it doesn’t have to be rigid.  You should definitely take your goals very seriously, but if you fail, no one can tell you that you’re not allowed to revise them to get yourself back on track.

What are my goals for next year?

I haven’t set my goals for next year yet, but you can bet it’s center stage in my mind.  I’ll be spending a fair amount of time over the next few weeks really getting serious about what I want to accomplish in 2010.

Most importantly, I’ll be looking at the previous 3 sections we just went over and determining where my opportunities to really kick ass are.

A few things I know I want to focus on, though, are collaborating with other great writers, developing more content in other media formats (like audio and video) and making some more giant leaps in my own personal quest for a sustainable life.

Also, I’ll need to balance these goals with some other huge life goals that I intend to strive for next year.

Final Thoughts

I believe in setting attainable goals because it helps me stay motivated to achieve them, but I also believe I’m wasting my time if I’m not pushing my limits and trying to stretch the boundaries of what I’m capable of doing.

If conducting your own personal annual review is something you think would be a valuable experience for you, I really suggest you check out Chris’ how-to article.  It’s much more in depth and will lead you right through the whole process.

Do you make it a point to set goals or do any self reflection?  Have you ever considered conducting an annual review for yourself?  What did you accomplish this year and what do you want to accomplish in 2010?

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If you find annual reviews boring and dumb, leave a comment, or get free updates about other boring and dumb ideas.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of business baby by megnut

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