2022 Goals

It feels like I should just cut and paste last years goals here. Not much movement was made on them and so they will remain mostly the same. There are subtle differences and andvancements to be tweaked and added.

Having to physically wrote them out seems important though. Perhaps goals were not accomplished, fell to the way side, or were over looked bc not enough time and energy was devoted to them. I did not cast my eye on to them in 2021, and this could be why they fell from my consciousness,

In 2022, I want to concentrate on slow living, sustainability, creativity, and forging a path that will lead me to a more tranquil and fulfilled life in the coming years. Societal norms and traditional means of income, working for others, expected gatherings, and timetables are some of the things that are no longer serving me. In my goals for the coming year, I hope to turn myself to a life more aligned with my priorities and pleasures. By writing and rewriting them, I hope to keep my goals foremost in mind and intentions.

Creation over Consumption
This is the goal I make every year and every year the definition changes ever so slightly. Creativity has many meanings in my world. Creative art, content making, living differently than most by living as self sufficiently as I can, creating a life that aligns and parallels my ideals and priorities. I want to live a more artistic life. Dare I say it? A more romantic life. To me, that means, consuming less media (yes, even booktube!), buying less, consuming less ideas of a “normal” life, and creating instead the life I seek.

Less electronic media (internet, news, instagram, booktube).
More art, both making and viewing.
More cooking to balance outside consumption.
More making (videos, blogs, photos, and thoughts. Although reading is consumption, I find that it falls more in this category: an inspiration).

Become more Self Sufficient
This is another multi facieted goal, needing more than just physical tasks to accomplish it. Not being able to love “normally” for nearly two years by of the global pandemic has not made me long for the “old days”, but made me anxious to usher in a new normal, a life full of art and romance and care for the larger world, but lived in a more susinct way. Truer to myself and my ideals.

Continue to grow towards zero waste and a plastic free lifestyle
Cut down on cheese, other factory and processed foods, and eating out.
Shop local, shop small.
Cook more, grow more food, preserve and less food waste.
Reduce clutter and use up.

Health
We’re not getting any younger! Regular checkups, better eating and exercise, and mental heath are going to become increasingly important this year. In youth we can coast through but it’s time to buckle down and create healthy routines.

Cat health.
Docs and regular check ups. Taking care of any issues we currently have.
Self healing techniques (including cooking more at home, walks for metal health, supplements and nutrition).
Exercise and stretching.

Home improvements
We love our house and we are happy that the pandemic has provided us more time to spend there. But after 7 years, there is maintenance that needs to get done, and improvements to be made. Not to mention all the projects we had meant to get to and didn’t (yes, our kitchen has been under construction for 5 years). And we have a few dream projects that can always linger on the list in hopes of one day coming true.

Finish kitchen.
Bathroom redo.
Wallpaper and paint.
New doors.
Organize and utilize the basement.
Maintenance on appliances.
Wood stove.
Piano.

Reading and Content
Although many things in my life and current goals are geared for staying off the computer, away from social media and out of the mainstream news, this blog, instagram and now my BookTube channel are important creative outlets for me. Reading is involved in all those things and an outlet for my mental health.

Read more (at least 75 books in 2022).
Consistent content on blog and booktube.
Find a way to post and view insta without app on phone. (I love to see my life recorded there, but the platform’s other functions no longer serve me).
More creative content.

Career
I don’t usually have a career section, but I plan to make a 3 year plan and my career is an important factor. Although, I love to work, my career is not fulfilling me the way that it used to. Partly that Is due to the pandemic, partly my age and disposition, and there are so many other factors as well! Part of my idea of a self sufficient life includes a job unbeholden to others, a way to raise up workers I see around me and create community. I don’t know how to accomplish this just yet, but 2022 is the year to figure it out.

3 year map and plan for life and work.
Budget.
Creative income (I’m not fully sure what this means or entails just yet, but I know I want some of my income to be generated by creative means).

That seems like quite a lot, but these are small steps to a larger path. I think by writing, seeing, rewriting, and working on reviewing these goals, I can make big strides towards a life more inline with myself.

What are you goals for 2022?

Regularly Scheduled Programming

In 2016, I started looking back and seeing what posts I used regularly and making a list. Every year, I look back for my own memory, mostly, but you may want to take a look back, too! I’m late to this article this year, but I think this year it’s especially important to log this info.

Why is that you may ask? Well in 2021, I pretty much didn’t post on my blog. If we looked back and did the calculations (I have not actually done that), I would have posted less blogs posted than in most of the past years. If these are my regular series, but I haven’t posted many of them this year, do they still count? How do we look at what series I stuck with despite being scarcely here? Which count and which don’t?

Below is a list of everything that I would consider a regular series. I’ve starred the ones that were more relevant or more often posted in 2021.

There are several series that are more usually updated, at least monthly and/or weekly:

Month in Review - A review of each month and my favorite instagrams for that month. *

Monthly Plant Update - A review of all the plants I've observed for each month. *

Mad Cat Garden - We started our garden a few years ago, but it’s become a great blog feature.

On My Mind On Friday Morning - A few things I've noticed around the internet, and life, recorded on Friday morning. *

Book Reviews - What I've been reading.*

Weekly Video Round Ups - Here I put the collection of videos from my BookTube each week. *

6 More Months of Zero Waste - In this series of posts we tackle moving to a more zero waste lifestyle. We will be taking a break (kinda) on this series up for at least the first six months of 2021.

Bullet Journal - I've been keeping a BuJo for several years now, and I like to check in about once a month.

Mad Cat Capsule - In 2017, I started keeping a capsule wardrobe, follow my progress here.

Zero Waste - 2017 also marked the start of my zero waste, plastic free journey. I post thoughts, ideas, recipes, and goals. 

Something Nice - Don't you love it when nice stuff happens? 

Something New - Something new I've learned or done. 

.Tattoo Story - To remember my tattoos and why I got them, I record it here.

Recipes - I want to include more recipes, specifically zero waste recipes, here.

Definitions - Some terms that I and other bloggers use but might be new to you. Here’s where you can learn more about all the things we talk about on MCQ.

Product Review - This is where I record reviews of products I have tried.

Monthly Goals - I have been trying to achieve several monthly goals so taht they can eventually become regular habits.

Pandemic Pantry - Originally started to showcase how to use up items druing the worst of lock down, I have taken aspects of this practice into daily life.

Homeschooling - In 2020, I started recording my homeschooling history. I would like to expand this series more in 2021.

Tattoo Story - The stories of my tattoos.

Joy of Using Up - This has been an off and on series, but I find myself gravitating to it more and more.

A Week of Books - Here I post even more book reviews to catch up and keep on track!

Sewing/Quilting - I would really like to bring back weekly sewing posts, but so far I’ve made it about one monthly.

Shelfie - Just pics of my home. (this one is an old series, but something I would like to bring back monthly).

There have been quite a few series that have fallen by the wayside, some I would like to bring back, others that might be gone forever.

Art and Nature... - Art and nature go together. I like to write about it here. 

Zoo at Home, Zoo Abroad - We love to visit animals, zoos, aquariums, etc... when we can.

Travel - One of my long standing goals is to document my travels.

Life Admin Day - This is where we check in on some admin goals we need to achieve, then see if we do achieve them.

Off Season - Notes on places I've seen, been, or explored and why I like them better in the off season. 

What I Eat in a Day - I love to eat, love to know what people are eating, love to share!

Habit Shift - Here I talk about the habits I love and those I want to make

So we can see that really only a few of these actually made in to be reoccuring series this year. And scrolling back through a year of posts, it’s easy to see what some of the issues, distractions and priorities were were. My booktube definitely was part of the reason the blog was not as loved in 2021. But also, I’ve been having lots of difficulties with the squarespace interface almost all year. Those issues not only derailed my being able to actually post, but frustrated me to the point that blogging become unpleasant and upsetting. Although those issues and frustrations haven’t ceased, I have developed some workarounds that have made posting a little easier.

It’s always nice to look back, see what series and posts make a regular scheduled programing on the blog and to reflect on what I love to post. Of course that makes me think of the year ahead and what posts will be like going forward.

Do you have a series on Mad Cat Quits that you enjoy? One that you missed in the year of 2021? One that you would like to see added? All feedback is welcome!

Best Nine 2021

I always really like to get my best nine on instagram each year. I’ve been doing it for the last 6 years. Ever since we moved to Asbury Park. This year I couldn’t get the bestnine website to work. I tried multiple times starting in december to get them to generate my grid. And it just wouldn’t do it. Luckily, 2021 was not a banner year for me and insta. Or unluckily. Either way, I sat down the other day, looked at every insta post I did and found my most viewed nine posts. And made my own grid.

2021

This grid has some interesting aspects but most notable is that this is the first grid with no cats.

In 2022, I hope to post more on instagram again. As of today, I haven’t actually posted at all this year, yet. But I have been taking photos every day. I’m trying to figure out a way to post on insta without actually going on insta. One idea I’m working on is a 365 photo project. Another is getting a insta feeding app so that I can schedule my posts but not actually be on the insta app.

Although I love insta in many ways, I find that is can be depressing to see certain real world events unfold there, and it’s a giant time suck when I get stuck in endless scrolling.

I’ll be excited to see what 2022 brings in pictures.

Here are all the past years:

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2021 Goals in Review

2021 was not the best year for completing my goals or for this blog. Those things are probably connnected, but perhaps not how you might think.

I’ve had this blog for many years and one of the reasons that I created it and keep it is that it is one of my greatest accountability partners. When I plan out goals here, and am able to refer back to them in this space, it helps me keep up with them in real life. If I have to check back in each month to keep updating, all the better.
The last few years have not really gone how anyone expected, but that wasn’t the only reason I’ve had trouble keeping up with this blog. Since starting my BookTube channel in Oct of 2020, I have devoted more and more time to that and had less time to invest in this space. I think I can find a balance there, and I hope to in 2022.

Another reason I have taken time away from this blog that directly ties in with my goal setting is that between 2020 and 2021 I experienced a long stretch of productivity burnout. It’s not that I was not productive during that time. I certainly was where my channel was concerned. But I was burnt out on the idea of always being productive, of goal setting, of measuring accompaniments in that way and constantly keeping up and keeping track. I really love goal setting and productivity techniques as a way to keep track and measure ones accomplishments, and intentions for the most part. But if it’s dragging one down, discouraging one, or simply not serving one, I know when it’s time to take a break.

That break for me, mostly included this work space as well as instagram and a few other areas. Some things that didn’t waver were my bullet journal, and of course, BookTube.

So why am I telling you all this here, in a post about 2021 goals? Mostly bc I haven’t looked at these goals in months, perhaps a year, and I wanted to record for you and for myself why that was. Usually I will check these goals often over the year, check in with you around mid year to adjust, see what needs to be tweaked or changed, then finish out my over all thoughts in this yearly post. This year I can’t even remember if I did a mid year check in. I could go back and look, but why bother?

Although, I firmly believe that one can start any goal at any time, I really love to check in in the beginning of, the middle, and the end of the year.

And here we are again at the start of the year! A perfect time to check on last year’s goals. Let us see what they were and how I did. Considering I haven’t checked, I’m very interested to see of there was progress made.

Creation Over Consumption
In 2020 I think my consumption has really changed but the other day I had a realization about how much I’m still consuming. Like suddenly I realized that watching youtube is just watching TV. This might seem like a no brainer, but I always thought of yourtube as teaching me something and therefore not mindless like TV. I also realized basically the same thing about reading. Now, obviously there are levels of consumption, from mindless to imporatnt. And I’m very happy that my consumption has leaned more to the imporant and edulcational this year. But in 2021, I want to make sure that my creation and creativity is at least more balanced, and more of a priorioty.

This first goal is one that I have had for many years. I think that I did not more well on this goal in. 2021 than in past years, but I also think I didn’t do worse than in most years.
I definitely still watched too much YouTube and perhaps even read a bit too much (I finished out the year having read 95 books). Reading is a little bit of a catch 22 in that I think it can help with creativity, but if that’s all you are doing, that’s not a help to your creativity. I did add effort to creative endeavors like BT and did a hand ful of projects over the years. Over all, not the worst, but no great leaps here.

Be More Self Sustainable
Double down on zero waste - I feel like in some ways I have gotten better at zero waste and in some ways more complacent. In 2021, I want to renew my pledge to the zero waste and low impact lifestyle in dramatic ways.
Live slow
Work more - Usually this goals is flipped but in 2021, I want to work more for MYSELF!
Forage more
Grow more food
Beach more
Spend less

Let see. This goals also wasn’t a true success. I didn’t advance my zero waste lifestyle nearly as much as I had wanted to. Here I feel like I’m in a holding pattern, circling just off where I would like to be and how much I would like to be progressing in this goal. I have had many discussions on what I can do to advance here, but very little tangible has come from them. I know I’m the kind of person that needs to think about things quite a bit before taking action, but neither much thought or action went into this in 2021. Now, that is not to say that I haven’t continued to live a more sustainable lifestyle than many people or even more so than in previous years. But I have reached a sort of plateau, and I would love to take the several next steps to become closer. To the goal I really want to achieve.
The way that I see this happening is to really focus on living slowly, hone in on what it means and how to do it. Create smart and concise goals within this goal to make it happen. I’m still working it all out, but one aspect is going to be doing a slow living series on my channel. One way that I kept up with zero waste in 2021 was to have a One More Month Of Zero Waste series on my booktube (my BT is not just about books!). Much like the series I do on this blog, we focused on one zero waste challenge each month and became more zero waste one month at a time. Over on YouTube, we rehashed and revisited a lot of the same challenges that we had already seen here. This both introduced the series to viewers, but also reinforced some things that we already knew but may have been slipping on.
I didn’t really work more in 2021, neither for myself nor for an outside job. The former needs attention, but I was happy with the amount of outside work I did in 2021. Part of a slow lifestyle, in my mind, is to work a job less, maintain it as a job you like that is low stress and deosn’t demand tooo much time or mental energy. Although one must make money to live in America, part of my slow lifestyle is to spend less, make less, and devote more time and energy to the real work of life, creativity, self employment, and enjoyment. Spend less was on the list of goals for last year. I can’t quantify if we actually did, but it felt like we did spend less in 2021.
Foraging and growing our own food kind of goes hand in hand. While we grew more food, and did find things we needed instead of buy them, I think. We could have been more intentional in the execution of this goal.

Health
Cook more
Cat health
Find doctors
Walk
Swim
Stretch/yoga
Health and supplements

I’m seeing a trend. Although we made some progress, we didn’t really focus on this goal. Plainly put, we did not cook more, focus on cat health, walk more, swim more or do yoga. We did all of these things a bit, but not more than the normal amount. We did do some work to find doctors, but that is ongoing and so doesn’t feel like any great accomplishment.

House Projects
Kitchen
Basement
Woodstove
Roof
Piano
Clean and reduce

Again, no real movement on the kitchen (a little tho!), basement, woodstove, or piano. But we did get a new roof, and we did work a very little bit on the cleaning, decluttering and reducing. I think we will see a big shift in these in the new year.

Travel and Explore - I’m not convinced there will be a lot of travel this year, but we can explore locally.
Irving in the car
Explore possible vaca home locales

This is a goal that saw NO movement. Zero.

Reading, Booktube, Blog
Read every day (65 books at least for the year)
Build my content creation and community
Be consistent with blogs and videos (schedule, schedule, schedule)
Be creative

We know I reached my reading goal, and along with that some goals I had for book tube. So I was able to buil my community in that way. I was pretty darn consistent over there. And fairly creative. But we also know I failed in all those aspects in this space. And the links between them were tenuous at best. Food for thought in 2022. I also hope that taking some time to concentrate here, now, is already helping.

How did you do on your 2021 goals? Did you keep up with and feel productive? Or were they pretty much dropped like mine? What are your plans for 2022?

Bc I use this blog to help dissect and evaluate my goals, it feels good to be back here. It feels solid and that it holds all the potential for the new year. I’ll need a few days to ruminate over what I’ve gone over here and will be back soon with some new goals for 2022.

Be I use this blog to help dissect and evaluate my goals, U

2020 Weekly Goals Wrap Up

For the last two years, I made myself monthly goals to try and achieve each month. Usually I pick 4-6 goals to focus on for the month. Sometimes I roll over goals, or sometimes I roll over entire months of goals. Here are all the goals I made for each month in 2020 with a few notes and thoughts.

JAN
Think slower / act slower
Create
Read every day - reading was on my mind early in the year.
See two friends
Enjoy our anniversary - what did we even do???

FEB
Beach at least four times
Take a yoga class - HA
Watercolor
Dance more - nope
Stay warm / stay slow

MAR
Eat vegan once a week - this goals was on my mind a lot this year. I think we did make strives toward eating more vegan, even if it wasn’t once a week. This is something that I want to pursue more in 2021.
Schedule two docs
Schedule two trips - I can’t imagine this happened but I can’t remember.
Go to Brooklyn - So sad. I never made it to brooklyn and with the state of the world I prob won’t for a long time.
Write two letters

APR
Learn some and do some yoga
Finish some art and illustration - what? No.
Read 3 books - Nailed it!! this was the first month that my reading really blew up!
Be mindful of the garden
Continue to improve my health

MAY
Do not over work/take your days-off off. - coming back from lockdown was a real mental blow. It was traumatic for me and frankly, I never got over it.
Remember all your goals/the things you liked about lockdown/isolation.
Keep sourdough starter alive. - Yikes. my sourdough failed hard in the warmer months.
Walk every day.
Tackle one big project.

JUN
Inbox to zero, but really this time
Make 1 comic - I think this is a great goal but I can barely remember making it and I def didn’t achieve it.
Make 1 video - it took like 4 more months but I did eventually do this.
Make more concrete goals from the things you like about isolation
Stretch

JULY
Inbox to zero, but really this time - this is about the time that I actually got this to work for me. Part of it was getting it to less than 50 not to 0 but I’ve continued this goal and made it routine.
Make 1 comic
Make 1 video
Stretch - it’s funny how long this has been a goal. Will 2021 see me unlock this skill?
Restart sourdough
Work on Decluttering

AUG
Sew - I did start sewing again in 2020 and I really hope to pick it up a lot more in 2021.
Stretch
Make 1 video
Tattoo work - this is something I have been meaning to restart for a long time and I hope 2021 is the year.
First steps on my book - this goal took an indefinite hiatus, but I still think it’s a good idea.

SEPT
Have two quilt finishes - I think setting this goal really halted my progress. I won’t be making finish goals next year, I don’t think. I’m going to lean to more slow and steady.
Stretch
Swim/beach
Make 1 video
Tattoo work
Book step two

OCT
Two quilt finishes
Make 6 videos - here’s where I really started filming.
Book tattoo appointment/practice tattoos.
Go on a over night trip + 1 day trip
Take Irving in the car - this is still a hope and goal!! I think Irving would be good on car trips!!

NOV
Make 15 videos
Better cleaning routine - I’ve been working on this and have yet to find a smart way to go about it. But I want to make this work.
Tattoo appointment - I gave up on this goal. One day I would like to bring it back.
Get back to walking every day - working on it.
Have one Life Admin Day - this is something that I want to bring back in 2021.

DEC - Still working on these so check out my December goals wrap up, coming soon!!
Cleaning Routine
Stretch 10 min, Walk 10k
Life Admin Day (in the first 1/2 of the month)
Bxxkmas

Did you set monthly goals in 2020? How did you do on them? What’s your goal setting strategy for the new year?