I have never ever been the person to have New Year’s promises, goals or anything like that. Well, until now. I found myself creating a document called “Eesmärgid 2014” (“Goals 2014”) in the beginning of July (!!!) 2013. So I had about 6 months to set goals and I have got 20 written down. Some of them are related to school, some of them to working out, eating healthy etc, some are completely random. Today I’ll present them to you! It will beinteresting to make a post in the end of the year to see how many of them I actually achieved. 

 

1.     Get my Bachelor’s degree in June.

This is number 1 on my list for a reason: it’s the most important thing this year. I’m currently on my last year of Bachelor’s course and I am determined to get my degree in June. To get there, however, still needs a ton of work. I have no doubt I will get it all done.

 

2.  Get an “A” for my Bachelor’s thesis and graduate cum laude.

Now that is a difficult one… But it’s been a dream of mine since January 2012. When I started university, I had no plans to graduate cum laude since I thought it would mean killing myself too hard. But when the first semester ended and I had done 42 EAP instead of the regular 30 EAP and my average was well over 4,6 that’s required to get cum laude, this thought of getting it creeped into my head. Hasn’t left since. Right now my average grade is where it should be but to get the diploma cum laude, you need to get an “A” for your bachelor’s thesis (really difficult mission!) and an average above 4,6 (that could be messed up since I have 2 really difficult subjects this upcoming last semester). I have hope but I’m not all that sure I’ll be abled to accomplish this goal. We’ll see.

3.     Start my Master’s degree at the University of Tartu. 

When I wrote this goal down, the creterias were different to get a spot in the Master’s course. Now it’s almost certain that I will be starting my Master’s studies from autumn 2014. Before you had to take a test to get in, now they look at the average grade of the most important subjects. It’s pretty good in my case. This goal will become reality, I’m pretty sure.

 

4.     Compete in a smaller triathlon.

I haven’t registered for a triathlon yet but I do have one in mind. The only obstacle is the fact that I don’t have a normal bike. My old (over 10 years!) bike is just not good enough and is starting to fall apart bad. I either need to fix it up, buy a new one (any money-trees growing anywhere?) or borrow a bike from somewhere. I really want to take part in a triathlon though, it’s looks like so much fun!

 

5.     Run a half marathon at the Narva Energy Run 2014.

So I might have done something crazy on the 10th of December 2013 when I had finished putting together a race calendar for 2014… I registered for a 21,1K at the Narva Energy Run on the 15th of June 2014. I’m determined to run a half-marathon there. I also have a training plan ready for it, starting at the end of March. I’m really scared but excited at the same time.

 

6.     Work out at least 5 times a week.

Aka keep being as physically active as I am now. Pretty self explanitory. 

 

7.     Not to get any injuries.

This is very important to me. I do not want to get injured, especially when thinking about the ambitious race calender I have set up for myself. Last year I suffered from piriformis pains for some weeks before the Narva Energy Run. I do not want to get any of that or something else… Need to listen to my body, stretch enough and keep myself healthy.

 

8.    Try at least 3 new workout styles.

In autumn 2013 I discovered BodyPump that soon became one of my favourite workouts. I tend to not want to try new things easily, so I have a goal to try atleast 3 new workouts. There’s a wide selection in my fitness club that I haven’t tried get. Will make up for that in 2014.

 

9.     Try CrossFit at least once.

This ties in with my last goal. Everyone raves about this workout and I should try it.

 

10.  Improve my breaststroke, backstroke and front crawl in swimming.

My swimming isn’t half as good as it should be if I want to compete in a triathlon. I want to improve my front crawl first and foremost but also my breast- and backstroke need work. I love swimming so much and I think I have a lot of potential to be a lot better at it.

 

11.  Learn how to swim the butterfly.

This looks so complicated but I really want to learn it. I have yet to find any swimming schools or courses that teach the butterfly style to beginners though. Any thoughts or recommendations are very welcome!

12.  Fix up my old bike. 

I already talked about how my old bike is messed up and falling apart. Even if I buy a new bike, I should still fix up my old one just in case. And I should do that before spring. Otherwise it’s going to suck if the weather is all nice and I don’t have a bike to enjoy it with.

 

13.  Stop keeping a food diary.

I’m waaaaaaay too obsessed with weighing food, marking everything down and counting calories and keeping track of macronutrients. You are not supposed to count calories on LCHF! I have troubles sensing when I’m full or hungry because I’m obsessed with numbers. Sometimes I eat too much because I have the calories to do that, sometimes I’m hungry after a meal but won’t have any extra if I don’t have the calories to do that. This is so WRONG! I’m going to try my hardest to stop keeping a food diary, listen to my body more and not gain weight while doing all of that. I already know it’s not going to be easy.

 

14.  Keep my weight under 65 kilograms at all times.

I’m yet to reach my goal of 63 kilograms but even if I do that, I’m going to allow myself to fluctuate around the 65 kg mark. Everything below that is fine. I think I will fail in it atleast once because after coming back from travelling for 3 weeks in January, I must have gained weight. Soon we’ll see how that goes.

 

15.  Not to stress about my weight all the time.

Am I contradicting myself now? I want stress less about my weight. Sometimes I get a little too obsessed with numbers. It’s not the end of the world if I gain a little sometimes, I have the tools to make it come off again. A human’s weight can fluctuate a little and that’s normal. No more crying over a 500 gram gain (yes, it has happened before).

 

16. Get my bodyfat percentage below 25%.

This is a recent goal I set after taking my second body analysis. 25% would be pretty good but that means losing 6% of bodyfat. All I can say is that hard work needs to be done. An unrealistic goal? Maybe. But I’m going to try.

 

17.  Donate blood.

I really dislike it when my body is attacked by needles but I really want to support a good cause. I have pretty universal blood (type 0 positive) and since I’m a healthy young person, I should get my courage together and go donate some blood at the local hospital.

 

18.  Give a Christmas present to a complete stranger / animals / charity etc.

In 2012 they had a campaign in the Maxima chain where you could give a present to children in need. Me and my mom gave a present to a 5 year old boy who had asked for a book and winter gloves. Last year they didn’t have such campaign… This year I want to give a present to charity, animals shelter or something similar again. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve done something good!

 

19.  Go abroad for a vacation.

I didn’t have any plan when I wrote this goal down in the beginning of July 2013 but this goal will happen for sure since on the 12th of January, I leave for adventures in Thailand with my mom. Will be back on the 30th of January. Can’t wait! I have never been so far away from home of taken flights that long. Excited!!!

 

20.  Be more relaxed. Not to stress too much. Be happy.

This sums a lot of it up. I want to be healthy, happy, relaxed and have lots of fun. 

 

I really cannot wait to see what this years has planned for me. May year 2014 be even better than 2013 was! 🙂

 

I wish a Happy New Year to all of my readers! May all of your goals become reality as well!