Every year, I make a lengthy, lofty list of resolutions for the next 12 months: habits I want to form, skills I want to learn, media I want to consume, and goals I want to accomplish. And on December 31, I look back at what I promised myself I'd accomplish and see how close I came.
So without further ado, here's the scorecard for 2021's resolutions!
1. Watch the entire Ken Burns filmography ✔
Every time PBS airs a new Ken Burns doc, I eagerly set aside time to watch it, whether it clocks in at 2 hours or 20. So in 2021, with help from a PBS Documentaries subscription on Amazon Prime (a steal at $4 a month), I endeavored to watch every documentary Burns has ever directed, from 1981's The Brooklyn Bridge to September's Muhammad Ali.
The docs served as the soundtrack to my morning runs all year, and I finished up in mid-December. For those curious, here are my rankings of all 31 films from best to worst.
Score: 1 out of 9
2. Read all my unread books ✔
For nearly 10 years, I've kept a handwritten list of all the books I own.* For a few years now, I've been working my way through that list, trying to buy less than I read and slowly whittle the list down to nothing. In 2021, I strived to finish the job.
And I did it! According to Goodreads, I read 24 books from that list this year (which includes some I purchased during the year), and as of today, the list now has nothing on it that has not been crossed off.
Now, time to go buy more books.
*Disclaimer: I actually have 3 such lists. One is of all the "church books" (theology, church history, biblical commentaries, etc.), one is "comic books" (Essential Marvel volumes, graphic novels, etc.), and the other is everything else (novels, sports, history, biography, etc.) The list I'm referring to here is the "everything else" list.
Score: 2 out of 9
3. Reach out to 5 church members every day
This was a well-intentioned effort to make sure I stayed in contact with my parishioners outside of Sundays, but it didn't prove to be very practical...people get confused by phone calls with no purpose, and the amount of notes and texts I sent dwindled as the year went by.
The good news is that, in failing to meet this goal, I found better ways to accomplish the bigger point. Looking forward to implementing a few less rigid ways of staying in contact with my congregation in 2022.
Score: 2 out of 9
4. Read through the Bible with Lindsey ✔
Admittedly, the "with Lindsey" part faded as the year went on; we both read our passage every day, but our check-ins on what we'd read became less and less frequent, especially when one of us fell behind for a few days.
Nevertheless, we both read every verse of the Bible in 2021; this was my fourth read-through and her second. I have a different plan for my morning devotional time in 2022, check in tomorrow to see what's in store.
Score: 3 out of 9
5. Pay off our SUV ✔
Lindsey and I agreed at the end of 2020 to start attacking our car payment with the kind of fervor even Dave Ramsey would appreciate, applying every dollar of surplus we had each month to our car payment until it was gone.
And on July 2, we finished the job. Both cars (at least until mine gives up the ghost) are now fully paid off.
Score: 4 out of 9
6. Spend 5 hours per week writing (not for work)
One of these days (maybe even 2022!) I'm going to get disciplined about writing. I thought 2021 would be that year.
It was not. Truth be told, I think I'd given up on this by the third week of January. There's only so much time in the day, and I have yet to prioritize writing as part of mine. Disappointing.
Score: 4 out of 9
7. Do something nice for Lindsey every day
Second year in a row I've failed to live up to this one. Ugh.
Now, to clarify, does this mean there were days I was mean to her from 4:30 am to 10:30 pm? No (at least I hope not.) But the idea behind this resolution was to undertake one thoughtful, intentional act of kindness for Lindsey every single day. And with that as the standard, I can't say I was successful.
Score: 4 out of 9
8. Listen to 3 songs per day
Y'all, this one should have been a slam dunk. How hard can it be to find 15 minutes every day to close my eyes, put on headphones, do a few laps of the church, and listen to music?
Pretty hard, apparently. I found time for Ken Burns and podcasts; I didn't always find time for music. Booooo, self.
Score: 4 out of 9
9. Put my phone down
Like almost everyone, I spend too much time on my phone, including when my kids are around and would love my attention. So I resolved in 2021 to keep my phone in my pocket unless I actively needed it for something, to make use of it a choice instead of just a habit.
Did I do better than in 2020? I think so. But not better enough to say I succeeded here. Give me another year and another viewing of The Social Dilemma to see if I can break my bad millenial habit of reaching for my phone every time I'm bored for more than 5 seconds.
Score: 4 out of 9
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Final Score: 4 out of 9, or 44%. Let's see how that stacks up against previous years:
2018- 8.5 out of 13, or 65%.
2019- 3 out of 13, or 23%.
2020- 5.5 out of 13, or 42%.
So not my best year, but not my worst either. Check back in tomorrow to see what I'm shooting for in 2022!
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