2025 Goals

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
~ C.S. Lewis

Overarching theme: Review, rescope, refocus

My 2025 theme is the three Rs: Review, rescope, and refocus. This is my year to reflect on my unmet goals and to reign in on some of the overly ambitious goals. Essentially, it is a year of reviewing my intentions, rescoping the parameters, and refocusing on the most important goals.

Read more about my 2025 theme here.

Measurable goals

In addition to this theme for the year, I have a set of measurable goals and objectives that I will work on. Many of these measurable things are directly related to the wider theme and the list below might change as I work through the Three Rs. However, some of the goals below are part of my goal to constantly improve on yesterday’s success to ensure that tomorrow is the best I can make it.

Health and Fitness

  • Run 780+ miles
  • Sub-28 5K road running time
  • Sub-58 10K
  • Sub-2.18.00 half-marathon
  • Sub-5.00.00 marathon
  • 5,000,000+ steps
  • 500+ miles of walking
  • 4-minute plank
  • Palm-level toe-touch

Travel and Adventure

  • 16-hill walk in the Pentland Hills
  • Walk the full length of the Water of Leith Walkway
  • Summit Ben Nevis
  • 3x solo weekend trips within the UK or Europe
  • East Coast (USA) holiday trip

Professional Life

  • 3+ academic publications
  • Submit a large grant application
  • Develop 3-5 long-term goals (update from existing goals)
  • Refresh all top-level pages on my PhD website

Personal Improvement and Skill Building

  • Apply for UK driver’s licence
  • Gain UK citizenship and UK passport
  • Create a memory quilt from Paul’s old running t-shirts
  • Refresh Just Frances website
  • Enjoy 12+ tech/digital-free days

Castle Ryan

  • A full plan for the front garden (plus start working on plan)
  • Rewiring the whole house and garage
  • Redecorate dining room
  • Redecorate entry and stairwell (plus upper landing)
  • Create a plan for redecorating the living room
  • Create a master bedroom oasis

Miscellaneous

  • Find 80 geocaches
  • Develop a new budget spreadsheet
  • Write 50 cards and letters to loved ones
  • Cook at least 1 recipe from family cookbooks each month

Archived goals

2024: Overarching theme: Giving new life to old things

2023: Overarching goal: Simply Me

2022: Overarching goal: Seek answers, solutions, or improvement for Life, the Universe, and Everything

2021: Overarching goal: The ABCs: Accountability, Balance, and Calm

2020: Overarching goal: To be a stronger, more confident me

2015-2019: These goals are summarised here

“Big” Goal #1: To be blissfully happy (a life-long goal)
“Big” Goal #2: To earn my master’s degree (success!)
“Big” Goal #3: To publish a book (goal sidetracked by my master’s and PhD degrees, but will happen one day!)
“Big” Goal #4: To rule the world (potentially my most unrealistic goal)

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