Goals Progress Review (May 2018)

With 4 months behind us, I figured it’s a good time to review my goals that I set at the beginning of the year to see how I am progressing.

Starting with Financial category, I set 3 goals to myself this year:

1. Grow passive income portfolio to €11000; – At the end of April, my portfolio (stocks and P2P lending) stood at €5210.3*. At the end of last year I had €4174, so it only grew by ~€1000. It will not be enough to reach my goal if I continue with this kind of rate, but at least it is moving to the right direction. In order to reach the goal (not considering any market fluctuations), I would need to contribute ~€720 each month for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, this might be too much but I will still try to come to the target as close as possible. Current status – behind target.
2. Receive €240 in passive income; – So far, I received €50.09 in passive income this year. This represents ~20% of the target with 33% of the year behind us. Again, not looking good but May should improve the situation and there should be some additions to my portfolio throughout the year to get the snowball rolling. Current status – behind target.
3. Start having a budget; – I was tracking my expenses for a couple of months but didn’t find much value in it. We were still buying the same things and I knew already where our money is going, so I stopped this habit for now. A budget is a different thing, though, and I am still considering starting one for our family but it didn’t happen yet. So this one is still in my thoughts. Current status – not started.

Let’s move on to my fitness goals:

1. Run a marathon in 3:45; – The marathon is in plans but I haven’t started serious training for it yet. With ~4 months to go, I still have time and am staying active, so we will see how it goes. Current status – in plans for 9th of September;
2. Finish Lithuanian Triathlon Cup in top 50%; With one out of 7 stages finished, I am in bottom 25% at the moment (more details in this monthly post). I am staying positive on this one and am hoping to achieve this goal if I participate in races and train consistently. Current status – in progress (currently top 75% after 1 race);
3. Finish “Xtrasa” cup in top 40%; – This cup is over and I finished in the 39th place out of 289 participants in men’s category. This puts me in top 14% of the field so I am happy to say that the goal was reached. Status – completed.
4. Complete Half-Ironman distance triathlon; – I am training for triathlon but would hardly complete a half-ironman distance at the moment. The plan is to complete it at the beginning of August, so I should be able to do it if I continue training consistently. Current status – in plans for 5th of August.

Finally, I have also set some goals for personal development:

1. Read 12 books; – I already finished reading 4 books this year and finally completed the series of “A Song of Ice and Fire” (started it probably 5 years ago). I now developed a habit to read a bit almost every day before sleep. I noticed that it increases quality of my rest so I’m happy to have developed this habit. I am not sure if I would have read so much if I didn’t set this target in this blog at the beginning of the year. Status – on track.
2. Write 52 blog posts; – I put a target to write at least one post every week in this blog at the beginning of the year. With 19 weeks behind us, I posted 14 posts so far this year so I am behind the target. With year progressing, I was thinking if this is a goal that I should really follow. I wouldn’t like to write something that would feel forced to me, so maybe I should abandon this goal. Another way to go is to try and set some time every day to sit down and try to write – I am not sure if this would work and if it would be useful but I could give it a go. What would you recommend? Status – behind target.
3. New IT certification; – I was thinking how I could upgrade my skills and CV and decided that SCCM (Software Center Configuration Manager) certification would suit my interests best at the moment. I guess audience of this blog will not be familiar with this technology so I will not bother you with more details on this one. I should be able to get funding for the exam from my employer as well, so I will schedule it for later this year. Status – in plans later this year.

Looking at the above, I am seeing quite a lot of red color. Perhaps the goals I set up were too optimistic but I think it is better than setting up goals that are too easily achievable. Anyway, I will see what I can do to change the color to green for my goals as the year goes by.

Have you set any goals for yourself this year? How is it going so far? Please let me know in comments below!

*I am not including my funds in pension plans, as I will not be able to use them before retirement age.