I don’t really expect y’all to give a shit whether I achieve my goals or not but I’m writing this to keep myself accountable to myself. You’re just innocent bystanders. If you, somehow, are able to get some positive motivation or laughs out of this, that’s gravy.

Without further ado:

GOLF

I was able to get to a Handicap Index in the 20s (it was at 26.7 on January 1, 2025) and I was able to shoot in the 90s, which were the two things I wanted to achieve in 2024. One additional achievement (which I had not planned) was to place in the top three for my club championship standings. For 2025, I want to:

• Lower my Handicap Index to Underage Drinking Level (Less than 21)
• Shoot an 18 hole score of 89 or better.
• Win a tournament.
• Place in the top three of the club championship.

UPDATE: I played in one team tournament where we placed third in Gross and fourth in Net. That won me some money and, since our individual scores were reportable and I played pretty well, enabled me to lower my handicap to 26.6.

One tournament was cancelled due to the fires and my third club did not have a tournament in January. More opportunities to come in February…

FITNESS

I did pretty good last year as I was able to get Personal Bests in Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift. For reference, I’m 5′ 9″ 175. This year, I want to:

• Do one NFL Combine bench press rep (Two 45 lb plates on each side or a total of 235 lbs.)
• Do one rep of Squat at 300 lbs.
• Run 2 miles in less than 23 minutes (Army standard for my age)

UPDATE: I am starting a program that lasts a month. My first opportunity to get new PRs will come in March.

WORK

I want to promote, but I can’t promote unless my boss either retires or promotes and that’s not within my control, so I’m going to choose things I can control. For 2025, I want to:

• Get five non-performers to either quit, transfer, or retire. (I’m really not that much of an asshole, but one bad apple…. These people gotta go. And no, I can’t just fire them. HR blows.)
• Get three of the employees that I’m mentoring promoted.
• Implement one cost-saving initiative company-wide.

UPDATE: I have fired one consultant that wasn’t up to snuff and gotten one non-performer to retire. Not Trump numbers, but it’s a pretty decent start. On the promotion side, one lady I’ve mentored had an interview last week and I’m her reference. I’ll do everything in my power to get her that promotion. A few others have applied for other promotions and will have interviews soon.

I’ve identified the cost-saving measure and am working with other departments to get this approved by upper management and implemented. Once it becomes part of official policy and specs, I will claim this as completed.

INTELLECTUAL

Reading Christopher Moore has really gotten me into stimulating my intellect. That works both in terms of what you consume and what you create. For 2025, I want to:

• Read 5 more Christopher Moore books.
• Create a 7 episode minimum series of fiction for this here site.
• Create something visual. I’m not sure yet if this would be a short film or a collection of photographs. I’ll need to flesh this out some…

UPDATE: In January, I finished reading The Stupidest Angel and Lamb. The Raziel books, if you will. I also finished the first book in the Vampires in San Francisco series (Bloodsucking Fiends). The 7 episode series is written and will start publishing next week. My people need to schedule a lunch with Brick’s people so I can get started on the visual project.

How has your year started?