My 2023 Goals: An Update On My Year So Far

This year is the first year I think I’ve ever really sat down and written some realistic goals for myself. Back in December, me and Eva (@eva_exploring) went for a dip and then warmed up in the pub, talking about life and our aims for the year over a hot chocolate. I found the process really therapeutic and it made me feel inspired for the year ahead.

My 2023 Goals:

Having 5 months off work gave me chance to really think about what I want out of life and where I want to be – You can read more about this in my previous post about living a life with purpose. Having this overall understanding of the life I want to create for myself, made deciding on goals for the year a lot easier. I chose to split my goals out into different areas of my life. Some of them are pretty personal, so I won’t share them all in detail, but they include:

Work:

• Get a job I enjoy

Life:

• Move to the Lake District
• Read 24 books (1 fiction and 1 non fiction/month)
• Start a Youtube channel
• Learn Italian

Adventure:

• Hammock camp
• Bivvy camp
• Spend more time in Scotland
• Do at least one Multi-day hike
• A mountain a month

Money:

• Save at least £150/month
• Hit my savings target

3 Month Update

I honestly can’t quite believe how quickly I’ve managed to tick off some of the biggest things on my list, and I’m on track with all of my monthly goals too.

Work:

By the end of January, I had moved to the Lakes and started my new job. These are both things that I thought would take a lot of time to achieve. I’d been looking at remote jobs to help enable me to make the move, but even a room in a shared house was looking at a minimum of £550/month. I’d considered putting 6 months rent down somewhere and just finding a job when I got there, but then one of my friends suggested looking at jobs at the YHA, and here I am. Everything happened so quickly, but it was a great way to start the year.

I had wanted to try and find a job that was linked to the outdoors, but not instructing. Working at the YHA is a mix of allsorts, but still has that connection to nature and adventure. I’m really enjoying it so far, even though it’s physically exhausting at times (saves me having to sign up for a gym). One of my favourite things about it is speaking to all the different guests that we get through the door and hearing about their adventures and experiences. My hours are more than I’d ideally been looking for, but having a variety of shift patterns and having everything on the doorstep, means that I do still have plenty of time for adventures around work and there is the added bonus of being able to save more money than I’d expected.

Life:

Making time to read is a big focus for me, especially over the last month. I find it’s a great way to both learn, and switch off. I usually have both a fiction and non-fiction on the go at the same time, as they fill different situations, depending on where my head is at. I’m also planning to listen to more audio books. I’ve previously mentioned that I often listen to podcasts when cleaning at work, but I think this could be a good time to get some books in too.

Starting a Youtube channel is something that I’ve been toying with for a while. I filmed some footage whilst out in Antarctica and on several of my solo hikes, however I just felt like it wasn’t quite there in terms of content or quality. I am currently in the process of editing a video from my most recent solo camp and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this time I’ll be happy enough with what I’ve got to be able to share it. I have made the first steps and set up my channel with a few shorts, so if you are interested in checking these out (and my camping video once it goes live) you can subscribe to my channel here.

I have been using Duolingo on and off for years. I’d got my streak up to around 400 days, but after I moved, I seemed to get out of the habit and have only just restarted daily lessons. My motivation for learning Italian is that my sister-in-law is Italian and my nephew is being brought up bi-lingual. He’s not even two and currently knows more than me, so I need to get to it. I have been thinking about signing up for a course or evening class to throw myself into it a bit more, rather than just the odd five minutes here or there on the app.

Adventures:

Adventure in general is my biggest focus this year. There are so many things that I want to do, and I want to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone. My main reason for moving to the Lake District was to have all of the options on my doorstep – to be able to get out camping after work, catch a sunset before work, go for a paddle or a dip in the middle of the day.

I have recently invested in a tarp so that I can finally get out and camp with both my bivvy bag and hammock, so fingers crossed I should be able to get these ticked off soon. The first ones may well be in the garden to ensure that I know what I’m doing with my kit, before heading out into the ‘wild’.

I already have two multi-day hikes planned for this year. Next week I will be doing the Dales Way and then later this year I will be doing the Highlander Lake District event. I’m super excited for both of these, as they’re going to be very different kinds of hikes. If these go well, then I’m thinking of getting myself up to do one of the longer trails in Scotland later this year.

I feel my mountain a month target was pretty unneeded, as now I’m living in the Lakes they’re all on the doorstep and I’m out as often as I can be.

Money:

I get quite obsessive when it comes to saving, and my friends sometimes need to give me a bit of encouragement when it comes to spending. However, on the 1st April, I hit my saving target for the year. This has been possible for a number of reasons. Firstly, I don’t live a extravagant lifestyle. My monthly expenses are extremely low, and this has been helped even more by the fact I’m now living in staff accommodation. Secondly, I’ve had more money than usual coming in in the last few months. This is through a mix of a tax rebate, interest on savings, additional income from instagram work, online surveys and an unexpected gift.

As I have also had a proper pay cheque for the first time in 5 months, I treated myself to some new camping gear, but the majority of money I’ve had went straight into my savings. I have now set myself a higher monthly savings target, rather than upping my overall saving goal for the year.

This month I have also been doing another ‘no spend’ month, as I wanted to to have a bit of a reset on my money mindset. I will be doing a blog post on this next month, so if you have any questions about the challenge then let me know and I’ll aim to answer them all in that post. You can post questions in the comments below, or drop me a message on instagram.

The Next 3 Months

My focus for the next three months is definitely on adventures. Having so many different things planned and booked in already is such a great feeling. But there is lots more I want to do.

One of the other things I’m really keen for, is a SUP camping trip. I just need to find a nice quiet spot to paddle to, but it’s definitely on the cards for the summer. This year I became an ambassador for Wave SUPs (you can get 10% off with the code ‘LISAOUTDOORS’). Working with such a great brand, and having a board that I love, has really helped me to get out on my board more and keep building my confidence on the other.

The Wainwrights have taken a bit of a backseat over the last few weeks, this is partly because I’ve been busy seeing family and friends, but also because works been very full on physically, and I just haven’t had the energy for big hikes on my days off. We are now fully staffed so I’m hoping this will help reduce the physical workload a bit and I’ll be able to get back out a bit more!

My other big focus now is my Italian. If anyone has any recommendations for online courses then please do let me know.

I’ve found that having these goals has really helped to keep me focused on where I’m spending my time and energy. I know the things that I enjoy doing, so they’re what I’m planning my life around. I’m learning to say ‘no’ to things that I don’t really want to do, and spending more of my time with people who do want to do similar things.

Updating and changing my goals as the year goes on helps me assess where I’m at, and ensure that my focus is still where I want it to be. If not, then I just change my goals. As with most things in life, these are aims that I’ve set for myself and I’m the only one who really cares if I achieve them or not, there is no external pressure.

Do you set goals for yourself? Do you have a process that you use for writing them and staying on track? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Adventuring x

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