Hello everyone! As promised, here is the blog with all my goals for 2022. Well, almost all of them, because one of them is a secret! 😉 I’ll be going through the other nine and tell you how I’m planning to reach them! I’ll also be going through some of my thought processes, which I hope will help you to formulate your own goals for next year. Remember, this exercise is mostly about challenging yourself to learn something new, or achieve something you really want. As soon as it feels like work, then personal goals don’t really work. At least for me they don’t.

It’s all about the fun of the challenge

You’ve got to have fun when you’re doing this! You’re going to be spending all year on them and we’re no longer in school, so we’re doing things out of personal interest. So choose whatever you want to do. Also remember that your goals should be within reason and most of all, don’t punish yourself for not reaching certain goals. I haven’t met all of them either this year and although I regret not having reach one or two of them, I’ll just move a couple of them to 2022 instead. No biggie.

My goals for 2022

Here’s the list of my goals for 2022:

1. Outline and finish writing the first Kevar novel, by December 2022
2. Lose weight and get into better shape, by June 2022
3. Write at least one weekly blog article on JeffreyDebris.com, by December 2022
4. Write at least one weekly blog article on our new blog, by December 2022
5. Read 40 books, by December 2022
6. Write 500 words on any of my projects daily, by December 2022
7. Take up drawing again and practice at least two times a week, by December 2022
8. Practice daily journaling, by December 2022
9. Increase my meditation habits, by meditating longer or twice a day, by December 2022

As you can see, most of them involve writing. Whether it’s for one of the blogs, or working on my new novel. It’s going to be a busy writing year! Besides writing, there are also several mindfulness practices and the importance of getting into shape further has also become quite evident lately. I had already started going to the gym in November, but for the last couple of weeks the gyms have been closed in the Netherlands and I can really tell that it’s not a good thing for me. Anyway, I digress, let’s have a closer look at all of my goals and my motivations!

1. Outline and finish writing the first Kevar novel, by December 2022

I started writing the first few chapters of this novel well over a year ago and I’ve had so much ideas about the plot and where I want this story to go, that I feel I can finish it next year. My idea for the Kevar novels is that it’s set well before the Shaedon Resurgence trilogy, during a time when the Kevar had yet to discover the planet of Urdak III, which plays a pivotal role in the trilogy. This story is all about five Kevar who discover that their destiny might just be history in the making. The characters are all based on our own cats, which is what will make writing it all the more fun. And I’m planning on making this a series consisting of five books, each one focussing on one of the main protagonists and their journey.

2. Lose weight and get into better shape, by June 2022

I set this goal last year too and only actually managed to work on myself from November up until they closed the gyms here due to COVID-19. Well, as soon as they’re opening again, I’ll be heading there a minimum of three times a week again, early in the morning. My goal is to get my weight down to 70 kg, but most importantly, I just need to get into better shape. I’ve been having more trouble with my lungs due to asthma and can tell that my physical condition isn’t what it’s supposed to be, so the importance of hitting the gym and doing cardio training is very important and something I really want to work on. I want my weight to be down to 70 kg in June, which should be easy, as it’s only 1 kg each month 😉

3. Write at least one weekly blog article on JeffreyDebris.com, by December 2022

I remember two years ago, when I wrote an article every day in January and it was horrible. Blogging should be a fun activity. I rarely have trouble writing a Monday Musings blog and just updating folks about my life and how everything is going, but doing it every day can turn into blogging feeling like it’s actual work, which it never should be. Still, I do think that it’s both fun and important to write something on my blog every week and recently I had a really good flow where I would write two, or sometimes three blogs a week and it just felt good! I intend to keep it up, but the minimum I’d like to is once a week.

4. Write at least one weekly blog article on our blog, by December 2022

Bren and I are planning to start the new year good. We’ve had a lot of discussions about what we want to do with The Book Dragon’s Nook and agreed that we’re going to start walking down a new and different path with our blog. More on that will follow soon, but suffice it to say that we’re both not entirely happy with what the blog has turned into over time and we really just want to do our own thing and blog about subjects that are important to us, not just books. We’ll be revealing more soon™ and I’ll also be cross-posting a lof of articles from this blog, because one thing we’re going to do is start blogging entirely in English to reach a bigger audience.

5. Read 40 books, by December 2022

Last year wasn’t my best reading year. I barely managed to finish 30 books, but I really do intend to read more next year. I think it helps that I’ll be reading only books that are of personal interest. There’s so many books on my TBR pile and even more that I wish to read in the non-fiction section, that I’m certain 40 books isn’t too much. This gives me just a bit longer than a week (9 days to be more exact) to finish a book, which is probably perfect for me.

6. Write 500 words on any of my projects daily, by December 2022

Since I’ll be working on both a new novel and two blogs I think it’ll be easy to write 500 words daily. If it’s more than 500, that’s perfect, if it’s a little under 500, I won’t be forcing myself to reach those 500 either. It’s more of a loose guideline. But if you want to call yourself a writer, you should really be doing the thing you’re telling others you do and that is sitting your arse down and actually writing 😉 500 words is extremely easy (this blog is already over 1200 words, for instance), and takes somewhere around 15-20 minutes, depending on how much flow I have.

7. Take up drawing again and practice at least two times a week, by December 2022

Yes! One of my new goals that wasn’t copy/pasted from last year, haha. When I was a smaller Jeffrey I wanted to become a comic artist. I used to draw every day for hours on end, but that all stopped at some time, sadly. I did pick up drawing every now and then, but I really feel that 2022 should be the year that I take up drawing again, learn new techniques and just really get into it again. I’d love to start doing fan art of videogames I play, like Pokémon, or any other game with a relatively simple art style. I’ve been looking at the chibi style of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond for some inspiration and think that that might be a good starting point, seeing if I can learn how to draw like that. Of course, I already have my own, personal style, which I really want to refine too. 🙂

Here’s a Lotad I did in my own style, ink. I just love trying new things out!

8. Practice daily journaling, by December 2022

“Did you get an agenda yet?” Bren asked me a couple of days ago. We were at a book store shortly before the lockdown and I was holding one then, a simple black one with a page for every day. Perfect for journaling and not expensive either. But I thought I’d just get one later and, well, ended up nog getting one yet. Two days ago she asked me the same question and I decided just to order one online. I love journaling and it’s a great mindful practice. Putting your thoughts on paper and recounting what you did that day is a nice way of just sitting and reflecting on your day and life in general. Was it a good day, or not? I managed to do my daily journal in 2021 up until we moved to Hilversum and then I just kind of lost interest and stopped, but later, when I was going over my 2021 goals I knew that I was really missing doing it. So on January 1st I’ll be picking up this wonderful habit again!

9. Increase my meditation habits, by meditating longer or twice a day, by December 2022

I’ve been meditating for well over five years, but I feel that I need to step up a little bit and up my game. So I’ll be meditating longer or twice a day, depending on how busy a day I have ahead of me. I love meditating early in the morning. It just clears up your head and allows you to take on the day on a really positive note. And even if the meditation session itself wasn’t perfect, showing up daily for meditation is just so good for your mental health in the long run. It’s not really that I think meditating more will help me more, but it’s that I feel ready to spend more time doing it. The benefits are just great and experiencing that sense of calm and determined focus are so great. If you’ve never practiced meditation, I just can’t recommend it enough to start!

So, that’s it, then?

Well, as far as I want to share with you guys, yes, this is it for my 2022 goals! There is one secret goal that I really don’t want to share, because it is of such a personal nature, but when I have achieved it, I’ll let you guys know for sure! 😉

So, what do you think? A pretty good list, eh? Do you intend to set goals for next year? If so, what are your goals for 2022? Please let me know in the comments section and I’ll see you guys next year, on January 1st for my first blog of the new year!

Happy new year!

~Jeffrey