Happy New Year Everyone! I’m starting off 2019 by immediately looking backwards into 2018! In 2018 I set some New Year’s Resolutions and for the first time in my life, made a semi-conscious effort to adhere to them. This may make you feel really good about your own resolutions!

Let’s recap with letter grades…

#1. Weigh 175lbs by April 6th, 2018 & maintain weight (+/- 3lbs) all year.

I’ll give myself a B on this goal. I wanted to get to 175 (from 195) before our trip to Nashville/Charleston. That just didn’t happen. However, I had “sub-goals” under this one that included eating healthier, which I 100% accomplished. During work days in 2018, I ate a salad at least 85% of the time for lunch. It was awful. Kate and I also made a really strong effort to eat better at home as well. End result: 180lbs by literally only eating healthier.

#2. Read at least 10 books

I give this a C-. I understand that 10 books is a slow Tuesday afternoon for so many people. I’m not a reader (note: I can read, I just don’t), I always find other things to do. These things usually involve playing with the kids, the Minnesota Wild/Vikings/Timberwolves, Netflix, etc. I’ve never been one to grab a book and sit down and read. With that said, I did read 3 physical books and 4 audio books. In comparison, I watched 16 Vikings games and at least 100 episodes of Friends. This needs to improve in 2019.

#3 Learn About Investing

Pretty broad, but still a big, fat F. I did get some investments set up through my financial adviser, as well as the standard stuff that I’ve always had through work, but I have no idea how to do this myself. The way I’m set up right now…I like the “expected” retirement amount, but I want to supplement it on my own (Adam, I still have your book that you borrowed to me on this topic… I’ll let you guess if I’ve read it or not). Maybe this one carries over to 2019. 2019 PSA, If you’re my age and haven’t gotten a retirement account set up yet, this is the year.

#4. Run 2 5k races

I DID ONE! I COMPLETED A GOAL! kinda. . . I technically ran TWO FIVE KAYS, just not “official 5ks” where they hand out a T-shirt. But, I have proof that I ran at least 2.

See… Apparently one was awesome, and one was less awesome.

Anyways, I give this resolution an A (not an A+ because they technically weren’t actual, official 5k races with T-shirts.) Once again…this is a not a big deal for a lot of people, a ton of people can run 3 miles at any given time; well this is my blog-get your own. I’m not a runner, so anytime I can go out and run 3 miles, I’m happy with it! I have tried to do a lot more running the past 5 years (you’d think I could get more than 3 miles…)

So to recap so far: I’m not a reader or a runner.

5. Become a better husband/father

Maybe this should have been the first thing on my list? This gets a B I think. I wanted to take more date nights with Kate, and I genuinely think that we did more in 2018 than we did in 2017, but it still wasn’t a ton. I’ve never been a big “Public Display of Affection” (PDA) type of person…I don’t really hold hands or any of that crap. I think I’m a good husband in terms of providing for my family, helping out around the house, I’m home basically every night to help with bedtime; I even unload the dishwasher once in awhile! But I know I could be better. I’m still super-addicted to my phone and have to remind myself on numerous occasions that I need to put the phone down and “live in the now” while the kids are still young enough to want to hang out with me. There are definitely things I need to work on in the ‘parenting department’ and learn as well. For example: I know that I can make Grace laugh at any given moment, but I have some trouble in not getting upset right away when she’s doing something innocent that might appear mischievous at first glance. Lettie hates that fact that I’m not “mamma”, so….not sure how to work on that one…. I told my wife that when my kids turned 3, I wanted to go on Daddy-Daughter dates and Grace and I went on several; but not nearly as many as I had thought I would go on. I’ll try to improve this in 2019. But, I’m happy with how I’m doing so far. Overall, I’d say I was a better husband/father in 2018 than I was in 2017; hopefully the family agrees.

#6 Donate clothes/toys/money/etc

Solid C. We gave a ton to Goodwill this year and I donated blood three times (AND THE DAMN RED CROSS HASN’T STOPPED CALLING ME SINCE. SERIOUSLY! IF YOU VOLUNTEER AT THE RED CROSS AND YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU CALL ME ONE MORE TIME AT 7:39PM, I WILL NEVER DONATE TO YOU AGAIN!!!) and I bought an overpriced Cub Scout Christmas Wreathe. I donated a mattress to a family in need recently as well. I will honestly say that I work hard for the marginal money that I have and I like to keep it close! I completely understand the benefits and tax write-offs to donating money to your church and things like that; but…I like things and want to retire someday….so…. I guess there has to be a middle ground. My middle ground is Goodwill donations and blood donation. I’d love to rescue a puppy sometime, but that won’t be in 2019. That really isn’t a donation type of thing-I just want you to know… Lots of people donate more than I do. Lots don’t. I’m OK with both, you should be too.

#7 Start a Blog

So this one went fine. When I brought up writing a blog to my buddy Adam, he suggested that I do a trial, long-winded Facebook post first and see how it gets received. Well, my trial Facebook post was basically “My Crazy Super Bowl Story” (that’s a good one if you haven’t read it) and everyone loved it! So I started the blog shortly after! My initial goal was to have 100 followers by the end of 2018. Well, I had over 500 followers after the “I Met Destiny” story. I had over 1,000 after “Patient of the Day“. Now I think there are over 1,400 people following the blog in one shape or another (most are email subscribers). This is incredible! In “internet terms”, 1,400 isn’t that much–but to me, its a ton!) Thank you to everyone who reads and follows this thing! It’s pretty humbling that a blog that truly does not have a certain topic or expertise has gained this many followers. It’s literally just me rambling on for 2,000 words a couple times a month. Thank you! A+ (5,000 in 2019?!) Please keep sharing and liking this! I appreciate everyone! If I get to 5,000 followers, maybe I’ll do a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card or something. Seriously.

#8 Do 300 consecutive push-ups

Yeah, this one was just dumb. BUT, to my credit–early in 2018, I could do 150 push ups in about a 5 minute time period (seriously). So it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. But, 300 consecutively is just sooooo many. I’d like to do the push-up program again in 2019 and try to keep at it more than 3 months. Its a pretty good, fast workout that I can do during the commercials when I’m not reading.

I only did 8 resolutions for 2018. I don’t know why…I couldn’t think of two more ways to challenge myself I guess. I’m happy with the progress that I made in 2018 and am very excited to see what 2019 has in store for me and my family!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Thanks again for reading!

-ML