Wednesday, January 4, 2017

2016 Goals Final Standings and A Look Ahead

Four days into 2017 and I have yet to post.  Its not for lack of topics, or anything, but more of a lack of desire.  I mentioned late last year I would cut back on posts this year, and I figured it would be possible that I wouldn't post until at least the 10th.  However I remembered I set some goals last year and as enticing as a Mizzou basketball game may be (I do have it on the radio right now), I have some spare time, and thought now would be the perfect time to wrap up 2016 and look ahead to 2017.  First let's look at the goals I made for myself for 2016.


So as you may remember, last June I did a blog updating a lot of these, but let's review.

Make A Top 25 Most Wanted Cards List- I finally finished this towards the end of the year.  As soon as I did finish it, I started knocking a few of them off.  I still haven't made a tab for them just yet or updated the list, but overall I have to say that this was a SUCCESS!

Write More Blogs Than 2015- Some may say I cheated at the end of the year with the R.I.P. posts, but in the end I did write more blogs than 2015.  Most of December may have been half-hearted, but I made the goal, so this was a SUCCESS!

Complete My Want Lists And Organize All My Royals Cards-  Early in the year I managed to complete this task.  Afterwards I started getting a bit disorganized again, but for the most part it is organized and most of my lists are up to date.  A little tweaking may be in order this year, but I might have to get another 3200 card box or in the meantime use an extra 800 count box as my Royals box is starting to get a little too full.  Overall this goal was one of my first completed and was a total SUCCESS!

Begin Organizing My Mizzou Cards-  After organizing my Royals cards, I started work on my Mizzou cards.  For the most part they are organized, but may need to spend more time on it next year and go deeper to see what I have and what I actually want.  I have no desire to attain every card of every person who every attended Mizzou, but at least one from each person would be nice.  Despite not being fully organized, I did work on it and I have to call this a SUCCESS!

Attend A Card Show-  This was the one I wanted to do the most this year.  In August I was able to accomplish it.  I will say it wasn't all that I had hoped for, but the trip itself and the stops I made actually made up for the card show.  Overall I have no complaints and this was a SUCCESS!  I hope to attend another one in 2017.

Get Rid of Some Of My Cards And Make Some Trades-  While technically a few people did trade some cards with me last year, overall I can't say I actually got rid of cards.  I DID get rid of some cards, but not to the level I hoped.  So with that I have to say this was a FAILURE!

Complete 5 Royals Team Sets-  I made a bit of a caveat that team sets had to be more than a certain amount, and I think it was 5 cards, maybe it was ten, I can't remember.  Having said that, I didn't do the best job keeping track what sets I completed, but I do know I finished quite a few, even knocking a couple out during the aforementioned trip to the card show.  So I can safely assume that I did complete this task, and it was a SUCCESS!

Finish The Monsters Of The Gridiron and Simpsons Sets-  In reality I just wanted to spend more effort into these sets and didn't care if I finished them, but I really wanted to get close.  I made a caveat that I wanted to get it done myself, but when my friend gave me an unopened pack/set of the Monsters of The Gridiron set for my birthday, I counted it.  I still want to finish a set myself, so as a result I haven't opened the pack.  I don't plan to either if I finish the set I started.  That said, that was a half SUCCESS!  As for the Simpsons, something amazing happened.  I was on Listia and I stumbled upon a sale for an entire set of Simpsons cards and I bid.  It was more than I normally bid, but for a whole set, I was happy if I won or lost.  I ended up winning and the set was complete.  The only bad part was I didn't get the stickers I was promised, but for the price I paid I got over it (plus hard to complain when no actual money changed hands).  So I made my goal of completing both sets, and this was a SUCCESS!

Work On The Daredevil and Transformers Sets-  I purposely made this goal vague so it could be an easy goal.  In theory I did work on the sets as I checked prices and almost bought some cards a few times, but in reality all I did was look on Ebay and COMC at the cards and didn't put much effort into actually getting them.  So while I could cheat, I will say this was a FAILURE!

Try To Get 5 New Teams From Missouri Cards- NOTHING!  To begin with, I'm not even organized enough yet to see what Teams From Missouri I actually have at this point.  I know I have the major current ones and Mizzou and a couple other colleges, but I put ZERO effort into this goal this year and to be honest I'm okay with that.  I will work on it this year, and its not really a goal, but more of an undertaking to make me see what I have.  That said, this was a FAILURE!

So I completed 7 out of 10 goals, which I think is amazing.  Even if you want to discredit a couple, I still had half or more done and that was good enough for me.  Honestly, knocking the Royals off and going to a card show was all I really wanted, the other were just filler.  I got both of those done, so it was a success.

Heading into 2017 I'm not going to actually make goals per se, but more of a list of what I'd like to do this year.  No timetable to get it done, no rush, just a list of things that whenever I can or want to I can work on.

Keep my lists current.  This includes my want lists, what I have, and my most wanted list.  I would like to update them at least once a month if I have to, but if not 3-4 times a year would be nice.

No set goal for number of posts.  Setting a goal of more posts last year was a mistake.  I fell behind early on and as a result it made blogging seem more like work than a hobby.  I want to have fun blogging not suddenly remember at 10:52 PM that I haven't posted in a couple days and I need to hurriedly write one.  If I don't post for a couple weeks, no problem.  As long as I have fun and enjoy it as a hobby and not a chore I will be happy.  I still think a couple posts a week will be my happy medium.  That doesn't mean I won't post 5 straight days, but it means unless I have something that I want to post I'll take my time on ideas.  I do have a three post series planned sometime this week or next and probably will be a little busy this month posting with various things, but if I hit a dry spell in March, I have no problem with it.

Attend another card show.  This one may be a goal, but no pressure to accomplish it.  While it wasn't the best experience last year, I did enjoy going to a card show.  I hope to find another one this year.  Hopefully I could find one better or closer, but if not oh well.

Don't make it a chore.  This kind of goes with no set goal for post count, but at times last year I would spend hours on Ebay or COMC or some other site trying to come up with ideas for posts.  This year I want to enjoy my time more, so if I don't have an idea, I won't scour the Internet for ideas and prep for it.  It will allow me to enjoy what I actually have more and not try so hard for WHAT NEXT!  Part of this will also include decluttering and organizing what I have better.  Officially I made a move last year.  Even though I stayed in the same location, most my stuff was in a house that sold so what I kept is scattered between where I'm staying and storage.  I need to find a happy medium and clear space and decide what I want to keep and what is time to move on from.  It will make me enjoy what I have more.

So again, not really goals but just things I'd like to focus on this year.  Sure I'd like to complete more non-sports sets and finish more Royals sets, but if I don't, no worries. Maybe this will tighten things up and motivate me to do other things too.

So with that I think that will wrap it up for tonight.  It sounds like Mizzou will lose again, and all is normal in the World.  Let's hope they can get better as the year progresses, but I won't hold my breath.  Thank you so much for reading, and I do have a few posts plan sometime soon, including a large haul from Savvy Seconds, and one of my favorite posts of the year, my mock ballot for the MLB Hall of Fame coming up before the official announcement comes, so be on the lookout.  After that, nothing is for sure.  Have a great night.

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