Setting goals for the end of 2024

 I’ve once read a book about choosing the right time-marks for us to start working towards our goal. Somehow our mind likes to put work off until there’s a clear new beginning. This can either be a new month starting, the beginning of the week or even a new year. Since reading that article, I try to manipulate my brain by making up new ‘time-marks’ so I can start working on my goals right away. We’re almost at the end of summer break in Europe, a perfect time to set some new goals to achieve before the end of 2024.

So, here I am. Sitting at our dining table thinking about the things I want to achieve by the end of this year. I’ve been taking things slowly for the past few months and I finally feel it’s the time to roll up my sleeves to get to work (also quite literally). Let me inspire you with my goals for the end of 2024.

Learn A2 level Italian

I speak multiple languages confidently and some with a bit more shame but Italian is not one of them. As some of you may now, Ben and I are planning to move to Italy. Initially I wanted to move to France because of the beautiful castles and the culture. But somehow Ben convinced me that pasta and pizza’s are better than the croissants and baguettes. Is it true though? 

During university I’ve lived in China and South-Korea for some months. Being able to speak the local language made me pretty comfortable. I never knew how much stress it gives me when I don’t know how to say the basic stuff in stores. This made me realise first when I traveled with Ben to Spain. I don’t speak ANY word Spanish and in rural places neither do they speak English. I tried to order a hot tea, but I got an ice tea instead. That made me realize that I want to speak a language when I have to get around more frequently. 

We’ve set the goal to look for property in Italy next year, enough time to get myself familiar with the language. Therefore my first goal for the end of 2024 is to speak, read and listen in Italian on an A2 level. This does feel like a challenge for me, I’m not picking up a lot of words straight off the bat. I however keep reminding myself that 2 months cramming Korean did bring me very far. 

I’ve chosen a website with study materials in the levels A1 and A2 to make the goal very specific. All listed assignments and words under these levels should be in my head by the end of 2024. This way I make sure that I can make a schedule on the study materials and I’m not picking out random words which will not help me get my hot tea at a restaurant. 

Finding a job

One of the next goals for the end of 2024 is getting myself a job again. I’ve stopped working in November 2023 due to some serious traveling Ben and I had planned but I never really got back to work. I quite liked being in the kitchen the whole day making everything from scratch and deep cleaning the house. I guess I needed a new hobby with a clear reset in my life. 

In order to achieve our financial goals I however have to return to the office. Currently I’m actively searching for a new job as a Product Owner. Once I work again, I can aggressively pay off my student loan, fill up my savings account and top off my investing account again. 

7K off my student loan

Something we shouldn’t be ashamed of is the debts we carry. Everyone has their own journey in life and mine included getting a loan from the government to pay for my studies in The Netherlands, China & South-Korea. Ben and I however set ourselves a goal that we don’t want any debts before moving abroad. My study loan is therefore my personal goal to pay off as fast as possible. 

In August 2024 my outstanding student loan amount is still 17.300 euros. My goal for this year is to lower this amount to 10K so I can start 2025 fresh and clean. I still have 4 months left which means that on average I have to pay off 1.750 euros per month. I think it’s quite doable once I achieved my goal of finding a job. What do you think? This is one of the challenging goals for the end of 2024.

Learn how to bake

For the past few months I’ve been a kitchen queen all the way. I made my own sauces, my own recipes with almost everything from scratch. The one thing I didn’t dare to touch was dough. After one bad experience with pizza dough sticking to everything I thought it was better to simply buy pre-made pizza or bread. 

But not anymore. I want to learn how to make bread. The smell in the morning will make me happy to start the day. I want to make a decent pizza for my friends. It’s okay if the pizza’s in Italy are still better, I will move there anyway to buy them from the locals but it’s nice if I can treat my guests at the house with a home-made one. 

I’m still not sure how I will achieve being a master of dough. Will I focus on a good pizza first or will I bake random things all at once? Is a cooking class the best way to go or can I homeschool myself with youtube videos and blogs? I always want to do my best and since it’s about food I also don’t want to waste failures. If you have tips on how to learn to make good dough, hit me up on Instagram so I can learn from you!

No more hoarding/cluttering ‘to sell’

I’m not a hoarder, I’m really not. I can throw away stuff pretty easily. B-U-T, if I think I can sell it, I put it in a separate closet. This means that I have tons of clothes that still have to be sold on Vinted and some home stuff that is picking up dust. Funny part: putting up adverts to sell are stressing me out so I don’t do this often. The piles are only growing, not shrinking. 

One of my mind soothing goals for the end of 2024 is therefore to stop hoarding this stuff. The goal is to fit everything in a large suitcase. That way I still have some stuff at hand that I can sell, but it doesn’t take up useless space that we can use for other stuff. 

I hope this goal gives me the energy to upload a bunch of adverts so the pile gets moving. And as for the items that don’t seem to sell; I think this is the perfect time to donate them to our local charities. I know that clearing up the space is not only giving me more peace of mind, Ben will also be relieved a lot. Gotta take one for the team!

Start with regular work-outs

I’ve been a nasty gurllll. Since I had to quit sports in high-school, I have never picked up sports regularly again. I’ve been blessed with a small figure, I’ve never felt the urge to work out to lose weight for example. However, for the past 2 years I’ve noticed that when I climb up the stairs, I kinda am out of my breath. Also, I went hiking with Ben last year and that was a-w-f-u-l. I wasn’t in a good condition. 

I honestly believe that working out is going to contribute to my health. I’ve been eating clean food for years now and not working out is a huge gap in my health journey. I didn’t start working out though. Or I did start 1 week, and the next I was too tired to continue. 

This year I’m doing things differently. I’m going full mode on accountability. I’m asking Ben to pay for my gym subscription and will join him once a week for a treadmill work-out. That way he can kindly push me to come with him in order to not waste ‘his’ money. Aside from the treadmill I also want to do pilates-like work-outs. Bottom line is that once a week working out at home is my goal. Setting the bar low in order to achieve my goal is to prevent giving up. 

What are your goals

I always thought setting goals had to be something official. I put it off until ‘I had time’. But you know what? You never have time! There’s always something more important in our dopamine-chasing mind. While short-term dopamine hits may bring us our joy of the day, I’ve noticed that chasing after goals can also bring me satisfaction. But only when progression is made. 

I therefore encourage you to set some goals for yourself. Start with the smaller ones, get yourself familiar with the dopamine that hits you when you can cross it off your list. Is it a new job you want to achieve? Is it saving more money? Any goal is good, as long as it is something you r-e-a-l-l-y want. So tell me. What are your goals for the end of 2024?