2013 In Review

As 2013 winds to a close, it’s time for me to once again take stock of my life, and what I’ve accomplished over the last year. I’ve always found this to be a helpful exercise/tool to both help me recognize and be grateful for the good things in my life, but also to help me realize where I need to make changes in the year(s) to come.

If you read my 2012 synopsis, you may remember how 2012 was a pretty average year and I had high hopes for some changes I could make in 2013. So to start, lets just look at what I wanted to do in 2013 and what I managed to accomplish.

2013 Recap

2013 was a HUGE year for me. Probably one of the biggest in terms of drastic change that I’ve ever had in my life… and it all happened in the last 5 months of the year!

Lets look at the roller coaster ride that was the back end of this year:

• August 2013 – Go on vacation to Europe. While visiting Liz & Schaunne in the Netherlands, interview for a job
• September 2013 – Offered & accepted job in the Netherlands
• October 2013 – Quit GameStop
• November 2013 – Move to the Netherlands & start new job

But lets look at how I did vs my stated goals…

Travel Goals (3/3)
I think I nailed these and even went a bit overboard 😉

• Iceland in January – Check! Went out for the Paradox Conference and had a great time. Ate whale. Saw the (faint) northern lights.
• Europe – Blew this target right out of the water!
• Pennsylvania – Won’t be getting there for Christmas, but we did visit in October before fleeing the country
• BONUS: Moved to Europe. Going to Scotland the weekend before Christmas

Personal/Financial Goals (0.5 / 2)
These were a little mixed, but they were big goals.

• Get a Financial Planner/Advisor (0.5 / 1)- So I didn’t get a person to manage my assets personally, but I did finally get most of our money out of cash and into real investment funds. So I’d consider this a half win
• Learn to Code (0 / 1) – I made it further with this goal this year than ever before, but I just couldn’t keep myself motivated as my GameStop job disintegrated around me.

Professional (1 / 1)
Well, I said I needed a shake-up right? New challenges and all of that? Well, coupled with overachieving with my travel goal, I think I hit a homerun on this one too! I’m not the Head of Post Production at Spil Games. I oversee three teams and expect to add a fourth before too much longer. Definitely a huge step up from GameStop!

Official Tally: 4.5/6
Not bad, even though I think I exceeded expectations on the job and travel points 😉

2013 may have started out poorly and had a very very rough middle part of the year, but it definitely ended on a massive high note!

A Look Ahead At 2014
You know what? I basically hit a massive reset button on my life at the end of 2013, so I don’t even know what I want/expect out of 2014. At a super high level I want:

1. To kick ass at my job
2. To travel as much as we can afford to.

I get 25 vacation days a year (plus holidays), and I intend to use them to visit as many cool places as possible. Next year we’re thinking Spain in April, Germany in September… and who knows what in between?

I think 2014, living in Europe, will provide more than enough new and interesting experiences and challenges to satisfy my perpetual need for new things.

So here’s to a 2013 that started poorly but ended well, and a 2014 that promises to hold a LOT of excitement and fun!