2025 Goal Reflection

At the start of 2025 I set a few goals for myself. I think it's a useful exercise to work towards these goals throughout the year. They can span across professional or personal growth. I'd like to reflect on that progress so that I can think about how to frame the next years set of goals.

Goal 1: Get a personal site up and running

This site itself was one of my goals, although it took some trial and error to reach here. As a software developer, I wanted a site to showcase my skills, ideas, and any personal projects I've been working on. I spent almost half the year trying out different web frameworks to create the site from scratch. I found myself trying to reinvent the wheel for a simple website with basic content on it. Luckily I found Ghost which provided me with the framework for a blog style website while still having control over the hosting. Successful goal, with the takeaway being that it's useful to try different avenues for starting a project so that you experience the pain points and gain a better understanding of what you want from the project. I wanted an easy way to share content on a self-hosted website, and recreating a content management system was overkill for that goal.

Goal 2: Read 8 Books

A simple goal. As a kid I read a ton, but definitely fell off my routine in adulthood. I would pick up a book for a vacation and maybe get through 2-3 a year. Ideally 1 or 2 software development books or some other nonfiction. With a steadier commute schedule, I found myself with extra time for reading. I dove into an epic fantasy series called Malazan Book of the Fallen. Starting in late 2024, I've since finished 5/10 of this series and almost done with book 6. With these 6, progress on a Chess book (see: next goal), and a soccer tactics book called The Mixer which I listened to in the car - I feel that I can consider this a successful goal. It definitely helped reinvigorate my reading habits.

Goal 3: Reach a 1500 rapid chess rating

I started casually playing chess at the end of 2024, and figured setting a rating goal was a good way to have something to work towards throughout the year. I learned new openings, tactics, and endgame strategies. With daily practice I have reached almost a 1300 rating in the Rapid time format on Chess.com. After starting at 700 elo, I am still proud of reaching this rating. I started playing more Blitz chess during this year after getting more comfortable with the short time format. However, playing more Blitz chess of course takes away from time spent playing Rapid. I think if I have the time to play the longer format, I should make sure to spend my time wisely there. Blitz can get addicting since it's easy to knock out a few games on my phone. However, at my skill level I greatly benefit from having extra time to think through positions to reduce blunders. While I didn't reach the lofty goal of a 1500 Rapid rating, I have definitely made Chess practice a part of my routine and have seen incremental progress that shows that the studying is paying off.

Onwards and upwards

I plan on setting some new goals for 2026. Some early thoughts are simple continuations on my past goals - reading more and improving at chess. Now that I have this site up and running I can include writing-based goals and will likely try to include a goal around learning new technology and working on some personal projects.