Another year has come and gone, which means it’s time for another review. I still can’t believe this is the fourth year I’m doing this. You can find my previous year reviews here: 2013, 2012 and 2011.

What went well?

Traveling

I thought last year was an amazing year of travel, but 2014 was just as amazing! You can find details on my travels this past year here: 2014 Travel Highlights. I went to so many places this year. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to continue to travel, and I hope I have the opportunity to continue to do so in the upcoming year.

Career

When I first quit my job to go traveling in late 2011, I was so excited for what lay ahead of me in terms of all the places I’d get to visit throughout Taiwan! Despite my exuberance, I have to admit that throughout it all, a part of me worried about how taking time off from the workforce would affect my career.

Looking back at it all, I can honestly say that there really wasn’t anything to worry about. 2014 was a fantastic year for my career! Whereas 2012 and 2013 may have been years of career experimentation, I definitely took some strides into finding a career in digital marketing that’s stimulating, challenging, but most importantly: rewarding. Looking forward to another exciting 2015!

Health & Fitness

I had much higher expectations for this past year: being able to complete the minimum requirements for the marine corps physical fitness exam and running a half-marathon in under 2 hours. Although I didn’t meet both of those goals, the decision to work towards those goals helped instill in me the importance of regular physical activity, which I’ve been able to maintain fairly consistently over the past year.

What didn’t go well?

Sticking to my goals

Although I began the year with a enthusiasm to achieve my goals, by the end of it, I had failed to accomplish any of them. I think for this upcoming year, I’ll continue to set goals, but rather than focusing my efforts on the goals themselves, my focus will be on the systems that’ll help me achieve them.

Personal Finances

I’ve definitely made progress on this front, but I’m still disappointed at finding that balance between saving and investing versus spending and enjoying life.

2015 Goals

Pretty simple on this one: more traveling, more running, more writing, improving my Chinese and learning to code. I plan to write about this in more detail in an upcoming post.

It’s the final day of the year. Before I head out to ring in 2014, I’m sticking with tradition and writing my year annual review. I’ve been doing this for the past two years, inspired in large part by Chris Guillebeau’s Annual Review, who I’ve been following since 2008!

In the past two years, I wrote these reviews chronologically. You can see these here: 2012, 2011. I already covered all the travels that I did this past year in detail, but if I take a step back, I did a lot more than just traveling.  Here’s what went well, what didn’t and my goals for the coming year:

What went well?

1. Friendships and relationships. I think overall this went extremely well. I met a ton of people through various projects, as well as felt like I grew closer to a lot of people, both in DC as well as Penn friends.

2. Traveling and music. I had to mention this, because travel was a big part of my life this year! It’s crazy to realize that I went to so many (and some new!) places: Istanbul, Athens, Toronto, New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Charlottesville, Chicago, Southern California, Central California, and Las Vegas!

3. Career experimentation. So many projects and experiences from this year: freelancing, YPFP, APCO, Flat World. I learned so much about myself, what I like, what I don’t like, what I’m willing to tolerate, and what aspects of a job are non-negotiable.

What didn’t go well?

1. Focusing on what matters the most. I did a lot of different things throughout 2013, and struggled to see how everything was relevant and related to each other.

2. Financially, I didn’t really save much at all this past year. I did put a pretty big dent in my student loans, but for the most part I spent a lot, particularly on food, drinks, and travels.

3. Fitness. Although I completed my first ever half-marathon (!), I think I gave too much attention to other projects, which sacrificed a lot of my time to focus on getting more fit for much of the year.

2014 Goals:

Here’s a look at how I fared with this past year’s goals. Below is a partial list of my goals for the coming year. By the end of 2014, I’d like to say that I have:

• Paid off the remainder of my student loans.

• Ran a half marathon in under two hours.

• Completed the minimum requirements of the marine corps fitness test.

• Launched teamdone.io.

• Attended mass at least once a month.

• Blogged about my journeys as a marketer / researcher / traveler at least once a month.

What about you? How was your 2013, and what are your goals for 2014?