A Look Back on 2014 and My Plans for 2015

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It astounds me how much has changed in the short 365 days we lived in 2014.

I married the love of my life.

I launched this blog.

I officially became a paid writer.

I visited 48/50 states. (I’m waiting for Alaska to thaw.)

I made over 100 new friends across the country, including some amazing authors and videographers whom I’ve long admired.

I sang in someone’s wedding.

I bought an RV (best Craigslist purchase ever).

I inadvertently became a videographer.

I ziplined, dipped my toes in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, played like a kid at Disney World, spoke live on national television, rode in a sidecar, went snow sledding in July, visited some of the most majestic national parks in our country.

I’m sure that I did other cool things too, but man is it hard to remember it all! This year has felt long—full of more memories and new experiences than any other year of my life.

But now it is 2015! And to cap off 2014,  Heath and I worked (I filmed as usual) our last job in the continental US. Filming for our documentary is almost complete! Seven short months ago, I hadn’t ever touched a video camera and now I have nearly 2 terabytes of footage on a hard drive waiting for me to create art.

I’ve heard said before that we overestimate how much we can accomplish in a day, and underestimate how much we can accomplish in a year.

I try to remember that phrase every day when the sun sets on my unfinished to do list. And that’s the phrase I kept in mind while writing out my 2015 New Year’s Resolutions.

I know from experience that in the past five years, I’ve written almost the exact same resolutions each year. And each year, I accomplish one or two tasks and finish the rest only part way. In 2014 I hoped to accomplish these things:

• Marry Heath √
• Launch alyssapadgett.com √
• Write 500 words daily √ (for most days)
• Read the entire Bible
• Learn to do the splits

Repeating on this year’s resolutions will be to read the entire Bible and learn how to do the splits. (I realize that’s a fairly random goal, but I’ve always wanted to learn!) But this year, I have a Bible app with daily reminders and I have a list of daily stretches. By writing down my strategies for completing my resolutions, I know exactly how I can complete both of these repeat resolutions this year.

For 2015, I’ve written more resolutions than I’ve ever dreamed up before. I suppose my unwritten resolution includes building a stronger work ethic and watching less Netflix. (Hopefully RV park WiFi will help me out with this one).

This rest of this year’s resolutions include:

• Write 2 ebooks – Deadlines: March 1 & November 1
• Grow my email subscribers on this blog to 5000 – Deadline: December 31
• Create an online video course for new RVers – Deadline: February 1
• Pay off 27K in student loan debt – Deadline: December 31
• Read “The Meaning of Marriage” with Heath – Deadline: November 1
• Launch and Raise a Kickstarter campaign for Hourly America – Deadline: March 31
• Produce & Launch full length documentary – Deadline: Labor Day 
• Visit Hawaii and Alaska, completing all 50 states in the country – Deadline: March 15
• Get Heath out of the country for the first time – Deadline: December 31

After a year of adventure, 2015 will be a year of processing and implementing. I will watch the hours of footage from our documentary and produce a film. I will take all of the stories and RV knowledge from the past year and develop books and a course. I will of course continue to blog here and share stories from our travels and lessons from the road.

In 2014, I learned that people can do anything. I learned through meeting average people across the country that each person is capable of extraordinary feats.

In 2015, I aim to prove that fact to myself. I have a long list of things to accomplish. Things that will take hours and weeks, not something I can check off easily from my to do list. That’s why my goals are so specific. I know exactly where I want to be and I can directly measure my process along the way.

So here’s to a productive 2015! I can’t wait to start sharing new things with you.