I set goals at the beginning of 2023 for Q1. I didn’t do well, as my evaluation earlier this week has a D for my efforts.

I’m re-evaluating things, and for now, I’ve decided not to set more goals for the time being.

Why?

One of the things I end my career presentations with is this: we work to live, not live to work. Find balance in your life, between your career and life.

I truly believe that, and as I re-evaluated myself last week, I realized that I am out of balance. There have been some stressful things in life that have been hard on me, but more than the actual thing, it’s had an impact on my mental health. I’ve been a bit drained, so I haven’t wanted to take time to focus, preferring to relax a bit more with my wife, guitar, or a good book.

I started to recognize this when I did my Feb update, but thought I could push through. I didn’t, or couldn’t, and while I appreciate the optimism, I realize that I don’t want to ignore the additional stress in my life.

A Deliberate Pause

I don’t want to let goals go, but I am going to ignore them for Q2 and focus on being kind to myself and recognizing I need balance here. I’ll revisit this in late June and see how I am doing then.