We’re almost 2 weeks into the new year! Are you having a good year so far? Seems kind of the same as last year to me…Anyways, I’ve been marinating on my goals for 2025. You might call it procrastination, but I was thinking really hard about them (ok probably not). Looking back, I’ve never actually done a year long goal post. Or at least not one that I remember or can be brought up in a quick search through old posts. I set a reading goal every year, but that’s about as far as my long term goals go. So after seeing a bunch of these types of posts, I thought, that’s a great idea. I should do that. Then I can come back at the end of the year an see how I did.

Like I said, I make a reading goal every year. Historically, that’s been a set number of books I would like to finish. It usually ranges from 20-30 depending on how ambitious I’m feeling when I click the button in whatever reading app I’m using. Storygraph has a pages read yearly challenge that I started last year and will continue this year. It also has a minutes read goal, but that seems like a pain to track and would most likely drive me crazy. Best to stay away from that one. But I thought, how can I make my reading goals more interesting? I’ve been doing this whole “count the books” thing for a while, let’s spice it up. So this year, I’m not only focusing on how much I read but what I read:

Read 10% of my To Be Read List

That’s right, I’m tackling that never ending TBR list that haunts me every time I go to the library. Mine is currently home to 201 books. Some of them have lived there long enough to be in middle school now. I loosely tried this out last year and read a number of books from my TBR. The “problem” (not an actual problem) was that I kept adding to it. So I started 2024 with 200 books and ended 2024 with 201 despite reading 10 or so from the list. Regardless, it’s something I’ll be trying this year with a little more focus.

I read, on average, around 30 books a year. 10% of my TBR is 20 books which leaves some room to read books that catch my eye during the year. I’m also giving my self some leeway here. I’m going to count any books I didn’t finish as part of this 10%. Last year, while test driving this out, I found books I was interested in years ago just didn’t spark the same level of interest by the time I got around to reading them.

Within this goal, I have a couple mini goals. One is to finish the Expanse series and all of it’s related short stories/novellas. I read four of them in 2023 and didn’t return to Jim Holden and his intrepid crew in 2024. I’d like to see how things play out before I forget what happened in the first 4 books. This would also get me 50% of the way to meeting this goal. The other is to read the oldest books on the list. They’ve been there forever, it’s a read them now or take them off kind of situation.

Then I thought, what if I applied the same kind of goal to gaming….

Play 10%of my Unplayed Games on Steam

I would like to note, mostly to myself, that I said play not complete 10% of my unplayed games. I’m defining unplayed as less than 2 hours in a game, which happens to be the majority of my Steam library. I feel like 2 hours is a fair amount of time to determine if I like a game and, if I don’t, it’s enough time to see if it get better.I f it does, great I’ll keep playing it, if not it’s being banished to the Hidden Games category, never to be seen again.

After sorting through everything via How Long To Beat, I’ve arrived at the magic number of 44. It’s a mix of unplayed games, games with less than 2 hours of playtime, and games that I’m still interested in playing more of.

Is it ambitious? Yes. Do I have that kind of time? Probably not. But it could be a fun way to focus some gaming choices. Or, it will be needlessly oppressive and I will abandon it. Only time will tell! The next goal will probably help with this one:

Play More Games on the Steam Deck

I’ve had a Steam Deck for 2 years now. When I bought it, I thought I’d use it like crazy. I have always loved the idea of handheld gaming, probably due to all the interations of gameboys and sony handhelds I had growing g up. In reality, it sits on my desk most of the time.

The problem is, I have a hard time starting games on it. I tend to feel a little cramped when going through tutorials on a smaller screen. Even those green check marked “Verified” games sometimes have font that’s just a little too small for me to read comfortably. I’m much more likely to use it to continue a game I have a few hours on PC first.

With that said, I’m going to try to make it a point to use it more. It’s a niffy little machine, and it deserves some love. I just need to find the right games for it.

Write 100 Posts this Year

The most ambitious goal yet! I’ve never written 100 posts in year and I’ve been out here for 9 years. Wait – 9 years? Really? Time flies….The closest I’ve gotten was back in 2020 with 81 posts. I want to challenge myself this year purely to see if I can do it. Doing the math it’s like 2 posts a week which sounds achievable to at the moment. Especially if I’m going to be playing all these games. Get ready for a bunch of impressions posts! Factor in Blaugust, which could count anywhere between 10%-31% it just might be achievable. Or you’ll never hear from me again, 50-50 on which way it goes. But in all seriousness, I am trying to carve out a writing habit, something I’ve been meaning to do for 9 years. Why not let 2025 be that year?