Save point: goals for 2024

After looking back over 2023 in Monday’s review, it’s now time to focus on 2024.

The resolutions I make each January have always tended to be quite generic. You know the sort of thing I’m talking about: be healthier, learn more, become a better person. This explains why I’ve never been that good at sticking to them in the past.

This year, I want to be more productive. I’ve decided to set myself specific goals for the next 12-months in the hope they’ll give me something to aim for and track progress against. We’re not far into 2024 yet but I’m already feeling motivated. Of course, there’s always the chance that a new situation will arise and I’ll need to adapt my plan to suit it, but it’s useful to be aware of the intended course.

Some interesting findings came out of my review of 2023 earlier this week. The first was that someone based in either the UK or America really likes jigsaws and photographs of our cat, Zelda, sitting on top of puzzles. I was also surprised to see that I only wrote five reviews and one preview, despite trying a total of 67 board games, escape rooms, jigsaws and video games.

I’ve used this information and some personal objectives to set the direction I’d like to go in during 2024. It’s hard to predict how much the blogging landscape will change throughout the year because things have been so unsettled both online and in reality, for a long time now. However, I’d love to see a return to the community aspect and more collaborations – and so I need to put effort into making that happen. Here’s a round-up of what I’ve got planned for both myself and Later Levels this year.

Gaming

As mentioned in Monday’s post, things are going to get very busy for me for the next two years. I’m due to start the Advanced Data Fellowship (ADF) apprenticeship this month and this will result in an additional 20 hours of work alongside my day-job each week. It’s therefore very important that I carve out time for myself in my schedule, even if it’s just a couple of hours so I can have a break from studying. This time will be devoted to both blogging about and playing video games.

I kept track of those I played during 2023 and analysis of the data revealed that most of my gaming time (over 38%) was spent on the adventure genre. I doubt this is surprising to anyone who knows me, but what I didn’t expect was just how few full-motion video (FMV) and detective titles I completed. They’re usually my favourite kind of releases outside of point-and-clicks. I’ve got a few existing ones waiting in my backlog already, so I’m going to try and play more FMV and detective games throughout 2024.

Streaming

Pete and I returned to Twitch in October after taking a break, hoping to get back into the swing of things ready for the GameBlast24 marathon in February. We’re due to announce the schedule for our 24-hour stream towards the end of the month and the polls to vote for the games you’d like to see are open until 19 January 2024. Once we’re done with the event, we’d both like to continue streaming at least once a week and making some enhancements to the Later Levels channel. It’ll give Pete an excuse to buy some more tech.

The other thing I’d like to do is start the A-Z Project streams (working title) in collaboration with friend-of-the-blog Darkshoxx. We’ve been talking about this for almost a year now and are looking to finally kick it off in January. The plan is to find an old or unfamiliar adventure game with a title starting with each letter of the alphabet, then play each of them for two-hours before deciding whether they’re worth progressing with. We’re both point-and-click fans so I’m really looking forward to increasing my knowledge of the genre with him.

Blogging

After having to take a break during the summer to focus on work and my Data Fellowship apprenticeship, I returned to blogging in August and committed to publish a blog post at least once a week. I’ve been able to keep this up for the past five months so I’m positive that I’ll be able to continue to do so throughout 2024. The most important thing is to stay organised. I’ve set up a schedule spreadsheet so I can start blocking out time, noting dates for gaming events, and recording ideas for articles.

Forget February being about Valentine’s Day – it should be all about your backlog. Ellen from Strength in Sarcasm and I created the annual #LoveYourBacklog event several years ago to encourage everyone to show a little love for their pile of video games. This was then followed by #MaybeInMarch where the challenge was to finally play the title which had been waiting on your backlog the longest. I’m excited to bring these community events back for 2024 and will be sharing further information early next month.

Personal

Something I recently realised I’m guilty of is saying yes to far too much. I want to please everyone so, in an effort to fit everything in, I’m constantly rearranging things or trying to fit several tasks into the time allocated for just one. I must stop doing this if I’m to stay on top of all the work and resolutions I have planned for this year and it means I need to start saying no sometimes. Some people may end up being upset when they receive this unexpected answer, but I’ve learnt that I need to protect my mental wellbeing.

Alongside the ADF, the biggest challenge for me personally is going to be April’s running event. I need to make sure I keep up the training for the London Marathon as I’m taking part to raise funds and awareness for SpecialEffect. I don’t intend to stop there though. It would be a shame to give up the running after coming so far so I’d like to consider taking part in a 100K event at some point in the future. This might have to wait until I have more free time on my hands though!

Hopefully, I’ll look back on this post in January 2025 and feel a sense of accomplishment at having completed at least some of these goals. Saying that though, it’s important to remember that blogging, streaming and gaming are meant to be fun. If I can say I’ve enjoyed myself over the past 12 months, am still enjoying being a member of the community and have had the chance to get to know more awesome bloggers, I’ll consider them a success and use that as motivation to keep moving forward.

What have you got planned for this year? Whatever your goals are, I hope they’re within reach and bring you much happiness in 2024.