Terry,

Although technically your flight was not qualified according to the rules, you obviously had a better flight than the minimum requirements.
So if you are not satisfied with the complex strict rules, as I would be, just use OLC.
The badges were invented well before OLC as the only way one could have measured their progress. I believe now with OLC and the likes (Crosscountry.aero, skylines) badges are mostly obsolete and you can easily track, measure and document your progress with OLC. And if you still want to pre declare your tasks, you can do so with OLC BHC.

Ramy