New Year’s Resolutions 2020: Focusing on the right habits
For eight years I’ve been setting public goals for myself. With more or less success I’ve also been evaluating the outcomes without exception. From these reviews come the feedback I crave to keep improving and tweaking to adapt myself. From last year’s review, one of the main conclusions was that I need some more focus and planning. I’m satisfied because I achieved a fair amount of goals, but I missed many of the optional or less relevant ones. So, this year I will focus on fewer goals, mostly bounded to a few months but with a higher amount of required time. What I won’t change is the use of the SMART criteria. SMART goals come from project planning vocabulary and it stands for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
January
Every journey starts with a single step. – Chinese proverb
The month of January will be a little convoluted. During these days I will ultimate the details for Australia, say goodbye to friends and wrap up some of my work. I plan some more swimming and climbing with friends. The main goal is obtaining a climbing license. On the business side: put up a webpage with the book summaries and aim for 50 visits/day by the end of the month. Book to read: Zig Ziglar on selling
February, March and April
I will be posted in Perth (Australia). During that time my work goal is to get comfortable with Tensorflow and Keras. But man shall not live by bread alone; therefore, I intend to learn scuba diving, surfing, and dancing (potentially bachata or swing). I shall visit the surroundings but right now it is still unclear exactly what. I will regularly join a toastmasters club in the city. During this period I will also work on my business ideas. I will prepare myself by doing market analysis consolidating each of the ideas until I understand and make sense in my head. After that, I will craft a strategy on how to approach decision-makers to turn the ideas into something worthy.
Books to read: Small giants, getting to yes, the snowball
May
This is my vacation month. During this time I want to visit the most important landmarks in Australia and maybe some other countries nearby. The first contact about my business ideas will take place. Book to read: the inevitable
June, July and August
Back to real life in Copenhagen. Some catching up with friends will happen. I will find someone that helps me to improve my running biomechanics. I will get a wet suit and swim in open water. By the end of summer, I shall finish a small triathlon. By now I should have already spoken with some key people about my ideas and build relevant contacts. Books to read: The intelligent investor, grow rich, how Asia works
Spetember
After summer, the bad weather will arrive and people will sell their bikes. I will buy a racing bike and start building muscle for this sport. I also expect to keep working on my business ideas and start elucidating patterns. Book to read: Endure
October, November and December
During autumn and early winter training outdoors will become complicated. However, some degree of training will be performed. Maybe some trips to visit family and friends will occur. In the last trimester of the year, I will add some more steam to the business ideas to have a more clear picture of what to plan for the following year. Books to read: thinking in bets, never split the difference, see you at the top.
All year goals!
Habits do not require deadlines, they are a long term commitment not bound to a goal. Those activities that deem to be recurrent across months will be placed here.
Even though by the end of 2019 I failed a little bit at it, I want to improve the quality of my inputs and outputs. That means watching less random TV shows, visiting less random websites, focusing on things that really spark joy and focus one a thing at a time. Along those lines, I want to strengthen my self-discipline . I want to plan more things and reduce my thoughts of do I feel like doing X when the time comes. That also includes act on the tough calls without much time dilation.
I am going to spend at least five minutes a day meditating. No matter how much late I run, or how much work I have to do, there are 5 minutes a day that I can take and meditate. To clear my mind. To stop the world. Another five minutes of yoga/stretching a day. When I wake up, before going to bed, when I arrive at work or when I get home.
To end my resolutions I would like to do something for you. For those that read these lines. I propose myself to write in the blog for at least once a month about new insights that I gain or something I want to remember but also something that may be useful for you.
Remember aim for the stars, be happy and when in doubt choose the adventure. That being said…
Happy new year!