Despite 2020 showing us how unpredictable the world can be, it’s that wonderful time of the year when everyone comes up with goals for the upcoming year. On one hand it’s impossible to predict what will happen but on the other hand it is useful to give some sense of purpose and direction. Being thoughtful and public around our goals is also a way to encourage us to commit and see them through completion. I didn’t do so well with my 2020 goals but even the process of generating them was useful to help me understand where I am and what I’m interested in. For 2021 I’m adopting a similar approach but rather than get too specific I want to think more thematically and use 2021 to recover from the bad habits introduced in 2020.

• Physical health. This is an obvious one but my lifestyle in 2020 hasn’t been the greatest. I have not been working out as much and my diet has gotten worse. I’m not getting any younger and the better habits I build now the better long term reward they provide. I did start by tracking more and more of my health stats but have not changed my lifestyle to drive them down. In 2021 I want to improve my diet and get back to working out. The ways I plan on tracking my progress is by monitoring my weight and heart rate.
• Intentional behavior. I’ve found that I was pretty scattered in 2020 with an eye towards the short term and want to shift my thinking to think long term. It manifested itself in taking pleasure in the easy wins - for example getting to inbox zero - but how much has that actually impacted my future? How much time have I spent watching TV that I could have been doing something else? In order to do the above I need to slow down and actually introduce more boredom into my life. I’m so surrounded by entertainment that I do not spend enough time thinking which leads to these short term successes but what can I do that will bring value 10 years from now? The analogy that comes to mind is compounding - how can I do work now that will compound over time? Focusing on a variety of unrelated items is better than nothing but how can I connect everything I do? Of course it’s wildly ambitious but I can make more intentional choices. But how do I measure my progress here? That’s still an open question but I’ll start with a simple daily log that will be a personal and subjective reflection of the day’s intentionality.

Here’s to a better 2021!