What went well this year?
Meditation. I have continued to meditate daily. I try not to pay too much attention to the streak, though it does still motivate me not to break it, and as we head into 2019, it stands at more than 900 days. I am still enjoying the Headspace app, but I do plan to start looking at other meditation practices in 2019.
Reading. I have read more intentionally this year, which has slowed down my pace of reading, but I do feel that I have taken more in and acted on it more. I set a goal of reading 36 books, and I just managed to hit it. I’ve read a good mix of both fiction and non-fiction. Some books were great, others less so.
Writing. My writing and publishing schedule has been much improved. I had set a goal for 2018 to publish here twice a month for six months. I met that goal and had consistently published twice a month all year. On top of that, I’ve also averaged a new post every couple of weeks for my business website (with a lengthy period of weekly output too). I definitely plan to keep this up in 2019.
I’ve also cultivated a daily journaling habit since July, setting myself a target of writing in it at least 5 times per week until the end of 2018. I’ve greatly exceeded that, and I’m reaping the benefits. Again, I intend to keep this habit.
Stoicism. I continued to write in my Daily Stoic Journal, I took part in the Daily Stoic 30 day challenge and have also completed the Modern Stoicism SMRT course. While I will never reach the ideal Stoic Sage, I believe I have moved closer toward it this year.
Business. I put this at the bottom of the list because it’s debatable where I’d put it. We certainly improved financially, but nowhere near where I’d hoped. However I have made many changes, and while overall revenue was lower than in previous years, we were more profitable.
What could have gone better?
Health & Fitness. I didn’t get near to my goal even after revising it downward, but I have improved from 2017. I can now press a 24kg bell and can consistently swing a 32kg bell. I probably am in the best shape I’ve been—I just wanted to be better. I’m recommitting to my goal for 2018, and plan to take extra steps to try to achieve bigger gains. I have lost some weight this year without any great focus on my diet, just sensible eating and more mindful of what I put in my body. While I don’t feel that I need to lose more weight, I do want to improve my diet further. I like meat, but I am swayed toward a plant-based diet, for both health and planetary reasons.
Home. Our house renovation took a lot longer than we’d really expected. The final result is good. However, it was more expensive than we envisaged, some of the workmanship could have been better, and there have been lots of issues and niggles that needed to be dealt with. That said, it has achieved the outcome I wanted, which is to have a nice place to relax together as a family. We have a dining table we enjoy sitting at, so we now avoid TV dinners and eat and talk more together. We have reorganised the living room to have a more separate space for reading without distraction. When we do watch TV, it’s a more pleasant experience in front of a (fake) log burning stove.
Rest. We didn’t get out or have a big family holiday this year due to the delays in the house renovation work, and the expense. As a result, I ended up working more days and didn’t have enough time to rejuvenate, so I have been feeling a bit more burnt out. I plan to reduce my working hours in 2019 to redress the balance and take more breaks.
What am I working towards?
Beyond what I’ve already mentioned above. There are a few more areas I want to work toward.
I am getting great value from Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner, and his Best Year Ever course. In 2019, I want to learn to cook so that I can cook tasty yet healthy meals for my family and me. Further, I want to spend more meaningful time with family and friends. Toward that end, I plan to entertain more now we have improved our living space, and cooking for dinner parties will play a large part in that.
I also want to improve our finances to begin preparing for retirement and rebuild our financial cushion.
Where Next?
Want to see how I compared to previous years? You can read all my annual reviews here.
annual-review